Friday 6th October

I managed one circuit around the Downs, then the heavens opened as I was approaching the White Tree. I scuttled off home to a hot shower.

Wednesday 4th October

A bright cold morning, and the first time my feet felt cool in sandals! Autumn is around! Rooks, carrion crows and various seagulls were scattered over the football pitches. A group of ducks were squabbling in the small outflow just below the Sea Walls cliff. I thought I saw a buzzard, but on looking through glasses it is more likely to have been a seagull soaring high up.

Monday 2nd October

Saturday was Bristol Morris's 'Erik Day', commemorating the life of Erik Ilott, Bristol Shanteyman. This was the 20th anniversary of his death. We circumnavigated Bristol Docks, consuming ale and toasting his memory at eight pubs.
Sunday was very wet - the heavens opened - so a ride was not possible. However the effect was still to be seen at the Peregrine Watch. A line of gulls stretched along the mud, nearly all at the same distance from the grass that lines the river banks, just above tide level. Just under, and on this side of the river I spotted two herons probing the shallows, with more gulls. It is likely that the rain had washed small creatures from the banks. It is rare to see herons on the river mud, they fly up and down sometimes, but rarely try to feed.
Just as I was about to leave I noticed the unmistakable flight of a peregrine over the little valley beside the Sea Walls cliffs, the falcon seemed to be chasing something. A little after this a pair of buzzards were flying around in the same region. A large flock of rooks was also flying around in the brisk westerly wind.

Wednesday, Thursday, 27th & 28th September

Back from a short holiday in Cornwall, we visited the Eden Project twice, it is a magical place which reminds me of the old Bristol Exploratory - before it was asset stripped and closed top open the plastic monstrocity that is @Bristol! We saw a lot of birds, a lone buzzard circling over the Eden domes, and a fine little egret near to St Michael's Mount.

Back to Bristol and my morning cycle rides. Wednesday was very windy, with a stiff breeze blowing down the River. The jackdaws were having a great time, swooping, diving and careering around at high speed. A whole large flock of them flew very low (feet) above the road just as I arrived. No sign of any raptors on either morning.

Tuesday 19th September

9.50am. There was a spectacular display at the peregrine watch this morning. It kept me rooted to the spot for three quarters of an hour - until I got cold in the gusty breeze. There were mallard and gulls on the river, which was low, showing a lot of mud, but apart from the jackdaws on my side not many birds were flying. I soon found out why! Two young peregrines were practicing their skills. Dipping in and out of the tree tops, maybe trying to dislodge a pigeon, chasing each other, and chasing anything else that flew around the quarries on the other side. At one stage one of the hawks stooped at such a speed towards the river that I lost sight of it. Then even a lesser black backed gull was attacked until it landed on the river. Just before I left a jackdaw strayed over towards the quarries, it narrowly escaped with its life after a high speed chase. I think the hawks were trying for a kill, but probably still lack the experience to be truly lethal. The wind made flying relatively easy, so that they could soar and glide without using too much energy.

Monday 18th September

9.50am at the Peregrine watch. Almost immediately a peregrine, probably a male, left the quarry opposite and flew to the cliff underneath me. The bird flew with very few wing beats and a long glide, elegant and with minimum energy. It was slightly windy this morning and the jackdaws were flying and soaring above the edge of the Gorge. An Australian asked me if I was a bird watcher, I guess that I am when I come here in the mornings, he said that he had seen some birds, probably rooks, mobbing a bird of prey. It could have been a buzzard, but from what follows, maybe not.
I noticed a number of birds being chased around over by Sea Walls, they seemed to be a flock of pigeons. Then some other birds joined the chasing, most likely jackdaws, crows or rooks, again they were mobbing a bird of prey, which I initially thought was a buzzard. Shortly after this a large brown bird came in over to the trees on the opposite side, and started flying low in and out of the tree tops. Just like I have seen the peregrines do. However when it flew closer, it looked very brown, more like a kestrel, but too large. I think it was probably one of this years young peregrines, still young enough not to be such a danger to other birds and to be subjected to mobbing. This bird also disappeared underneath me, and I did not see it again. Shortly after, a couple of buzzards did appear over by Sea Walls, one disappearing into the valley beside, but the other soaring, higher and higher over the Downs, 'till eventually the bird must have been a thousand feet up, then disappearing as a speck over Shirehampton. It is amazing what can happen in 35 minutes!

The pamphlet, "THE PEREGRINE AND THE AVON GORGE"from Simon King & the BBC Natural History Unit, describes this time at the start of the fledgling falcon's career, about 3/4 months after leaving the next in mid June, "the young birds, with their brown plumage and cream tail band, learn to match their parents effortless and breathtaking aerial skills".

Sunday 17th September

10.10am at the Peregrine Watch, a fine sunny day. Runners on the Bristol half marathon were just starting to pass on the Portway. So no traffic noise this morning. Several lesser black backed gulls flying low over the river, and there were six mallards paddling around. No peregrines in the 20 minutes that I was there.