Monday to Thursday, July 28th to 31st

The Avon Gorge, by Paul Evans. The picture was a present from my daughter Joanna and her partner Chris, painted for me as a present for my 70^th birthday. Somehow, Paul has captured the terrible rhythmic beauty that is the Gorge; a river of gold in the sunlight, but the dark sides of the trees and cliffs holding many shades and colours. The 'photo image below is not a very good one, but will have to suffice for now. See also the collaboration between Chris and Paul, in their work, "Cells"



On Monday there were bunches of flowers above Black Rocks at Sea Walls to lament yet another young girl's death; someone had removed them by Tuesday? The contrast with my weekend (birthday on Saturday 26^th, and our Ruby Wedding Anniversary a week earlier), for the family who had lost a loved daughter and sister, is terrible. The other flowers, just above the Peregrine nest, for another young girl, have faded but are still there.

The Peregrines were flying each day, sometimes briefly, with only a glimpse as they came into the cliff, other times noisily as a young bird chased a parent for food. They do mew a little like kittens! The mystery of the brown seagulls was finally laid to rest as I watched all three young birds begging from a Lesser Black Backed Gull parent. Perched on the rocks exposed by a low estuary tide, these young gulls blend perfectly into the background. An unusual sight on Tuesday was of a Buzzard flying low down over the river, it caused the gulls on the mud to get up and chase it as it passed.