Thursday August 5th

Colder today, the tide was coming in, but with a lot of mud still visible.   I'm surprised not to see any Redshank, they are not seen very much recently.   At the Peregrine Watch two birds were visible over in the yew tree, and on careful looking two more could be seen nearly opposite in the trees.  One in an ash, the other in a dead tree;  the latter Peregrine was moving around in the tree, and eventually disappeared from view.  I think that all of these are the youngsters, so I'd glad they are all surviving.  No sign of their parents though.
At Sea Walls I watched a youngster in a bright red helmet abseiling down the well used vertical face near to the Gully;  well supervised by experienced climbers, but nevertheless a brave young lady!  A couple more were lined up for the drop, an several were already down at the bottom of the cliff.

Wednesday 28th July

The common whitebeam by the Sea Walls fence has a good crop of berries. {iPhone photo}.  Back on Saville Road the chesrnut trees look very poorly, many brown patches on the leaves of these fine trees, especially at the Cote Green end.  The Downland has turned back to a pleasant green after the rain.

Offficious wardens object to a family windbreak on the Downs - behavior of the Downs Warden or his underlings needs broadcasting.  Perhaps some attention to the many people who park illegally on the grass, who spoil the grass with barbecues, and who dump huge quantities of picnic rubbish, would be more apposite!   I'm glad to see that the BCC will reprimand those concerned and tell them to be more judiceous in their choice of targets.   They are still working on the Gorge fence, but it looks as if it will not be finished (again), five years to erect a couple of hundred meters of repaired fence!

The four Peregrine youngsters were sitting atop the yew tree opposite the Peregrine Watch.  One flapped its wings and took off, then another.   The other two remained for all the time of my visit.  Then one reappeared, and circled over the quarry, slowly making its way across and over towards Sea Walls.  High up it started to chase a Sea Gull, diving and chasing it high over the Downs and eventually over towards the Zoo.  I understand that at least one Gull has been killed recently,  also that five chicks were ringed and fledged.  Certainly only four survive now.   This was a glorious summer morning, with a warm breeze, high tide (receding), and small clouds.

Tuesday 27th July

Very dull and humid, so cycling was a drain on energy! The river was fairly high with only small amounts of mud. The gulls float around on updrafts and eddies from the gorge winds and make it look so easy. On the river a couple of dozen young Black Headed Gulls and their parents kept in a tight group, moving from the mud to the river and back. At the Peregrine Watch I could only see one Peregrine, perched a little way down on the side of the big yew tree to the left of the quarry; they usually perch on top of the tree, so this was unusual, and probably one of this years young brood. If there were other Peregrines in the quarry and trees I could not see them. Coming across towards Sea Walls on Circular Road I watched a mix of Rooks, Crows and Jackdaws. Rooks really do have very ugly beaks!

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