Still three on last Watch Point day

Update 15th June:
Watch Point volunteer Helen went down to the Cathedral on Sunday morning and reported seeing all five birds looking fine!

The Sunday Times (16 June) had a short article in the print edition about peregrines on UK cathedrals with a mention of the Derby Cathedral birds included. 

There's a much longer, online article with many more photos and quotes but it is behind a £1 /month paywall.

Update 14th June: all three have fledged successfully with at least one returning occasionally.
If you've enjoyed watching the webcams do please consider making a donation to keep the project going for next year.

There's a donations tab on the top of the blog landing page.

Many thanks and see you all next year!

Ps The web cams stay live all year round and the adults remain close to and sometimes on the nest platform.....

Update 11 June:
More photos by Dave Farmer, taken yesterday, show the now confident male, XRL on the tower's stonework shouting for food:

And looking down on the world below:

Update 8th June:

The Watch Point was slightly disrupted by other events going on nearby but our volunteers stayed through to the end so a big thank you to them and for helping out at all four Watch Points. Thanks too to the DWT staff who helped and to John from Cathedral Quarter who organised the gazebo.

Volunteer Helen summarising the morning said:

A very active morning. The adults and all three juveniles were showing well all the time. There were several occasions when we thought one of the young birds was going to fly. One of them fluttered up to the right hand side of the platform and briefly perched at the side of the camera bracket, before dropping back down on to the scrape.
One of the big females looks ready to go. Lots of wing flapping and head bobbing. We could clearly see the difference in size between the male juvenile and the two bigger females when all three were perched on the edge of the platform.
A red kite drifted overhead, prompting the adult male to fly from it's perch half way up the tower. One of the adult falcons very nearly caught a pigeon just to the left of us over the buildings but the pigeon just managed to swerve out of the way at the last moment. There was also a tussle with the local gulls to add to the scene!

Wendy Bartter made this video today:

And on Friday, Dave Farmer took these photos:

                               Showing the difference between the adult on the right and the juvenile.
                                                                Photo: Dave Farmer

                      One of the bigger female juveniles looks out on a busy Cathedral Green below
                                                     Photo: Dave Farmer

                         No sign of any white fluff now! Photo: Dave Farmer

The Project Team
The Project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust support from partners The Cathedral, Cathedral Quarter and Derby City Council

Return to the nest, the last Watch Point tomorrow and a request

It seems the young male that fell off on Tuesday has managed to get back to the nest platform with all three juveniles present this morning (Friday 7th).
Thanks to everyone who sent in comments.
When a juvenile leaves the nest platform, it is rare for it to return so quickly so this was quite a surprise.
This screengrab is by Kate and shows all three this morning:

Meanwhile the final Watch Point takes place tomorrow, Saturday 8th and by then, who knows what might have happened.
So do come down to the Cathedral if you live nearby.
DWT trainee Chloe and our excellent Watch Point volunteers look forward to seeing you!

This project comes to you free and 24/7. It costs between £2-3000 to run each year and we rely to a great extent on donations from web cam watchers. So please consider sending a donation if you have enjoyed (and are still enjoying) watching.

There's a donations tab on the blog landing page.

Many thanks in advance!

The Project Team
The Project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with support from its partners The Cathedral, Cathedral Quarter and the City Council IT team.

First chick leaves

Early yesterday morning (about 6 am, Tuesday 4th) the smallest chick (colour ring XRL, probably a male, the smallest of the three when ringed) accidentally fell off the platform but ended up on a chimney above Irongate nearby.
It should be fine but checks will be made to see where it has got to.
Thanks to Nick M and local watcher Cliff for eventually finding it, aided by Jessica from the Cathedral to whom also many thanks.

One of Cliff's photos:

And here is one of Dave Farmer's photos taken on Monday when all three chicks were still present:

The Project Team
The project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with great support from its partners, Derby Cathedral, Cathedral Quarter and the City Council's IT team.

Third watch point coming up plus latest photos

 June 2nd Update:

The third Watch Point went well even though the sun didn't oblige.
164 visitors were logged. Helen, one of our long term volunteers wrote:
A lot of people already seemed to have been following the blog and already knew quite a bit about the project. A young girl said she had been watching in school and had come specifically to have a look. Quite a few visitors seemed happy to stick around while one family had been to every watchpoint so far this season! It was good to see some familiar faces from past years including one lady who has also been every week...and there were lots of good questions from people which kept us busy! 
Big thanks to everyone who helped out!

