Friday 3 February 2017

Roof matters (part 2)

Image by Tamworth Scaffolding
As expected, the scaffolders are now active on the nave roof of Derby Cathedral. This week they will continue fitting the long metal beams across it to form a central apex over which a strong, weatherproof plastic 'shroud' will then be stretched. Once it is, our peregrines will then not be able to see any movement of the builders working on the roof below them. Apparently, the work is ahead of schedule, which is good news.

Let's hope the birds are not phased by this activity and still visit their nest after 4pm (when work generally stops) and at weekends. If you see a bird on the platform at any time during the weekday, do please let us know by leaving a comment here on our blog, or sending a tweet to @derbyperegrines


For those of you who are aware of the law which states that disturbing a peregrine falcon on its nest is a serious offence, we can assure you that we have worked closely with the Natural England's wildlife advisors. Their advice has always been to ensure that roof work started well before the breeding season so that, if they did end up being disturbed by the activity below them, then they would simply give nesting a break for that year, and no offence would be caused because there would be no nesting activity to disturb. The Cathedral staff and builders have worked hard to schedule this work at the optimum time, and so it's been very pleasing so far to see our birds still happy to return to the nest ledge over the weekend of 4th/5th February. See here.







The end of our directional Yagi aerial can just be seen in the
bottom of the picture as a grey cylinder.
  Will it be able to stay in contact with The Silk Mill as work continues?
The one technical  problem we will soon be facing is the fact that our internet connection relies on a highly directional aerial to send our signals wirelessly to the Silk Mill opposite. (From there, a laser beam sends our signals onwards to Derby Council House and then out to the big, wide interwebby world.)  We expect the forthcoming metal beams to be blocking these signals, so are now looking to temporarily extend our aerial cable by 15metres (50ft) and place it at the edge of the scaffolding. And this has also been posing us a small challenge. Read more on this here

The Project Team





Here's another video captured by Wendy Bartter on Saturday morning showing that, clearly, our falcon has not been put off nest-scraping as a prelude to breeding this season.

50 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saturday 09.45

Just been watching a peregrine cleaning and preening his or her feathers! Sorry couldn't distinguish its sex.

Anne in Allestree

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

Thanks, Anne
It's 10:230 and I've just popped up into the cathedral tower to do some maintenance work on our cabling, and have seen our adult come onto the nest platform and do a brief 'scrape' in the gravel, and it's now perching on the edge. From its size across the platform, I took it to be or male, however in bulk it looks more like our female falcon. As is always the way, it takes a little time to get one's eye back in.

By the way. we now have a second stream online - our old analogue camera, visible on page 1. We've arranged this so that it doesn't time out at all. Therefore viewers might like to keep this stream running for monitoring purposes, then turn on one of the other live video streams when there's some nest action to watch or listen to.
Nick.

Helen said...

Peregrine still on the platform at the moment(10.40am), with some ee-chupping taking place. The second peregrine can be heard in flight somewhere close by, presumably circling the tower. Good to see that Stream 1 is also working this morning. Thank you!

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

Looking out across the nave roof, I'm amazed how much metalwork is directly in line with our aerial signal, yet it's clearly getting out. This is good news. We'll have to see what next week's work brings.

Wendy Bartter said...

But is not reaching me Nick ... lost connectivity to your site @ 11.01 & no amount of refreshing brings it back ... at a loss now!!

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

Notice: Feb 4th 1pm. The entire Derby City Council website at www.derby.gov.uk went down this morning around 11am. There's nothing we can do until it is fixed, though we can be confident it will be brought back up just as soon as possible.

Helen said...

Stream 4 is working fine at the moment(1.15pm).

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

That's weird, Helen. At 13:23 I see nothing - no DCC homepage and none of our webcam streams.

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

Update: Deby Council have confirmed their website is currently down.
From @derbycc: "Hi @derbyperegrines we're working hard to get our website back up. Apologies for the inconvenience." 13:18pm

Helen said...

I can't access Stream 1 or the DCC homepage either but still no problem with Stream 4 which is running as normal with sound. Very strange! No peregrines on the platform at the moment.

Helen said...

Maybe I am able to view Stream 4 because it was already up and running on my laptop. It has also refreshed as normal. I can't access it from my phone though. Very odd! A quick picture on flickr showing the current time.

Wendy Bartter said...

That is indeed very strange Helen, I lost my stream even though I was recording from it at the time! Here's a vid I put together to try & ascertain which Peregrine is which or if it is the same one who flew off & then returned ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiZTAu8nxtA

And another covering the period from when I first spotted him/her? until the first flyaway ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t7vN7pmMNA

Wendy Bartter said...

Great to log on just now & find cams up & running again albeit no-one home ... many thanks Derby City Council!

KATE said...

Well done Derby Council and all our TEAM.
1st capture o Cam 1 on FLKR, in the scrape and the other calling off cams

Wendy Bartter said...

A bit more action from yesterday when Mrs DP flew in @ 09.24 ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2Vwn9YvKrk

Wendy Bartter said...

In this footage you can hear Mrs DP scraping the gravel ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSzauc0Fm5M

Wendy Bartter said...

Some footage from today's footage which I logged on to late ... Kate has the best pics ... but the calling/answering sounds are good to hear although other bird never showed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nyIeATWe6U

Wendy Bartter said...

meant to say ... from today's brief visit!!!

Anonymous said...

Monday 6 February at 9.24 Peregrine sitting facing the cathedral whilst looking over its shoulder at, presumably the workmen, on the roof of the nave.

Anne in Allestree

Wendy Bartter said...

