Sand martins nesting by the River Severn

I couldn't resist the urge to go to the water today and thought I might watch swallows nesting and feeding their young on the Gloucester to Sharpness canal, an favoured spot of mine. But I chose a different and more circuitous route which enabled me to see the River Severn in several places. 

I spent a short while at Framilode Passage, the site of an old crossing point between the Forest of Dean in the west and the eastern bank leading towards the Cotswold hills. It was very still and there were few birds at all, which surprised me as the sand banks in the river are often feeding grounds for countless birds at low tide.

So I drove on about two miles to Epney where the road runs beside the river for a few hundred yards becoming the top of the big flood prevention wall. Where the road swings back away from the river there is a pub which is a good place to watch the wide expanse of the river. I stood at the end of the bank where there is a metal fence allowing narrow views along the river wall. 

I stood and marvelled at the antics of the numerous sand martins and swallows which were feeding on the wing, swooping across the river and the mud flats at the bottom of the wall. I have photographed there before and once again I poked my camera through the railings of the fence to watch the sandmartins flying up to the forty foot high face of the wall. They use cracks and small holes in the quite weathered concrete rendering as their nests.

It began to rain so I couldn't stay long to get a perfect shot of the birds in flight, although i was tempted to just stay there all afternoon. Some of the birds hung onto the vertical wall and looked me in the eye, whilst others flew in and out constantly. Some birds seemed to be bringing nest material whilst others seemed to be bringing food for their young.

I have added an 'Extra photo' of one of the birds clinging to the wall, like a miniature rock climber might have to do. A jackdaw landed on a railing a feet feet from my head and stared at me for a minute before flying away. Sparrows flew around the various shrubs on the river bank in the pub's garden. Reed birds warbled and flew about, but I couldn't identify them exactly. I love it there and felt very glad I'd taken the time to visit the river today.