Barcelona Cafe Streatham

peregrine falcon - Tate Modern chimney

A lonely peregrine  up on the Tate Modern chimney this afternoon ....not a great picture but Through the RSPB scope I could clearly see she /he moving his mouth as if angrily screaming , or so it seemed to me . The RSPB man told me they think there are 25 of them in London, he also said he'd seen Honey Buzzards while doing his stint at the Tate Modern. I was thrilled to see this Peregrine - imperious and apparently in a white hot rage above the city.

A peregrine falcon high on the Tate Modern chimney this afternoon, moving his/her mouth as if screaming, an erupting rage of yellow eyes.

A documentary about these birds claimed to measure a peregrine in a hunting stoop (dive) at 242 mph- it's the fastet animal on the planet. The RSPB man said they couldn't tell its gender, like sparrowhawks the female is bigger - this is called sexual dimorphism.

Wild flower meadow Horniman Gardens and fungi walk poster

Box Hill and Headley Common ride

On Friday I enjoyed a lovely day riding to Box Hill via Banstead Heath and Headley Common - hardly anyone else was around - perfect!

Moth walk Norwood Country Park

Not too many moths about but the talker brought an amazing caterpillar, it was quite late , way beyond my bed time, so I can't remember much detail. Walking home from Norwood there was a magnificant storm over central London with forked lightening, luckily dry in the South, I saw two lovely fox Cubs.

Birmingham library

I always wanted to see this new library building in Birmingham since it was completed, and it was very impressive in real life.

Sparrowhawk update

Shortly before I went camping it was great to see a tree full of young Sparrowhawks , the two biggest perched next to each other looking out over the wood while the fluffier younger sibling still sat on the nest, since then I haven't seen them and conclude they've all gone away, which is sad but how it should be. I did see a Sparrowhawk over Streatham last week so wonder if that was one of the young ones looking for a new home . It was a wonderful experience to watch this Sparrowhawk story from the couple first meeting and mating to incubating the eggs and watching the young grow up into handsome  young Hawks, I miss them a lot a still look up into the nest in case one has decided to stay - someone told me the father hawk does stay, while the others all go off into the world.