How things have moved on

Thinking back to this time last year, we were guessing whether the birds had laid eggs, how many and whether incubation had begun or not (the breeding season was some three weeks later, so incubation had hardly begun by this date). Now of course we can click a button and see the incubating parent, night and day which is quite magical! Twelve months ago, it was seeing the very tip of a wing poking up above the front of the platform that finally proved that incubation was taking place and that eggs had, indeed, been laid.
People visiting the webcam pictures or reading this blog will hardly be aware of the extra-ordinary amount of work which our partner Nick Moyes at Derby Museum has devoted to this project since the autumn in order to get to this state of affairs. As someone involved with this project from the outset, I must applaud his energy, skill, ingenuity and sheer hard work in getting the cameras up and producing such high quality pictures. Believe me it has not been easy, far from it!
Meanwhile, the wildlife trust is planning the public watch point events on Cathedral Green and prey recording continues. A little grebe corpse was found on 20th and on 24th, a golden plover, albeit a rather old and maggoty one!
In half term the wildlife trust will hold four 'family activity sessions' at the cathedral, focussed on the peregrines, and the museum will hold another in June. More on this later.