Wednesday 25th February

The Peregrine was sitting side on to me showing folded gray wings and a white front, every now and then she scratched herself, a little like one of my cats. Like all birds she probably suffers from pests (mites?) in her feathers, in Baker's iconic book on the Peregrine he describes how the birds love to bathe every day. I've never seen this, and the Avon looks very mucky! At Sea Walls a few Redshank were probing the mud, and a Swan was sitting at the edge preening his feathers. On the Downs, flocks of Starling and a lot of Rooks and Jackdaws; the latter flock were wheeling around in a large group, but broke up to move off in different directions. It almost looked like a command from a leader.