Tuesday 3rd February

Snow! There was a large snowman beside Ladies Mile. For once I was up early, walking through quiet back streets to the Downs to see the sunrise. Then a walk over the snow to Sea Walls from the Granny Down, passing the Water Tower and back via Redland Green was about my limit without becoming frozen. The playground loved by my grandsons looked very cold - although they seem to be enjoying the snow up in Sheffield. There were very few birds around, certainly no Redshank on the estuary mud, one Rook (you can just see his grey beak) was picking through the snow as I walked towards Sea Walls.

The trees beside the Water Tower on Stoke Road. Just before sunrise.

Sunrise. A clear blue sky made the sunrise a spectacular event.


Reflections off the windows of the house by Sea Walls. A rather forlorn Rook! Enlarge the picture (by clicking) and you can see his large grey beak.

Black Rocks, Sea Walls. No climbers today.

Blackboy Hill. The sun was getting higher by the time I crossed the Down beside the Dumps.


Joseph and William enjoying the snow in their back garden in Sheffield. The last time we had snow like this in Bristol 'Mum' was not much older than Joseph! I remember that it was very cold in Ashton Court, 1980 perhaps?

Redland Park The children's playground.

... and the snow returned again with a vengeance on Thursday night ...

Monday 26th January

A cold circuit today! Gulls and some Redshank on the mud, the Jackdaws quite the Gorge just as I arrived, and a Raven flapped up river. The BBC's refusal to support the DEC Gaza appeal shocks me. So I'm changing my top line on the blog for the duration of the appeal - which may be a very long time if the 'war' restarts.

Friday 23rd January

The Avon was low so that there were birds all along the muddy banks. I think the strong wind from the cold North Atlantic must have driven a number into the estuary, at any rate there was a Black Backed Gull and a lot of smaller gulls which I did not recognise at first, they were probably just Common Gulls! Redshank too. A Peregrine was just visible in the oak opposite the Peregrine Watch. Huge puddles nearly covered parts of Circular Road.

Sunday 18th January

I walked across to the Gorge, stopped a few minutes just down the path into Fairyland, then back through the myriad paths that make up this woody glade. I fervently hope that it does not get 'opened up' by the Parks Department. A few birds on the wing over Clifton Downs, a small flight of thrush-like Fieldfare, a Great Tit and the usual culprits - Magpies, Rooks, Black Headed Gulls, Blackbirds etc..
The rest of the week was cold and wet, so, Friday has arrived and I'm about to set off on the first cycle ride for nearly two weeks!
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Friday 16th January

Lots more mud when I arrived at the Gorge, this time around 3pm. There were Redshank, Cormorants and Mallard, with skeins of Seagulls flying down-river. Across in the oaks a peregrine stood out like a little lantern, and through my glasses I could see another bird within arms length of it, but with its grey back to us. Then they flew, first one, then the other, across the water and in under the cliff. To the nest? Looks like they are pairing up for this year's nesting.

Tuesday 13th January

My first cycle ride in a month! I started the cycle rides a couple of years before these blogs, at first it was a short ride, and not always around the Downs, keeping fit being the main aim. The distance went up to about 16kM by the time I started the blog - and was around the Downs all the time. Then I was attracted to the Gorge, and bought myself binoculars. But the purpose was always the exercise. A month out of the saddle brought this home to me.
Today. Redshank on the mud with a high, but ebbing tide, one landed just opposite the Peregrine Watch whilst I was there. A Jay flew from a tree below, and there was a Peregrine over in the oak tree. The stripping of the woodland beside Circular Road continues.

Sunday 11th January

A happy new year to all! This is the first blog in a month, blame the weather (cold), a trip up to Sheffield, and more cold. Warmer weather and rain has arrived so maybe I can start my bike rides again soon. Not Monday though, whilst I'm writing this it is pouring with rain outside.



On Sunday I put on my walking boots, took up my camera and binoculars, and walked over to Sea Walls, the strong wind made it feel a little colder than it was. En route a flock of Starlings, Black Headed Gulls, and a mixed flock of Crows, Jackdaws and Rooks were busy feeding off the soft Plateau grassland. For the last couple of weeks it has been hardened by frost. At Sea Walls it was low tide so I was pleased to see some of my old friends on the mud - the Redshank. At the Peregrine Watch a couple of flights of Mallard flew low and fast up river, but there was no sign of Peregrines. The Jackdaws were flying around, making a lot of noise, and landing in 'their' tree.

Peregrine watch scrub clearance
The side of the Peregrine Watch has been cleared of scrub, fine, it gives better views so we can see the foxes below again, but I can't help feeling that this 'clearance' is more drastic than in previous years. The birches and whitebeams have been spared, but the rest is much more open. It will be difficult to creep up on any Peregrines should they perch on the silver birch at the edge of the open area.



Over Enthusiastic Scrub Clearance, some might say Vandalism
I object very strongly to the "scrub clearance" now enacted at the top of Walcombe Slade and beside Circular Road. Several yew trees have been hacked about, but far worse, it is now possible to see right through from the leafy glades just beyond the roadside, and onto the road, where we have the pleasure of both seeing cars passing, parked, and hearing them. Clearing site-lines means clearing sounds lines. How much longer (with such disproportionate acts of scrub clearance) before there will be no places on the Downs, or in the sides of the Gorge, where we can escape from motors?



The picture shows a very fine old yew tree (possibly the oldest and largest on the Downs?), on the edge of a leafy glade just in from Circular Road, and before the slopes of Walcombe Slade are reached. So far it has been spared the chain saw and mechanical flail. Click on the image(s) for larger views.