Monday 19th, Saturday 24th July

One morning ride, one afternoon ride. Monday I had a brief glimpse of a Peregrine as it came into the Watch, otherwise only Gulls and Ducks. There is on very white Duck with the Mallards in the estuary, I see it frequently. A Grey Heron was watching the mud by the drain outlet, slow, angular, deliberate movements. He caught nothing while I watched. Today, Saturday, I cycled out around the usual circuit paused at Black Rocks where several groups of climbers were making their way up the cliff. Neither Redshank nor Kestrel. At the Peregrine Watch two birds at the top of the yew tree, one just below them in the bare tree half way down the quarry, and one flew out, under our cliff, then a little later back to disappear into the trees to the right. That is the four youngsters. One of the other watchers said that five had fledged this year, I thought that it was four. If one is lucky then the parents can be seen passing food to these birds, there was a brie sighting of another Peregrine up towards the Suspension Bridge, but none came down river with food.

Saturday 17th July

A young Peregrine was embedded at the top of the yew tree beside the quarry opposite, and I only spotted her when one of her sisters(?) flew onto the same perch. None others in the quarry that I could see. This morning was much colder than a week or so back, and we had so much rain since my last blog that I was not able (didn't want!) to venture out.
There are workmen repairing the fence above Black Rock cliff, but I wonder whether even now the fence will be finished. I commented on this a long time ago in one of my first blogs!

Thursday, Friday, Sunday, July 8,9 11

Watching Kestrels and Peregrines from a cliff top is always interesting, and at the moment the young of both and their parents appear frequently at eye level. The young Peregrines can be seen over in a dead tree opposite the Watch, sometimes one,sometimes more. When they face us they are very visible with their light front feathers.
On Thursday I watched a Grey Heron just beside the storm outflow, he got up suddenly and grabbed into the water at the end of the drain, coming up with, unmistakeably, even from the Sea Walls cliff top, an eel wriggling in his beak. The struggle went on for several minutes, I think the eel won, because I didn't see the Heron swallow anything, and he was digging in the water near a large rock after the eel disappeared from his beak. Eels are very difficult to dispatch!
On Friday I cycled along the Portway cycle path, I didn't see any raptors, perched or flying, but did see Martins, Swifts and some distant Redshank from the bank at Sea Mills station. On Sunday there was a very large crowd of watchers at the Peregrine Watch, and the birds were putting on a fine flying display.

Wednesday July 7th

The river formed a small stream in the middle of a very muddy bed - matching the colour of the sky! We are promised rain, and the Downs can certainly do with a lot, many places are as brown as the river with the grass looking dead.
At Sea Walls a Cormorant and a Heron were on the river side, together with Common Gulls, Herring Gulls, Black Headed Gulls and a couple of Lesser Black Back Gulls, these squabbling over something in the mud.
One of the adult Kestrels sailed past on the warm southerly wind, then flew around the corner into Walcombe Slade. No sign of the youngsters this morning, they are probably over in Leigh Woods.
At the Peregrine Watch another Heron (or the same one) was searching the grass on the river bank where I suspect there are frogs.
There was one very fast fly-past of a Peregrine just in front of us. Three of the young birds were perched in a tree under some ivy, and about halfway down the opposite quarry face. Until Chris Jones pointed them out to me I had not seen them, I was looking too high up the cliff. Once visible they are obvious, especially when facing across the gorge showing their white fronts. They were moving around in the tree, so that sometimes they disappeared into the background. Chris passed another picture on to me.

Four Young Peregrines by Chris Jones, June 2010

Monday, Tuesday, July 5th, 6th

My first cycle rides for a couple of weeks - the Kestrels and Peregrines are all very active. The young Kestrels, I'm told there are three of them - have been flying around between Black Rock cliffs, the Gully and opposite into Leigh Woods, I have not seen either parent. I visited Whitesands Bay just outside St Davids last week, and watched another pair of Kestrels, which I think may also have been young birds from theier colouring. I even saw a Chough - but only as a fleeting glimpse.
As to the Peregrine youngsters, all five of them, for which this is a 'photo taken by Chris Jones, have been perching over on a ledge in the quarry opposite, sitting on the Raven's nest, in the yew tree, and perching in the upper branches of the trees on the river slopes of Leigh Woods. This morning one of them circled over the Peregrine Watch for a while; in my binoculars I caught it make a feint at a passing bumble bee! We think this is probably the lone (male?), he tends to stay apart from his four siblings. Yesterday the other four were quite close together in the quarry, whereas one (this one?) was over in a dead tree a hundred meters to the right. The parents had deposited a dead pigeon on the cycle track - probably out of sight of all five youngsters - anyway it was ignored and eventually thrown onto the river bank by passing walkers.

Friday June 18th

When I reached the fence above Black Rock cliff I soon spotted a Kestrel, she was sitting on a small pinnacle a few tens of yards and up to the right of the nest; the pinnacle is stained with droppings so is easy to see through glasses. The bird was still for five minutes or so, then when I turned away, she was off, and the last I saw was her disappearing around the corner into Walcombe Slade.

The river showed a small area of mud, and the tide was coming in. A Grey Heron was fishing just down river from Black Rocks, she stayed there during most of the time I was at the Gorge. A curious behavior from a passing Cormorant, it looked almost as if it 'buzzed' the Heron!

No Peregrines, but a large number of Gulls milling around all over the Gorge, from high up, down to river level. It was difficult to see what they were doing and why, but they were certainly very busy. Maybe flying in the slight wind for the love of it?

Wednesday June 16th

I waited quite a long time standing on one of the railing pillars by the Black Rock Quarry, and overlooking the Suspension Bridge. The tide was high and still flowing in, and the sky was a very clear blue. The Kestrel appeared as if from nowhere and circled just below the cliff that juts towards the river, this was the male, with strong red brown top plumage. He moved off into Walcombe Slade. Next the female appeared, slightly larger and not as red-brown. She landed over on the cliff near where I thought the nest was, then took off and flew around below me and over towards Leigh Woods. The female returned once more but did not land, flying back under me and to Leigh Woods again.

At the Peregrine Watch I saw nothing until another birder pointed out a Peregrine busy plucking a pigeon on the cliff opposite, and just up from the now deserted Raven's Nest. Another Peregrine could now be seen just below the nest. The bird finished the pigeon - or left it - and flew off up river. If, as I've been told there are five Peregrine chicks, I would have expected frantic feeding activity, but I didn't see it.