Chepstow wildlife

A nice day out at the Boat Inn by the river Wye in downtown Chepstow yesterday, warm with some sun, lots of wildlife activity, the fox was out skulking around on the far side of the river, first time I’ve seen him this year.  The Peregrines had 3 eggs but only two hatched, one of the chicks is missing and we have no idea what happened to it, maybe it fell out of the nest.
This years sparrows were looking for easy pickings around the dining tables, and a family of Shelducks sailed silently and majestically past while on the opposite bank a female mallard was going through the drama of introducing her brood to water for the first time.
The peregrines were hunting and giving us a display of aerobatics coupled with the speed only peregrines can produce, amazing birds they always seem to manage to stay out of effective camera range, very frustrating.
A buzzard was being mobbed by crows and decided to beat a retreat only to return a little later to be mobbed by about a dozen gulls, must have been a bit teed off with it because he left and did not return again.  A sparrow hawk did his fly past of the trees to have a bit of fun with the local pigeon population, funny how they scatter at the site of a sparrow hawk but seem willing to live in the same neighbourhood as the Peregrines and supply them with lunch daily (at least once).
Quite a lot of wildlife on this stretch of the river, Seals are often seen, a few weeks ago one caught 4 salmon in less than 30 minutes, Cormorants fish for eels, an otter was seen a few weeks ago on the far bank and on Wednesday an adult with two youngsters was seen at twilight playing in the same place on the far bank but I haven’t seen these for myself.
 Some friends were enjoying an evening drink by the bandstand when around the corner a deer came trotting past, saw them and jumped back in the river (from whence he came), swam over to the other side and disappeared into the undergrowth, not an everyday occurrence.  Richard told me he was on the bridge one day and there were three porpoise swimming up river, this happened a few years ago.

For those who like to observe Peregrines in action then this is the place, far better than Symonds Yat up in the Forest of Dean.
Most of these pictures were taken at 300 yards plus so they are not very good but the best I can do with the little skill available, the closer shots I can offer no excuse for.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

So much nicer and cheaper than being dragged around the shops as so many seem to do for their pleasure

Dragged round the shops, the very thought of it.
I'll be going down there for lunch shortly and will take my Sigmonster lens with me, might get some better pictures with the longer reach, if I do I'll put some in this thread.
Maybe ken will sort out a dedicated thread for wildlife so we can look at other peoples efforts, how about it Ken?
Please I might have said.
Cal

Oh well, took loads of stuff with me, ate far too much lunch, very quiet on the wildlife front but a Peregrine did a stoop that was breathtakingly fast and pulled up about 40 feet short of the river, didn't seem to be chasing anything so it must have been just for the hell of it.
Cal