A new series called "Nature in Britain" is being filmed this summer, to be presented by Alan Titchmarsh - well known in the UK as a TV gardener and all-round presenter.Three cameramen, sound recordist, interviewer and producer gathered at the Peregrine Watch Point (now on Cathedral Green every day from 10-2pm) to talk to shoppers and passers-by.
Later, whilst we were filming inside the tower we were lucky enough to see on-camera one of the chicks doing its first "projectile poo" - by 8 days old they can squirt out their faeces some 15-20cm. This is the white mess you see on the wooden sides of the platform, but sadly the activity doesn't
quite come across that well with static web images.There was mild concern yesterday about the adult male's left eye, which he was keeping closed for much of the time, though it did not stop him hunting for food. We'll bring you more news of this in the next few days.
As well as the Peregrine Falcons, two other local wildlife features in Derby were being filmed: the crayfish at Markeaton Brook, and the sand martins and skylarks at The Sanctuary - which is the city's first bird reserve, right next door to Pride Park Football Stadium.
4 comments:
With reference to the males eye, if something did happen to either bird would they pair up with a new partner and would they return to this nest sight? sam bull derby
It's good to see the numbers of visitors to the diary and the webcams going up each day.
It's looking like the the chicks are getting too big to be sat on. How long will the female go on doing this?
I've featured your peregrine falcon cam at:
Birdwatching Blog
Aplogies for the delay in replying to comments on this entry. The male's eye seemed to get better as the days went by, although his white "eyelid" - or nictating membrane - was still up over his eye for quite a bit of time. IOn answer to the question about how long do the parents brood the chicks- well, at the time of replying (16 days after hatching) the chicks now seem too big and independant to need much brooding. It was getting quite a struggle for her to strecth her wings over the young but growing birds.
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