Wednesday 21st May

A Cormorant flew downstream low over the river water, following the river bends and racing the traffic on the Portway; the bird was easily matching the cars which travel at between 40 and 50 mph. The still, high water level, probably helped it, but I was amazed at the birds' turn of speed. I had a brief view of the male Peregrine as he came into the cliff below the Peregrine Watch.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, 18-20th May

The temperature has dropped by ten degrees from last week, and there is a cold north wind, only when the sun comes from behind the clouds does it feel like late May. I saw the Peregrines today and Sunday, on each occasion coming from somewhere in the trees and after circling several times over the river, landing under the cliff.
The estuary is very quiet at present, few gulls or ducks, and no Redshank. I usually look down river from Sea Walls with my glasses to see if I can see anything on the mud. Today I was rewarded with the sight of a pair of Shelduck, a large male and his accompanying smaller mate, they were well down river so a little difficult to see. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was taking an interest in whatever the male duck had found in the mud, and the duck kept the gull at bay - also enabling me to see that the duck was larger than the gull. So these were certainly not a pair of Shoveler ducks.
On Monday, in nearly the same place, but over the grass beside the river, a Kestrel was hunting. Every now and again the bird dived and flew over the nearby road (chasing something?), so that on a couple of occasions it nearly collided with passing vehicles - a large coach in particular. Eventually the Kestrel gave up the river side and disappeared into the woodland beside Snyed Park.

Friday May 16th

There are no Redshank on the mud at low tide, I expect that they are all away on their nests! There must be a Wren's nest close to the Jackdaw Tree; the Wren sings when I turn up, and there was a change in the 'language' when a large Crow landed on the tree! One of the Jackdaws, also with a nest just below the cliff, did not like this Crow one little bit. I heard a raucous noise from the Jackdaw as it repeatedly dive-bombed the Crow. When the Crow didn't move the Jackdaw landed on the other side of the tree - away from the Crow - eyed the Crow up and down - took off again - and went in for the kill! This time the Crow flew off, pursued by one very angry Jackdaw, they crossed the road, and only then was the Jackdaw happy. She returned the the tree and started preening. The Wren's notes became much sweeter, and I could see it sitting on a bottom branch of a little hawthorn on the Gorge edge.

Wednesday May 14th

Four Ravens were flying lazily around over Leigh Woods, if this is 'Family Raven' I wondered where the fifth was, especially since it was difficult to distinguish the youngsters from their parents. What took place next could mean that a Peregrine has had one of the young Ravens. The male Peregrine appeared, he certainly took great exception to all four Ravens, launching a series of swoop attacks; no feathers flew but the Ravens all retreated towards Bristol. The Peregrine swooped down to his nest on the cliff below me, he folded his wings as in a swoop for the last few meters - an angry bird?!

Tuesday May 13th

Two trips up onto the Downs today. The first a foreshortened ride due to meeting Roger at the Peregrine Watch, and then, after walking back over the downland and looking at the trees and shrubs, we decided to return and spend time photographing the trees and flora on the Downs, but especially in the Gully. We spent several hours walking and clambering around the steep slopes and the rocks in the Gully (Walcombe Slade) where we took over 200 pictures. The state of a lot of this region is very disappointing. Management, hmmmm ....! I was amazed at the number of Whitebeam around, these are losing their initial white glow as the leaves age a little. The Downs trees are in their full glory at present. Westonbirt eat your heart out!
Afterwards, a short stay at the Watch in the afternoon: first a Buzzard being seen off by one of the Ravens, then later two of last years juvenile Pergrines appeared briefly and circled in the Gorge, then the male from the nest took off and started hunting, circling slowly up over Leigh Woods, disappearing for a while, then circling higher and eventually disappearing over towards Bristol. I understand that the chicks may have fledged, so we may start to see the two parents feeding their young; it will get intersting in early June.

Sunday 4th May

This morning was very quiet, I eventually spotted two of the young Ravens sitting on top of the Yew trees to the right of their nest; maybe they only return to the nest at nightfall?
The Chestnut trees on Saville Road are now fully laden with their leaves and flowers, and the other trees are showing greenery of every shade. The Gorge Whitebeams are especially beautiful, the light green of these trees (and I hear there are over 200 of them), show up vividly amongst the other greens. The Whitebeams are not all in full leaf, probably reflecting the many micro-climates of the Gorge. A little quarry to the right, when viewed from the Peregrine Watch, has a rim which is nearly ringed with Whitebeams; many more are visible in Walcombe Slade, but the best view of them is still from the Peregrine Watch.

Friday May 2nd

We saw the first Swifts this morning, calling loudly as they flew over the Peregrine Watch. Two young Ravens are still on the side of their nest, the third appears to have moved to the cliff face over to the left (we saw an adult go in to feed it). High above was a hunting Peregrine. A quiet day!