Wednesday 15 June 2011

All In A Flap

What a difference a two week break makes! I left England before the little white chicks chicks were ready to be ringed, and returned last weekend from a family holiday only to see four active, healthy young birds, all flapping about the nest, preening and looking eager to stretch their wings. I had envisaged a fledging date of around 23 June, though it does look like it will be earlier than that, although it's always weather dependant. Rain and wind delays their departure, and one year we saw one of our young birds being physically blown off the platform and forced to fly a few days earlier than intended! You can still see a litle bit of white down left in the image below, but they're all busy preening now and the last remnants are being rapidly lost.

So, with fledging imminent, we have alerted Derbyshire Police and the RSPCA Control Centre. They both now have all our mobile phone numbers, so Nick Brown, Tony Grantham and I will be on standby in case one or more of our birds doesn't quite make it into the air and a member of the public finds one on the ground and reports it to the authorities.

Past experience suggests that the more birds we have on the platform, the more likely it is for one or more of them not to make it into the air on their first attempt. This is presumably because they do not have so much room to exercise and strengthen their wing bones and muscles. It was for that reason that a year or two ago we fitted a "grip strip" to the platform's front lip in order to give the birds more purchase with their talons. If they can hold on better, they can exercise their wings more effectively and thus become stronger fliers when the time comes.

Whilst we generally have a policy of non-interference with these wild birds, it nevertheless seems wholly appropriate to attempt to rescue a downed bird from the busy city streets and to give it a second chance of flying by returning it to the top of the cathedral's tower. We would not encourage anyone to approach too closely if they do find a bird on the ground. Their talons are amazingly sharp and powerful, and if they're somewhere safe and away from disturbance and immediate danger, it's far better best just to leave it there until we can arrive with the Cathedral door key and the necessary equipment to safely transfer it back to the top again.

I'd like to reiterate an earlier comment I made, expressing gratitude to Nick Brown for doing so much for the project recently - a lot of it behind the scenes stuff, especially the coordination of  the watchpoints on Cathedral Green. Although our peregrines do have a world-wide audience, most viewers come from the Derby and Midlands area, and many come in person to the watchpoints on Cathedral Green, here in the heart of our city. We know that some of you like to combine a shopping trip to Derby with a chance to come and see the peregrines for yourself - and this makes eminent sense. There on watchpoint days you'll meet some of the Trust's team of keen volunteers that Nick organises, and who give their time so willingly to "man" the telescopes and share the excitement of watching peregrines in real life with all who come there.

And whilst thanks are being offered, I'd like to acknowledge everyone who has responded to the call on the previous post to donate to the Peregrine Project and give contributions to ensure its success and future development in these uncertain times. Do keep it coming!

Nick Moyes
Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project Team.

26 comments:

Craig said...

13.45 The Falcon just arrived with food, and we have a fight for the food. One of the young Peregrines barges right in to steal the food pushing the Falcon backwards and there is some wing wrestling by the looks of it.

Falcon wins the fight and starts dishing out the food. The looser retreats to beg for food.

Any chance you could look at the footage and see if it's worth taking a video of? It looked amusing.

Joy said...

Just come in after being out all day walking. As we left Derby by bus there was an adult sitting on the last N of Jury's Inn. Now I have jsut looked at the website and these youngsters are more and more like adults. Hope everything goes well for them all this year.

Anonymous said...

At ringing, the chicks were identified as two female, one male and one indeterminate. Is the fourth chick now sufficiently mature to be sexed, e.g. by its behaviour?

Andrew L - London SW1 said...

How time flies. It seems such a short times ago that they were still eggs! And now look at them. Awesome.

Is the video working? I seem to remember last year that there were videos postwed of them (or at least one of them) fledging

That would be lovely to see

And keep up the good work all

Nick Brown (DWT) said...

Andrew L: thanks for your comment. Please be aware that it was Nick Moyes who used to do all the capturing of video clips and making them available for everyone to see via YouTube and the project blog. However, now that Nick is no longer working for the city council (since March), he doesn't have the time to continue to do this work unless the council stumps up some payment - and we are still waiting to hear about that.
Nick is now an independent wildlife consultant and as such has to earn a living to pay his bills!
So for the time being there will be no video clip capturing I'm afraid. Nick does continue to volunteer some time to the project (eg by moderating comments and dealing with various other aspects of the project) but he cannot be expected to put in as much time as he used to do. Hope you understand.
Nick B (DWT)

Joy said...

Nick B thanks for your comments re videoing etc. We all very much miss Nick Moyes work on this project and I'm sorry to say since his loss I feel that other people are loosing interest in this project. There doesn't appear to be the same interest from the general public - I do hope I'm wrong. For myself I have felt less inclined to watch this year yet have followed the Peregrins for the last 4 years. I'm sorry to say this. For this to continue we do need eith Nick M or someone to do that amount of work.

Nick B (DWT) said...

