Friday September 14th

This mornings Peregrine appeared from the quarry trees as I first looked. She glided around on the wind above the quarry then explored the trees. Then she was attacked by one of the Ravens! This might have been a young bird, but she soon turned the tables on the Raven, and it was chased, dive bombed, harried, and out-flown by the little falcon. She chased it back to the old ravens nest on the cliff, then proceeded to fly about the quarry, and to make passes at the sulking Raven! Whenever it moved, she chased it. Can a Peregrine kill a Raven? I suspect that it could from the display that I saw.
This Peregrine then continued to fly, mostly high up and above the Gorge, ranging from the Suspension bridge to over the Downs by Sea Walls, on several occasions pigeons were chased, and nearly caught; at one stage I thought that she had a pigeon, it looked as if the two were locked together, but she appeared again very quickly, flying on her own. When two Ravens reappeared flying high and slightly towards the bridge, she joined them, then she chased one of them again until it retreated down to the Gorge. After this she resumed her patrol up and down. Every time I started to leave, she re-appeared, and when I finally left for breakfast, after over an hour of watching this amazing little bird, I even saw her flying just off Ladies Mile.
During all this time the other birds were notable for their absence, pigeons did appear - and were chased, a squadron of five ducks flew towards the Suspension bridge whilst she was there, the next I saw was a lone duck speeding back down the river, then the Peregrine rising again towards Nightingale Valley.
Was this only one bird? Probably, otherwise I only ever saw one falcon at a time.

His wings hold all creation in a weightless quiet,
Steady as a hallucination in the streaming air.

The appearance of a lone Buzzard over by the Suspension Bridge was very mundane in comparison.

Thursday 13th September

In contrast to yesterday, this morning was bright and sunny with a clear blue sky, I arrived at the Peregrine Watch around 8.30, and the bouts of activity from over in the quarry kept me there until 9.45. A Heron, then a Cormorant flew down river, there were Mallard flying up and down and swimming on the river. Then a Peregrine appeared flying near the Watch, circled around several times and disappeared beneath us - probably a young female. Next a Peregrine (the same one?), started flying around the quarry opposite, but rather than landing, it flew about the tree tops, nearly colliding with them on some occasions, then landed at the top of the yew tree, where it remained. I watched a Jay fly past it, then the Peregrine disappeared. It reappeared again, flying just above the tree tops around the quarry, then landed. This was repeated several times, landing in different trees, but it then landed again at the top of the yew tree, and was now mobbed by a pair of Magpies, they all, Peregrine and Magpies, hopped back and forth at the top of the tree, and whilst it was difficult to see what was happening, the Magpies were very persistent, keeping the Peregrine moving around to avoid them. The Peregrine flew again, spending some time gliding around before ending up at the top of the banana tree. I left it sitting there. This was all rather curious behaviour for a Peregrine - that is the way it was flying around for a relatively long time without landing. At one stage I was watching a couple of Jackdaws on the cliff, when the Peregrine appeared from above and pursued something into a tree below, it was so fast, and both pursuer and pursued just disappeared.

Apart from the birds, a man and his dog were in the quarry, from his attention to the ground, I suspect a naturalist. There was an accident on the Portway just after 8.30, and this kept the traffic off for most of my stay - it was noticeably quieter!

Wednesday 12th September

I was at the Peregrine Watch earlier this morning, the heavy traffic on the roads at this time reminding me why I prefer to cycle after 9 o'clock. There was also a heavy grey sky with the tide just turning. Apart from an energetic flock of fifty or more Jackdaws flying around over the river, there was very little bird life. I could not see any Peregrines anywhere around.

Tuesday 11th September

A very brief appearance! A Peregrine appeared above the Peregrine Watch as if from nowhere, then was gone and we did not see him again. A quiet but beautifully sunny morning with an ebb tide.

Monday September 10th

A Peregrine in the Banana Tree was just visible from Sea Walls, he was still there when I left the Peregrine Watch half and hour later. Another peregrine was flying - a large, slightly brown bird with an indistinct 'mask', so probably a young female. She made a couple of half-hearted dives at pigeons, one by Walcombe Valley, the other over to the bottom of the left hand quarry. Then she disappeared. There was a Buzzard circling over towards Horseshoe Bend, and making its way over Avonmouth.

Most notable was a large group of Swallows, juveniles and grown-ups, circling high around and above the Peregrine Watch, the whole group disappeared all at once, so I expect they are Sahara bound. Good luck!

Sunday August 9th

The Portway was closed to traffic this morning, and was packed with half-marathon runners when I cycled past at around 10.30am. Gulls on the mud and some carefree pigeons were all that was to be seen, I expect that there was more activity earlier in the morning, and before this invasion. To compound things there was a rave party going on in Walcombe valley! Oh, I did see a large flock (100+) of starlings up by Ladies Mile.

Friday August 7th

A Gorge Drama this morning. A warm, misty blue sky morning, the river was very low, exposing rocks on the river bed, with a rapid out-going flow, and with many, many birds exploring the mud. A Cormorant was sitting on the mud just the the right of Sea Walls, it scarcely moved during all of my visit, eventually it went over to one of the sets of rocks. The Cormorant was joined by a couple of Redshank, they probed the mud, and flew on, working their way down river. Then on the other side of the Sea Walls cliff a heron was sitting on the mud. By the Peregrine Watch there were three Peregrines, flying and then perching over in the quarry opposite, one in the banana tree, two down by the Raven's nest. I looked through a x30 telescope to see these, this showed them to be the two adults and one youngster. The return of the Ravens set them flying around the quarry, buzzing the Ravens, and getting very agitated. They retreated over to the cliff underneath us. I wondered whether they had a catch stashed at the Ravens nest? It could explain why the Ravens went back to the nest the other day, and why they were so interested today. Three Peregrines are no match for a couple of Ravens, at least not when on the ground! A very large group of gulls (100+), Common, Black Headed, and Herring, with juvenile Black Backed Gulls were swept down river by a very strong current. Again there must have been something to feed on since there was interest from a number of crows who were flying low over the water. Add to these a Buzzard that I saw over towards Avonmouth. Finally the Roe deer were over in the right hand quarry, a large deer moved into the trees, another remained almost invisible and behind a small birch tree.