So ……….. it’s Sunday and we have the sunniest day for ages, you know that everyone is going to be out and about making the best of the late summer sun. My kind of nightmare, I prefer it to be sunny and bright during the week when everyone is at school or work, how very selfish of me. But, with lots of people tramping and trampling over every picturesque and wildlife friendly place , well you know any self respecting bird, butterfly, dragonfly or what have you is going to be long gone until peace resumes. So what to do, where to go? We decided on Berry Head, just the other side of Brixham, at least we might be able to find a nice quietish place on the cliffs, and so it turned out. To be honest it wasn’t too bad at all and apart from the usual young trendy couple with kids strapped to them in baby carriers, I suppose it was relatively peaceful. We set up on the Cliff top over looking the Mew Stone and it wasnt long before this nice Kestrel flew past.

She flew past me several times and perched either to my left or to my right so I guess I was smack in the middle of her territory, this is heavily cropped but Kestrels are really hard to get close to when perched. Just a note about sexing, this is a female. If it were a male you would see a slate blue head, and he would be slightly smaller. Female birds of prey are always larger. I would guess by the droppings on the rock that this is a usual perch for her. With a bit of planning and a hide it would be relatively easy to get closer and get some smashing close up shots………….. I feel a plan coming on!

In this photo you can see that she was joined by a mischievous magpie who proceeded to fly behind her and pull her tail, see below.

That dark object at the back is in actual fact the Magpie and not the Kestrel’s tail.

I spoke to a lady who told me she had seen a Puffin, unfortunately we didn’t but we did see a few Raven as well as lots of gulls and Cormorant but believe it or not, not a single passerine!

One of the Ravens………. just about got it in the frame!
This bird was one of several that flew back and forth, sometimes in front of me.I find that Ravens are easy to identify in places like this. Just listen out for their really croaky calls. They are easily missed because you can assume that they are Carrion Crow. But, once you recognise the call you will notice the wedge shaped tail. They never really seem as big as they are because they usually keep a distance from you and its difficult to judge size and distance. Seeing them perched and close up however is a different matter, then they look absolutely massive.