Thursday 16 July 2009

Trust the Wildlife Trust.....

Now that the breeding season has effectively ended, followers of the web cams and blog will be wondering what to do with themselves and already several suggestions have been made about switching to other peregrine webcams elsewhere - indeed watching web cams on other species.
Meanwhile, if you have enjoyed your involvement with the project this year, there are a few things you could do to get more involved with us.
The project is a partnership between the cathedral, the city museum and the county wildlife trust. The first two partners will promote themselves later.
The third partner, the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, is a charity and a non-profit organisation set up in the 1960s. For its income it depends partly on the support of its 12,000 members who pay an annual subscription. Some members also choose to make donations in addition and an increasing number leave us money in their wills.
This income in greatly enhanced by contracts with local councils and by funding applications made by the Trust staff (of whom there are now some 25 people). Funders include the national lottery, landfill tax, charitable trusts and some corporate supporters. Most of this money is short term and hard to get hold - so each year the Trust finds itself with a (usually relatively small) deficit and has to adjust its work and its expenditure accordingly.

Clearly the work of the Trust now relies heavily on the paid staff, without whom it would achieve very little.
Having said that, our wonderful volunteers (numbering over 500) make a major contribution to the Trust's work.

These people contribute their time in many ways: some volunteer to help with the peregrine watchpoints and without them we simply couldn't run them at all! Others help on our many nature reserves around the county. Others do office tasks and a few give their time as trustees, overseeing the work of the Trust and ensuring it develops and operates in a proper manner.

The Trust works in many ways to look after the wildlife of Derbyshire and to draw local people towards a better understanding and appreciation of that wildlife. This Peregrine project is just one (small) aspect of the Trust's work which you can find out more about by visiting our website at http://www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/ .

The Trust's involvement with this project has been there from the very beginning but, as we have said many times before, without the strong partnership with the cathedral and with the museum, this project would have achieved nothing. We each contribute different and complementary elements to make up the whole.

So, if you are not a Trust member already (especially if you live in or near the county), you might like to consider joining us. Several of you have done this already. Others have joined their own local wildlife trust in whatever county or country they live in - and in many ways, that is just as worthwhile (remember the old addage "think global, act local").


Alternatively, if you have not done so already, a donation to the project would be very welcome. Such donations are currently handled by the Trust on behalf of the project and this system has worked well so far. Details of how to make a donation are here

http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/2009/04/donations-needed.html


Finally, you could offer your time to the Trust as a volunteer. For more details please see the website above or contact the trust via the website contact points.
Thank you.


Nick Brown (Derbyshire Wildlife Trust)

Ps. The landscape photo shows a part of the Peak District in North Derbyshire where the Trust has a series of important nature reserves. The last photo shows some of our work with children, here making a giant spider!

27 comments:

Bob and Robin said...

This is a wonderful blog! You have done a great job on designing it and content. Please do feel free to look at our Peregrine Falcon blog (Boise, Idaho) at http://peregrineflight.blogspot.com Hope to see you on the blog.

Nick Brown (DWT) said...

Sorry for accidentally not allowing comments to this post! In dimwit mode at the time!
Quick trip to town this morning found one juvenile on the tower and the falcon on the top of the police HQ aerial a short distance away...but just the two birds.
nick B (DWT)

Anonymous said...

That's OK Nick - I assumed it was deliberate. Thanks for the update on sightings. I hope to grab a quick look "for real" myself next weekend - I'm sure that in typical fashion most birdlife will head for the hills and all I'll see will be a few feral pigeons.

Anonymous said...

Aloha!
Thanks to all for a fabulous 2009!

I hope the female juvie is progressing well under the expert care of Colin. There is definitely a lot of commitment involved in taking care of 010. I have 3 parrots (a 37 year old African Grey, 10 year old Eclectus, and a 14 year old lovebird)==the Grey and and Eclectus have a life expectancy up to 50 years!! They are all great "kids".

Thank you again and am looking forward to next season :-)

Karen Anne said...

Thanks for the peregrine update, Nick.

I've lost track, what is the webcam repair state? Thanks.

Nick B (DWT) said...

AS I recall from Nick M, Karen, they should be running again during this week....that's as much as anyone knows I'm afarid.
Nick B (DWT)

Anonymous said...

Hi all - it's Thursday 23rd July ... and I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms with lack of info from Derby! Do any locals have any news/sightings?

Karen Anne said...

Sue,

I'm reminded of those old US Western movies, where someone in the desert is crawling towards a mirage of water. No webcam, boo-hoo.

Peregrine Project Member (Nick M.) said...

Update:
An engineer is booked in to comne tomorrow to replace and reconfigure our wireless bridge, so I'm hoping we'll have the camera feeds visible again soon.

Now that the birds have left the nest, the cathedral is undertaking much-needed renovations to its clock faces, so there have frequently been workers abseiling down. For this reason there have been relatively fewer sightings of peregrines around the tower recently, but they have plenty of other high buildings they can perch from.

People are still confusing peregrines with the much commoner sparrowhawk which sweeps low across gardens and takes, robin, blackbirds, pigeons, and many other species. We keep getting reports of our peregrines being seen in Derby gardens, which is not the case.

Thanks to Bob and Robin for the links to their peregrine blog in Idaho.

Someone asked about glow worms. Yes that's been one of my many interests over the years, as have the wild plants of Derbyshire. You can see the results of the latter interest at www.derby.gov.uk/flora

Red Class from Brigg Infants School have produced and narrated a fantastic video about Derby's peregrines. I'm currently seeeking permission to make it more widely available via our blog and in Derby Museum itself.

