The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust offices are about 30 minutes drive from Derby city. They are situated in an old cotton mill in Belper. So it is not easy for me to get to Derby quickly - for example to catch the visiting ravens.However, this morning a local bird watcher phoned up to say there was a peregrine sitting on the Mill itself, just above our offices.
We all dashed out and there it was - an immature bird sitting near the top of the mill, looking down on us!
While we've occasionally seen peregrines over and near the mill, this is the first time we've seen one perching on it.
The bird's head was browny grey suggesting it was an immature bird. It could possibly be a youngster from the 2006 cathedral progeny or maybe a bird from another inland nest (there are several pairs nesting on cliffs and quarries in Derbyshire). We couldn't see any colour rings so that would rule out one of the 2007 cathedral young.
Whether it stays or becomes a regular here remains to be seen.
Nick (Brown)
Derbyshire Wildlife Trust (blogging in his lunch hour!)
On the raven front, I see they were present at the cathedral again today (Monday) - see Andy Simpson's comment.
Ravens are great birds in their own right.
Here's an excellent photo of a Welsh raven taken by top photographer Sue Tranter at Gigrin Farm in Wales where they gather with red kites at a feeding station.
Note their powerful beaks.......
More on ravens later!
(New visitors to this blog you may wish to read an overview of the peregrine project, or add their names to our mailing list.)
2 falcons on either side of the nest 14.13 Monday just after (my) lunch.
ReplyDeleteJohn A
One falcon on the nest, checking out things below, the faster refresh rate is excellent.
ReplyDeleteIs the immature falcon visible in the trust building photo? Is the building suitable for a nest? How cool would that be :-)
Hi Karen Ann: the bird isn't visible - I had forgotten my camera today and so this is a photo from the web. The bird was high up and next to a flat ledge so anything would be possible in the future..though obviously the bird today was on its own and probably still not old enough to breed...but who knows?
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, it would be very cool - I could watch the birds here and forget all about the cathedral ones(only joking!)
Nick B
Looks like 'mum' having breakfast @ 07:00 in the right hand nest.
ReplyDeleteA question. As both ravens and peregrines share similar nest sites what separation distance would be tolerated?
ReplyDeleteThe left cam has turned in the black-and-white. Jennie, HK.
ReplyDeleteFalcon in the left cam view.
ReplyDeleteThat's some beak on the raven, you'd think they were set up to crack walnuts or something...
Anonymour asked: "As both ravens and peregrines share similar nest sites what separation distance would be tolerated?"
ReplyDeleteThe monograph by D Ratcliffe on peregrine falcons reports one known instance where peregrines and ravens nested just 5 metres apart on a buttress of rock where they weren't within sight of each other. A few at 10m apart have been reported, but generally it is much farther apart than this -perhaps a few hundred metres - something they won't easily find in Derby.