Last evening Jane Hodges, Philip Lees and I looked for a
communal chough roost in NW Pembs. We weren’t disappointed. At least 42 arrived
(most of them from nearby cattle-grazed pasture fields) and began to settle into
various cliff crevices as the sun set over the sea and a rather nice full moon began to
rise over Mynydd Preseli.
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| Choughs arriving and landing on the cliff-top at sunset prior to settling to roost on the cliff-face |
Some of the flock had a close encounter with 2 peregrines (a
juvenile female and an adult-looking male). It looked like the youngster was learning
some hunting skills from the adult. They had a go at a
chough but just missed. The flock quickly rose higher to be above the peregrines
which looked like a smart avoidance move. The peregrines carried on with their
magnificent near talon-grappling display manoeuvres before heading off, presumably
to roost somewhere else.
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| It looked like the young female (on the right and briefly flying upside down in the top photo) was getting some food-passing lessons. Nothing was passed on this occasion! |
A flock of at least 100+ linnets also settled into a roost in a
large patch coastal gorse. A quite noisy heron circled high over the cliffs for
a while, looking as if it was preparing to head off west towards Ireland but it
turned back inland before sunset, perhaps deciding that some the nearby ponds and
an irrigation reservoir were better options for the night.
Bob