The final Watch Point is on Saturday 8th June between 10 am and    2 pm. As you can see below, the chicks are really advanced  so they should be on the verge of fledging by then!

Dave Farmer took these great photos on Wednesday (28th):

To see Wendy Bartter's many video's of feeding sessions scroll down to the comments at the foot of the previous post.

Hope to see you on Saturday?

The Project Team
The project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with support from its partners Derby Cathedral, Cathedral Quarter and the City Council IT team.

Watch Point well supported and the second was today

Monday 27th: Wendy's YT video of the chicks today shows them getting their feathers:

Saturday 25th May Watch Point report:

There were more than one hundred visitors including some who had been last week and others who came back for more later on!
The birds were less active until late on when both adult birds arrived back so there was more to see. 

               The male looks on as the female feeds the chicks. Photo by Joyce Sawford.

The male retrieved some cached prey from one of the alcoves on the 'window' which he seemed to leave on the scrape. The female was then seen feeding the chicks. From the ground it looked as if all three chicks were getting fed and this was confirmed when checks of the web cams were made on mobiles.

There was also an art group present who were sketching.  One of them, Tom Burley, produced this quick painting of the watchpoint:

The next Watch Point is on Saturday 1st June and the last on 8th June. Do come along if you can.....

Report on the first Watch Point on 18th May:

Over 180 visitors, including many children, visited the first watch point event today (18th).
The weather was great and the birds performed well.
Huge thanks to our volunteers for giving up their time today and to Cathedral Quarter for the use of a gazebo and funding support as well!

The Project Team
This project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with great support from The Cathedral staff, Cathedral Quarter and the city council's IT team.

Come and see the chicks and adults 'for real'

This Saturday (18th) sees the first of four Peregrine Watch Point events take place on the grass of Cathedral Green on Full Street behind the Cathedral.
They are free and everyone is welcome to drop in at any time between 10am and 2pm and to use the telescopes the Wildlife Trust provides and talk to our brilliant and knowledgeable volunteers and staff.
Seeing the birds 'in the flesh' provides a completely different experience from watching them on the web cams.

You'll see the adults flying about and of course be able to marvel at the wonderful grade 1 listed tower built in the 1530s with its strange 'grotesques' in the shape of various real and mythical animals.
Come for five minutes or, if the weather is favourable, bring a chair or a rug and stay much longer!
There will be games for children too...

The other three Watch Points will run at the same times (10am to 2pm) on Saturdays 25th May, 1st June and 8th June (by which time the chicks will be close to flying!)

Please scroll down this blog to read about the ringing of the chicks earlier this week and  even further down to read about the hatching of the eggs.
You can leave comments by clicking on 'comments' at the foot of each blog post.

The Project Team
This 18 year old project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with great support from The Cathedral, Cathedral Quarter and the City Council's IT team.

The three chicks get their bling!

 Rings were put on the legs of the three chicks today (14th May). Abseilers Nick and Jess collected the chicks at the nest platform and lowered them down to be ringed inside the tower by a team of skilled, licenced bird ringers.

Two chicks weighed over 600 grams and were judged to be females.
They have colour rings XSL and XTL.
The third chick, probably the last one to hatch, which also had very little in its crop, was just over 500 grams and so was probably, but not certainly, a male. Its colour ring is XRL.

The photos below are by Chloe, one of the ringers and by Jessica from the Cathedral - thanks to both:

Nick and Jess arrive at the platform and tie themselves off

Bagging the chicks before sending them down to be ringed. Screenshot by Jessica

                                   Close up of colour ring XSL (Jessica Kilmurray)

The three chicks after being ringed. Photo by Chloe

Chick being weighed, siting quietly in a flower pot.....

                       Look closely to see the metal BTO ring which has a unique number on it.
                                                                Photo by Chloe

The first Watch Point event is this Saturday 18th - more on this to follow on Thursday.

The Project Team
This project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with the great support of three partners: Derby Cathedral, Cathedral Quarter and Derby City Council.