A kestrel crossing the River Severn

I took the opportunity of a sunny day to go for a short visit to the Wildlife and Wetland Centre at Slimbridge. As I still can't walk very easily, I thought I'd just go to one of the hides where last year I'd photographed a Peregrine Falcon.  I quite wanted to see one again and on the websites there were reports of them being sighted from the Holden Tower.

But I broke one of my golden rules for Bank Holidays by driving around.  It was madness, with queues at several points on the twelve mile journey. Once I finally got near to the Centre, the approach roads were snarled up.  They are very narrow lanes through small hamlets and drivers had managed to block the road in several places because they didn't know the size of their vehicles and weren't used to country roads.

I eventually gave up, turned around and headed back to at least get close to the River Severn by another approach. I turned into a cul-de-sac we visit regulalry leading to Framilode church on the banks of the river. At least there I found tranquility and a spot on the bank to watch the river flowing swiftly towards the sea laden with flotsam of trees and bushes from further upstream.

There weren't many birds other than gulls and occasional mallard, crows and pigeons. I heard a lot of birdsong from the hedgerow and possibly from warblers in the tall reed beds. In the distance I spotted what seemed to be a very large buzzard, but didn't see any cranes as I have done before on odd occasions.

But as I was preparing to leave I spotted a bird flying diagonally across the river which is probably at least a hundred yards wide at this point. As it approached I realised from its flight that it was a kestrel and quickly tried to zoom in.  It spotted me as its flight path was coming straight at me, and after watching me for a couple of seconds it changed course around me and flew along the centre of the river till it had passed by me and then carried on to cross the farmland. I was very pleased to have seen it at all.

If you like kestrels, one of my favourite blips I have ever shot is this one from our holiday in Polzeath, Cornwall where I got a very unusual and quite close viewpoint of a beautiful bird.