Friday June 22nd

A warm, humid morning, my glasses mist up under my cycle-helmet! No sign of the peregrines, and the mud tracks looked as if they were there since yesterday (how long do they last in the mud?). A Heron flew down river, but decided to return up river at the small quarry entrance opposite?!

Wednesday, Thursday, 20th 21st June

Two grey days with low clouds, Thursday was also wet. On Wednesday a peregrine seemed to be perched rather high up in the banana tree, then when the sun made a brief appearance he disappeared. However I did not see him fly. The deer tracks were visible in the mud on both days, but apart from some cormorants, nothing, and Thursday was far too wet to linger.

Eye of the Falcon: Tuesday 19th June

Two pictures of the young female peregrines taken this morning as they perched at the top of the Avon Gorge just behind the grasses. Pictures by Chris Jones - see link http://www.chrisjphotography.com. For a closer view click on the images. See also the previous Blog entry below.





Chris also took an "aerial combat" 'photo yesterday (note the aircraft on the left):

Tuesday 19th June

A misty, warm blue morning with high, thin cloud. We are promised more rain. Yesterdays rain encouraged Jackdaws, Crows, Rooks and the occasional pigeon and gull to search the Downland grass behind Sea Walls. The tide was high, so no mud. Nothing much was happening at the Peregrine Watch, then Chris Jones (see http://www.chrisjphotography.com/) turned up and discovered the two female peregrines perched at the top of the cliff and just over to the right of the Watch. They were within a few meters of the metal fence!

What an amazing privilege, and certainly the closest that I have even been to a wild peregrine. They sat for a long while, sometimes with only one of them visible above the grasses, moving around a little on their rock perch, and seemingly oblivious to the three enthusiastic watchers behind them; each of us taking turns to peer at the youngsters. Looking into the eye of a wild falcon from that distance is an out-of-this world experience! Eventually the parents turned up, and the two started to fly around, again close to the cliff so that everyone had a good view. We also spotted a grey squirrel on the cliff behind the bushes, I wonder if he knew of the peregrines!

Chris. Thanks for the above pictures!

The third peregrine chick, assumed to be the male, was perched over on the other side of the Gorge on a little ledge just below the banana tree. So totally still that he was like a piece of the rock.

For some time I have wondered what caused the small yew trees on the opposite side of the Gorge to die. Now I know, they were killed deliberately! If this was really necessary why were they not cut down?

Wednesday June 13th

High cloud with a warm sun shining though and a slight breeze made this a morning when most of the Gulls and Jackdaws were soaring and gliding around. Question: when is a Lesser Black Backed Gull a Herring Gull, or are they all Common Gulls? There seems to be gradation in shades of darkness for the top of the wings of the gulls, ranging from strong black through various shades to a very pale grey.

A Greenfinch made a brief appearance in a small hawthorn tree at the Peregrine Watch. Whilst I was searching the cliff opposite to see if I could find a Peregrine, one glided into view, and perched about 10 meters to the left and down 45 degrees from the small birch we call the banana tree. The bird landed on an apparently smooth rock face, and the grey of its back blended so well with the cliff that it disappeared, and I missed seeing him move off.

There were more deer prints on the river mud opposite, although they were not very clear and were mixed up with a many gull foot prints.

Monday June 11th

Warm, muggy and with a misty steel grey look over Leigh Woods. The tide was low so that rocks could be seen on the river bed. A set of new deer tracks led down part of the way over the mud and back to the grass at about the same place as we saw the Roe deer yesterday. It must come down to the river regularly. No raptors.

Sunday June 10th

A lovely warm summer morning with lots going on, the crowds were out on the Downs together with a noisy rave party in the valley!
From Sea Walls I watched a Heron and a Cormorant fishing in the storm drain outlet, the cormorant was diving repeatedly into the stream, whilst the Heron was doing its usual statue imitation. I didn't see either bird catch anything. Two Mallard were also feeding - bottoms up lads - and a Crow washing itself. Later (from the Peregrine Watch) I saw the Cormorant with wings outstretched sitting beside the outflow, so that it must have found some breakfast; later it came up-river, flying low over the water. I could not see the 'Peregrine-on-the-rock-face' today, so assume that it was a bird, and likely to be the male Peregrine. Anyway, it was not an artifact.
There was a lot of activity on the cliff top at the Peregrine Watch, the BOC have a presence there today. They were well rewarded, the female was perched over in the banana tree - a small silver birch on the cliff face opposite, and just near the now deserted Raven's nest. She moved around quite a lot but did not fly whilst I was there, eventually she faced the river, and her chest became a minute pin-point pale yellow beacon just visible with the naked eye. The notice from the BOC said that the three chicks will be flying soon.
One other visitor (probably two from the tracks on the mud), a deer came down over the large expanse of mud to the river, probably to drink. At first I thought that it was a fox, and from some angles it looked just like one, then the ears became visible, and the long legs. I suspect that it was a relatively young Roe deer. Eventually the deer made its way back up the mud and disappeared into the long grass beside the river. Two sets of tracks to the water probably indicated a second deer, but a whole herd could disappear into the grass at present.