Friday, Sunday, Monday, 25th, 27th, 28th January

With a high tide (just on the turn) most bird activity is in the air, or for the Peregrines over in the trees opposite. On all three days there were Peregrines roosting in the oaks opposite, on Friday and Monday two, and Sunday one. They get up and fly occasionally, either returning to the oak roost, or coming over to land underneath the Peregrine Watch. You have to be quick to catch sight of them! This morning one of the two birds was just visible from Sea Walls. On Sunday a pair of Carrion Crows could be seen pestering a Buzzard over towards Sea Walls, they chased it over towards Leigh Woods, leaving it be once it reached the woodland. The Buzzard worked its way over the tree line, and then reappeared up by Nightingale Valley, where it was chased by another couple of Crows! Other birds during the three days - Mallard and Gulls on the river, Cormorants flying up river, then Magpies, Pigeons, Crows and Gulls on the Downs.

Wednesday 23rd January

This was a very dull morning with a heavy layer of cloud, the air was damp, but at least it was not raining. Large groups of Black Headed and Common Gulls, with the occasional Herring and Black Headed Gull were lined up on the mud, they occasionally rose in a large flock to fly over the water. I could see a solitary Redshank on the mud and small rocks below Sea Walls, no courting today. Neither were there any Peregrines visible, flying or perched in the oak. Maybe I needed to stay longer for a viewing?

Monday & Tuesday, 21st & 22nd January

Monday was so wet that when I reached Sea Walls I could see very little through the raindrops on my glasses, just enough to make out the forms of Gulls on the mud, and vague smaller brown shapes which I took to be Redshank. The Peregrine Watch was even wetter!
Tuesday was bright and clear with a watery sun. At Sea Walls as I peered immediately over the cliff I noticed two Redshank among the rocks on the mud below. Courting! The male all puffed up and walking round to attract the female, she looked rather unconcerned, but he enticed her into the water and with a flutter of white from their flight feathers, mated; afterwards they walked away from each other picking in the mud as they separated. Spring must be near. At the Peregrine Watch there were three Redshank on the mud below, it looked as if they were also playing the mating game. A Peregrine was over in the oak opposite, he (a small bird) flew over and below our cliff, then a little later reappeared again in the oak. A Kestral came and sat on a dead tree at the base of the cliff. A really beautiful bird with black tips to its wings and a beech-brown plumage.

A good day for my 200th posting on this blog.

Saturday, Monday to Wednesday, January 12th, 14th to 16th

The weather has been atrocious so I have been lucky to get any rides in at all. With a full river and little mud I don't see many Redshank, however they appeared on the small areas of mud made during a retreating tide, and, better still, I was able to see them fly. Usually they are pecking the mud and do little flying; I was lucky and twice caught several birds in my binoculars, and in flight when they show a beautiful white flash on their wings and under-belly.

At the Peregrine Watch, especially a little later in the morning, a female has taken up a perch in an oak tree just beside a little clearing between the two quarries opposite. The tree is slightly left of twin ivy-covered trees. I wonder if this is where she digests her kill in the morning? When there is sunlight her breast looks like a lantern and draws ones eye too her. She was present on three of the four days, and once left the perch to fly over to the cliff under the Watch, then a few minutes later, flying back followed by another Peregrine. The other disappeared into the trees, and despite a lot of searching, I could not find it.
The Jackdaws are very noisy at present, and (very obviously) mostly paired up, Gulls, Cormorants and Mallard are plentiful, so the stop off is usually worth it. Cold and wet drive one away.

Tuesday, Wednesday 8th, 9th January

Tuesday: warm again, I passed a Pied Wagtail on Cairns Road. They are always very tame, and I cycled within a meter of him. At Sea Walls, on the mud on the opposite bank I watched a Curlew carefully examining the mud, it strutted along the water edge, then carefully went up and down the little gullies that run down from the river grass. His head went up suddenly as a very light brown hawk, I assume a Kestral, passed over. I did not see the Curlew again, he had disappeared when I looked back. Below the cliff were a large group of Gulls, a Cormorant and the usual Mallard. Redshank were scattered up and down the estuary. A Heron flew down river. At the Peregrine Watch I could see a Peregrine perched over in the woods in a very similar position to a previous day, maybe this is the favourite spot to digest breakfast at present. Sometimes the variety of birds on view in a very short time is truly amazing, this was such a day.
Wednesday: some 5 degrees colder. Ugh! Only Redshank, Ducks and Gulls this morning, and it was too cold to linger.

Sunday 6th January

Sunny and frosty ... and my bike slipped going round a corner! No damage apart from a couple of scrapes and too my dignity; a fall brings home how unsafe two wheels can be. From Sea Walls I could see a large wader on the mud a couple of hundred meters down stream. Possibly, it was a Curlew from the way it moved, it looked larger than some gulls at a similar distance. Otherwise Mallard, tight groups of Black Headed Gulls and occasional Redshank, three Cormorants reared snake-like heads on the river. Nothing at the Peregrine Watch.

Friday, Saturday 4th, 5th January

An interesting couple of days! Friday was so misty, and the cloud so low that it was difficult to see over to the quarries from the Peregrine Watch, so not much to report there. However at Sea Walls I saw the lanky form of a Curlew picking around on the mud, there were several Redshank and a number of Black Headed Gulls and Mallard, all making the most of the mud. On Saturday I passed the Grey Wagtail at the beginning of Saville Road, he was unphased by a jogger, or by me turning my bike for a closer look. Cute! The sunshine at Sea Walls brought the Redshank legs to life, several were feeding on the mud. They move their head back and forth as they travel. One bird was moving up and down on the mud, alternately climbing the mud bank and then returning to the water edge. From the Peregrine Watch, on the other side of the river, two Redshank were probing the mud, but keeping away from the water edge. It would be interesting to know exactly what these birds find in the mud?
There was a very brief glimpse of a female Peregrine as she came to the cliff face beneath the Watch, at the time the grass behind me was crowded with Jackdaws, picking up some scraps left for them. The Jackdaws are largely paired up, they are also quite tame, especially if one keeps still! On the river, Mallard, Black Headed, Greater and Lesser Black Backed and Common Gulls, and a Heron flapped off downstream.