Erica said...

Nick M
Thanks for confirming that you are the glow worm enthusiast. I'll look at the flower site too.
EH

Karen Anne said...

www.derby.gov.uk/flora

Wow, what a lot of work and information. I would be so happy to see something like that for the area I live in.

Are there going to be photos of the plants online, or did I miss that section?

Anonymous said...

I take it the engineer didn't turn up. I hope nobody waited him for him.

Seriously, is there any urgency now that the birds have flown.

Peregrine Project Member (Nick M.) said...

@everyone
We're still having problems with our wireless lnk, I'm afraid. The engineer came on Friday and replaced the faulty unit - but the fault remained! This unusual event has resulted in Cisco recalling the original unit for investigation, as well as leaving the Affiniti engineer and I wondering if the power supply could be at fault. I'd hoped to swap that over on Friday, too, but it was not possible to get into the tower to make the change.
Once again, it's apologies from us and that familiar phrase: "we'll keep you informed of developments."

@Karen Anne Glad you liked our Flora webpages. Still lots more work to do, though.
There are already a number of photos embedded from Flickr on our site, but as yet the number of draft entries without photos far outnumber those with images.
If you'd like to get a taste for what the plants of Derbyshire look like - take a peep at our Flickr photo pool at www.flickr.com/groups/derbyshireflora

Alternatively, try calling up some of these which do already have pictures embedded in them: Carduus nutans; Mimulus moschatus; Orchis morio; Ophrys insectifera; Rubus chamaemorus

Nick Brown (DWT) said...

Both parents were present on the cathedral early this morning (the female flying in from the police HQ tower) but no sign of any juveniles.
This before it started to rain....
Nick B

Erica said...

The Derbyshire wild flowersite is a fantastic piece of work and the Flickr flower photos are lovely.

EH

Pax Canada said...

I have been watching the RSB site,
a hobby with one chick and a unhatched egg great stuff:)

Anonymous said...

I was there late afternoon today and didn't see much of any bird life at all - except loads and loads of pigeons! Without wishing to rake up old issues, it would take a huge flock of peregrines to make any impact on the feral pigoen population, I would have thought. As already reported, it was something of a miserable day. As ever, it was nice to visit inside the cathedral. The flowers looked like a distilation of high summer (in contrast to the weather) and I guess that the white arrangement was left over from a wedding?

Karen Anne said...

Hi, Nick,

Lovely flicker photos - that toothwort is a little strange looking, I wouldn't want to meet it in a dark alley :-)

Thanks very much for the peregrine update.

How is Cathy doing, do you know? I was wondering if she is safe from any problem with the lead now that it is "breaking up"? Thanks.

Phoebe said...

@ Nick Brown

Thank you for the update, I was wondering what was going on with the peregrines, good to hear they are okay. I heard from a friend who went to the green the other day that both parents and both juvenile were around the cathedral.

Anonymous said...

How frustrating for everyone that the webcam glitch appears to be such an obscure fault! @Karen Anne, I think Colin said exactly 3 weeks ago that 010 was due back to the vets in 3 weeks time, so maybe we're a little early asking for news. I'm sure Colin will let us all know as soon as he can as he's well aware of 010's huge band of well-wishers. My weekend was spent at Scarborough (hence the possibility to stop off in Derby) and I was delighted and horrified all at the same time to note that kittiwakes have set up home in Scarborough town centre big time. They are lovely birds but the horror was from wondering about people's reaction - they do have very messy nests - the "Walk Round Stores" looked a real mess!

Anonymous said...

I too have been watching the hobby nest, the chick seems quite big so I'm hoping the other egg doesn't hatch as I don't think it would stand much chance against the chick, not that I know much about hobbys, I'm trying to find more info like how much of a part does the male bird play in rearing the family, does he provide any food?

Anonymous said...

23/07/2009
Peregrine seen catching young Wood Pigeon - Holbrook, Derbys

Nick Brown (DWT) said...

Colin emailed me today to say that 010 was fine - just so you all know!
Other news: at a peregrine nest on a church in the town of Grantham in Lincolnshire about 40 miles East of Derby, a quail leg has just been found bearing a ring put on in Belgium in May. This is the first recovery ever of a foreign ringed quail in the UK!
Nick B (DWT)

Anonymous said...

So glad to hear Colin's update on 010. When he gets time, it would be great to have a fuller update from him.
Meantime, I got an email from the RSPB which had this link to webcams
http://www.rspb.org.uk/webcams/
It might help to fill that gaping hole in our lives now we are in enforced "cold turkey" from Derby.

Anonymous said...

Great news Nick to hear that 010 is doing well. Looking forward to hearing more updates.

We are moving back to Belper in less than 2 weeks so will be a lot closer to Derby soon....

Mary T - Caerphilly - S Wales

Anonymous said...

I was eager to read news of 010 when I added my first comment (and I'm still very happy and relieved!) but now I've thought a bit more about DWT's second bit of news - the peregrine and the quail in Grantham. How intriguing that this is the first UK recovery of a foreign ringed quail. Am I correct in thinking that quail are not great flyers? In which case, does it seem to indicate that the peregrine went hunting all the way to Belgium? I hadn't realised that Grantham was another urban peregrine site either, so that's interesting. I wonder if the birds originally came from Derby (which is very close, as the peregrine flies)

Anonymous said...

Well, a bit more reseach has shown me how little I know! European Quail are apparently MIGRATORY - so much for my opinion that they are poor flyers. They move between northern Europe and Africa - so the owner of the leg was, unusually, going east west instead of the north south.