I totally agree Joy: Nick M has been absolutely essential to this project from its inception. You will have noticed though that he is still contributing to the on-going work, eg by writing this latest post about the fledging, carrying out preparatory work to ensure everyone knows what to do if a youngster comes down, moderating comments etc in an entirely voluntary capacity. So I hope you and others will continue to watch our birds and to contribute to the blog comments.
Everyone involved wants to see the project continue into 2012 and beyond and we will do our best to ensure that key players like Nick M are kept on board.
Nick B (DWT)

Becky said...

Just watching them now at 8.50am - one of the parents brought a bird, and the dominant chick (does only one have a red ring? If so is that one the oldest?) has taken the food into a corner to eat the food. The other three are watching their parent down below hopefuly and occassionally calling out for food. I was wondering why they don't try to take any of the food from the baby or argue over it?

Anonymous said...

One chick or should I say juvie is tucking into some brunch whilst the others are taking in the panoramic view of Derby!

Anonymous said...

All four juvies tucked in and having a nap.

Terry, Herts UK said...

Rant ahead. Be warned! Not to everyone's taste or approval!

Firstly, thanks again for everyone's dedication to this project. Whether you are a Nick or not! Whether you are a volunteer or paid for some of your work.

Well, this is the Big Society at work, I'm afraid (in my opinion). It no longer matters how good you are at what you do or how important your work may be or how dedicated you are. What counts is how much it costs and whether any value in your work can be expressed in terms of pound notes on spreadsheets.

There are no bonus points for unpaid work. Nil points for years of unpaid hours. There's no column on the spreadsheet for expertise or knowledge or kindness or research or abseiling.

Being made redundant is a terrible thing which will affect Nick for a long time. Even more than most because he has been a big part of a hugely respected conservation and scientific research project. If I were him, I would consider every one of those four eyases to be a part of me and some small but hugely gratifying reward for my dedication. Most people in their daily working lives are lucky to get a heartfelt "thank you" now and then.

I take my hat off to him. He must be stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Willing and able I would guess to continue but equally offended and hurt perhaps that he was so 'disposable'. Luckily for us, the man is much bigger than that and instead of walking away and having a big void in his life, he wants to continue to do what he can.

Sorry to rant on. I could say a lot more but (rightly) risk moderation so I'll stop. Isn't it quite incredible that a few greedy, fat cats here in the UK and around the world can have such bad consequences for 4 little juvenile peregrines in Derby and all those who avidly watch them and are educated and entertained in such a positive way.

If Green Class weren't so young, I would encourage Miss Brilliant-Teacher to have them discuss the above! :)

Anonymous said...

Just popped in to see 4 younguns on one side - next clip, only 3 - then the missing one reappeared on the other side, presumably he/she flew there. Great to see. I don't usually comment but I'd it to be thought that people were losing interest. I'm hooked as ever!

Andrew L - London SW1 said...

Thanks for the response Nick. I wasn't aware just how much he did. (Shame on me.....)

But I do love watching all this going on and wish all the birds a happy and successful fledging :)

Anonymous said...

It looks like a parent has brought some food in to three of them while the fourth one is on the other side of the nest.

Nick Brown (DWT) said...

Becky: all four chicks should have red (colour) rings on their left legs. These are wrap-around plastic rings which enable anyone who sees one of our young later on - say 30 miles away sitting on a pylon somewhere to know that the bird is a/ a Derbyshire hatched juvenile (other counties have different colours) and b/ a Derby Cathedral bird (juveniles ringed elsewhere in the county have the colour ring on the right leg).
If the person can read the simple number on the colour ring, they can identify the exact juvenile they are looking at.
The 'other' leg has a metal ring with a longer and totally unique number on it and a message to 'inform Brit. Museum SW7' if they should get the bird in the hand, alive or dead.
Hope that explains the way we ring these birds in order to get maximum information from them.
Nick B (DWT)

Phoebe said...

One of the youngsters looked like it almost slipped off the scrape and had to flap to get back up! will try to get pic on flickr.

Phoebe said...

Two screenshots on flickr showing the lead up to the flapping

aka marski

Anonymous said...

only 3 chicks. I have been watching for over 10mins. I know sometimes they go out of sight.
CM

Anonymous said...

Are there only three birds on the ledge this morning? Do we have "Lift off"?

Anonymous said...

Can only see 3 does anyone know what time the fourth fledged?

Nick B (DWT) said...

Does look like three only but one could be up the metal stay that separates the two halves of the platform - up there it would be out of sight to the cameras.
I'll go down and take a look though asap.
nick B (DWT)

Mary T said...

Looks like one has flown! Hoping to get down there this morning. Maybe see some first flights?

Mo and Pete Cole said...

Hi People.....Mo Cole reporting from sunny Greece..(Samos) I was hoping they would not fledge until I came back (23rd) but just managed to get on the net to see one may have fledged.... x

Anonymous said...

@ Terry, Herts; Hear, hear...

Anonymous said...

Brillian news that one juvies has flown the nest successfully - good luck to them all.

Phoebe said...

Great to see one has fledged successfully, I've computer probs and just got online properly! The others are looking very agitated and ready to go except for one which seem very happy just sunning itself! I will try to get down later this evening.