Monday October 13th

A grey day with some rain in the wind. A Heron flew up river, one of the Ravens glided overhead. No Peregrines today.

Sunday 12th October

Low tide, with a fast stream flowing down the middle of two mud banks. The oil slick has nearly disappeared. Most of bird activity was down near the water and on the mud, and as soon as I had my glasses out at Sea Walls, I saw two Redshank flying low over the mud. Others were on the waters edge. There were gulls and ducks on the water being swept rapidly downstream. A Cormorant flew upriver and a Grey Heron landed just under the Peregrine Watch, then moved down to some rocks past Sea Walls. No Peregrines, but a Raven was perched over on the nest.

Thursday October 9th

Another sunny morning. The river was slack and oily looking, just opposite the Peregrine Watch a very ugly smear of oil spread for several hundred metres up the opposite mud bank. An accident? A spill?
There were single Redshank, legs glowing in the sunshine, up and down all of the mud. I watched one fly low over the riverside, the white flashes from its wings another giveaway to what it was. Jays, Magpies, Pigeons, Peregrines, Gulls and all the other birds can be recognised by their flight.

Thursday October 2nd, Wednesday October 8th

There was a lot of activity over in the trees and in the quarries opposite to the Peregrine Watch when I arrived on Wednesday. Three of the Ravens and a couple of Magpies appeared to be chasing a Peregrine! At times the Peregrine flew down into the quarry, was harassed by one or more of the tormentors, and chased into another tree. This continued spasmodically every five minutes or so for the whole of my late morning visit, a burst of flying and chasing, a retreat to another tree or bush, then a lull, then off again. Why didn't the Peregrine just leave and fly off elsewhere, I'm sure it could out-pace any of the birds giving it grief. Maybe the Peregrine was injured? Maybe this was one of the parents trying to protect one of the young birds lying injured somewhere? The last time I heard news of them, three of the five Peregrine chicks were surviving. Is this still so?

The Thursday before was uneventful and dull; I thought I could see a Peregrine perched on the quarry side, however on Wednesday it was either still rooted there, or this was yet another bird-like rock blemish!

Back to Wednesday. There were a few Redshank among the gulls on the mud down river of Sea Walls. When I arrived at the Peregrine Watch a dark brown Peregrine (youngster) was flying, first at Gorge-top level, then gaining height and moving over towards Snyed Park, where I lost binocular sight of it.

My fewer blogs over the last few weeks have been due to absences from Bristol, the weather, and a virus that seems to be rather persistent and difficult to shake off.

Sunday 21st September

A high, incoming tide and sunshine! The Jackdaws have been very active around their tree (I heard that it used to be a small holm oak which was 'culled'), they landed several times then all scattered as a Peregrine swooped past, and, unusually, disappeared low over the fence into Fairyland. I did not see it emerge, so gave up and went home.

Wednesday, Thursday, 17th, 18th September

I'm back! Visits from grandchildren, bad weather and a walk along the Great Glen have kept me busy since the beginning of the month. Last Monday coming through the forest into Inverness we saw two majestic Red Kites. These are huge birds!
Yesterday had grey-yellow sky, today a beautiful blue. The tide was high and on the turn, so that I was not able to see any of the waders, I expect that they are back for the winter by now. No peregrines, just a squadron of ducks in a fly-past!

Sunday 31st August, Monday 1st September

Sunday was warm, very damp and muggy, with low gray clouds. A Raven was crouched up on the edge of their nest. A very rapid fly-past of a red-brown Kestrel was the only other raptor sighting. About a dozen Jackdaws were perched in 'their tree', all in close pairs, other pairs flew and called above the river. Monday was fine, cloudy and windy. From Black Rocks I could see a Peregrine perched on the side of their nest hole, but there were no others to be seen at the Peregrine Watch. A Buzzard flew over, this looked like an old bird, at any rate it had a lot of damage to its tail feathers, which gave this impression.