Thanks for the alert Anne, sooo very foggy there this morning, looks chilly!
Just been temporarily confused by the new order of webcam page numbers & all the views now available ... thanks team, should provide some great images & much insight!

KATE said...

Doh! Wendy thanks for the update re cams , as links still to be updated that they are now running. BUTTTTT Cam 1 is same view live cam 4 at the moment, lost the looking into the corner of scrape.

Maybe they are being worked on as I type , will check again later
Thank you Team

Wendy Bartter said...

Haven't seen any comments on new order of cam pages anywhere yet Kate!
Here's some footage from yesterday, good sounds from them both visiting early but in that thick fog before roofers started ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhzG729lw-c

Wendy Bartter said...

Peregrines don't appear disturbed by roofers, plenty more actions yesterday ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luCpZY7Vm3Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luCpZY7Vm3Y

Anonymous said...

The peregrine is sitting apparently enjoying watching all the vehicle lights of Derby. 18.46 7 February.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KATE said...

Morning all
One sitting looking at the work on the roof below, took some captures posted over on Flkr, shows new cam format..

Wendy Bartter said...

Here's footage to support Kate's pics ... first one shows roofing progress plus Peregrine flying in at teabreak ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gzEfrdFphE
& the second showing Peregrine actions ... Is this Mrs DP do you think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD_YI_DjEbA

Wendy Bartter said...

Time for a catch-up on vid captures which you may like to see ...

9th Feb Mrs DP ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk3Gl8oxS2s

Today, our pair ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPosrow2qQ8

KATE said...

Page 2 Cam 4 Gives a view of the gigantic Meccanno effort being made by the (as Wendy says)
Lego people ..CHOL:):)

Pic on FLKR GROUP

Wendy Bartter said...

Haha Kate. was a great deal of action & hammering today from the 'little folk!'
Lovely surprise to get this footage ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuTzG5Yw3v8 please excuse techie problems!

Wendy Bartter said...

Just the one short visit this morning ...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbhJN0PbplA

Nick B (DWT) said...

Wendy/Kate: thanks so much for all these observations and videos. It's great that the birds are visiting the nest and let's hope that once the plastic shroud is fixed in place they can get on with the task in hand unmolested.
Nick B

Wendy Bartter said...

Hi Nick, good to see our pair seemed determined to carry on & like you am itching to see the shroud go on! Some early morning actions, the second of which I have left deliberately long for the interest ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXppkKhFK3o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QJFR9EV8y0

KATE said...

Thanks Nick, lets hope the shroud flapping will not scare them, and Wendy the second bird could possibly be the Tierce doing his mating ritual, showing off as she was definitely ee chupping to him.

Wendy Bartter said...

Looks like Mrs DP on scrape again right now, she is quiet but can hear the distant calling again by

Anonymous said...

Yipee, just seen the peregrine on the scrape, relieved as I my visits have not coincided with hers for quite a few days!
Do hope the birds are not to upset by the 'little folk'!

KATE said...

Well done Anne.
First of roof layers on, looks very strurdy..

Helen said...

A peregrine sitting on the platform early evening.

Helen said...

Just spotted a small bird resting on the platform but unfortunately it took off before I could get a screen shot. First time I've seen anything other than the peregrines using the platform at night. No idea what it was but it was certainly very small.

Anonymous said...

Peregrine sat on the platform this morning.
Chris M

Wendy Bartter said...

''Just spotted a small bird resting on the platform''
Thanks Helen, would have missed it myself ... slowed down but still can't ID for sure, any ideas?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn-_FfoIlhg

Wendy Bartter said...

Vid footage from yesterday of the roof cover-up & various Peregrine actions ... demonstrating that thankfully they are not much put out by the works!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYvFgouK1JU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBMnSUkiCCc

Anonymous said...

Marvellous as I've been watching the peregrine for several minutes now. The pictures are sooooo clear! Many thanks to all involved for letting me peep into this beautiful bird's 'private' life.

Wendy Bartter said...

Just looked at 'little bird' vid again & most likely at that time of night, IMO, is a Robin, probably attracted by lights, out & about singing !

Helen said...

Thanks Wendy, much appreciated. I've looked at the video a few times now and it does look a bit robin like, but it's very difficult to tell. It seems to fly up from the stonework below. Very interesting! I've only ever seen pigeons or doves on the platform, other than the peregrines.

Heather said...

Peregrine on scrape chup chupping with male? calling but camera is frozen approx 4 seconds behind correct time. Page 1 Cam 3 ( not quite sure how to name cameras yet) but it's first camera with audio.

Thanks Wendy for all your hard work, haven't been logging on recently and wondered if any signs of mating had been captured. Wonder if we'll hav any luck this year as it seems they're only around scrape when workers are away from knave roof, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

Anonymous said...

Peregrine sitting on the scrape apparently enjoying the sunshine, a change from the damp weather we've had so much of this week. When the Cathedral clock 9.15 she seemed to tilt her head up towards the clock.

Wendy Bartter said...

Hi Heather, good to have you back! Not witnessed actual mating yet but there will be some vids of more frequent bonding sessions! They have enjoyed a peaceful weekend with no roofers but, by the end of the week they had shown sins of getting used to the disruption & it is to be hoped that the scaffold covering will be completed quickly next week. ... will then have a better idea of how the pair get on with nesting!

ren13 said...

wow, just looked at the delay cam, i use that most often due to my dsl limitations, the new angle is great!can't wait to see if mr and mrs p settle in and give us a new season of watching... and know that we may get a new pairing at some point..

Wendy Bartter said...

Link to latest on the great cover-up overseen by Mrs DP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIkEHJhJ7wg