Monday 7 April 2008

Hatching Soon....on a DVD player near you

Well, not the eggs hatching of course, but an exciting new DVD called 'The Peregrines of Derby Cathedral' will be available to buy very soon. Jasper Films have been working since February, gradually putting together a 35 minute DVD, the sale of which will financially benefit our Peregrine Project. Here's a promo video to give you a taste of what's to come. (Just click the image below of peregrine expert, Ed Drewitt, to play the clip)







Featuring Chris Packham of TV fame (and a vice-president of The Wildlife Trusts), plus the local Nicks and Ed Drewitt, plus lots and lots of video clips from the cathedral web cams, this DVD will be a 'must have' for everyone who has enjoyed watching these amazing birds either via the web cams or from the ground. As well as telling the story of our Derby birds, it will feature footage gathered from all over the globe, adding peregrine sequences we can't get via the web cams (such as flight shots). Their musical sound track will surely add a sense of mystery and drama, too!

So, watch this space for news of the hatching (i.e. launch) and how you can get hold of your copy.

(For Wildlife Trust members among you, an advert appears in the new issue of 'Wild Derbyshire', DWT's own magazine, which should be with you any day now. New visitors to this blog may also wish to read an overview of the peregrine project, or have their names added to our mailing list for major news items.)

Nick B

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks really super.

If they're going to be set up so that people can buy these with a credit card, maybe they could add an additional thing so that people could optionally also fork out a bit extra on their cards to support the peregrine project. That would make it easier for your worldwide audience to help out :-)

Anonymous said...

When I looked in just now, there was a lot of rutching around. Seems to have settled down, more or less. Not sure what that was, maybe the eggs had been rolled, or there was a handoff or just restlessness...

Anonymous said...

Good idea Karen Anne, thanks! Shouldn't be a problem - at least for sales via the wildlife trust.
I also better cost out P&P for abroad hadn't I.....and conversion to dollars/euros etc....
Nick B

Anonymous said...

What a brilliant idea, I can't wait to buy my DVD. I shall probably buy several and give them away as presents - I hope there will be enough to go round.

A couple of questions: How long can Peregrine Falcons live, and have you any idea how old our two are? KEEP UP THE BRILLIANT WORK!!!

Anna, Ripley

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to get a copy of the DVD. I shall use it at a "Junior Springwatch" event that will be on in Aylesbury so local children will be fired with enthusiasm to see what is so tantalisingly close on their own doorstep. We don't know for sure yet, but our young pair of peregrines don't look as if they'll breed this year but, everything crossed, maybe sometime soon. Are all of the Wildlife Trusts totally separate - my local one is BBOWT (Bucks, Berks and Oxon). I would have thought people from those 3 counties would have been interested too (specially if you tell them I joined specifically due to the great work done by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust on the Derby Peregrine Project - which is absolutely true!)
Sue H, Wendover

Anonymous said...

Anna: no shortage of DVDs...we'll just get as many as we need produced and they can be replenished very quickly on an 'as needs' basis!
Sue: yes, the wildlife trusts are all autonomous but work in partnership of course.
Naturally, we will be trying to get every trust to promote the DVD.
BBOWT is an active trust and I hope you enjoy being a member. They have some super reserves too!
Anyway, do urge them to promote the DVD and even sell it directly too....
Nick B

Anonymous said...

pax B.C.
Nick, will I be able to play the DVD on my player here in Canada?

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

We've been told there will be no problem about region codes. But we're not the experts, so we'll ensure there are full details available to reassure everyone outside the UK once the DVD is ready.

Anonymous said...

12.23pm Pax
eggs all alone

Anonymous said...

Does anyone no if we have any more eggs or has incubatoin started.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for the DVD..great news. Hope it will play on my computer.

Is that a buzzard also in the teaser video? It doesn't have the usual peregrine head with malar stripe and the feathers are brown?

As for eggs, I don't think there will be anymore. The fourth was laid last Friday so I imagine they're in full incubation.

Veronica in Cornwall

Anonymous said...

Hi Nick B
Yes, I love being a BBOWT member and you can take the credit for giving me the final motivation to join due to the peregrines project. I shall certainly plug away about the DVD.
Incidentally - I actually had a look at the webcam (I think I almost enjoy reading people's reactions on the blog as much as seeing "our" birds). Is it just me or does everyone see the comment at the top "...... our birds fledged in late June but remain around the Cathedral ..." Must confuse newcomers to the site. All is tranquil there at present - and the third camera is a delight too - often "sees" the male sitting there. I should look more often - it's very soothing. I even enjoy watchng people and cars passing below. It's oddly calming!
Sue H, Wendover

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

In reply to your comments to Nick Brown, Sue, I ought to say that we do plan to reword the webcam pages themselves. We don't have instant control over them and plan a number of changes in the near future - including changing the misleading reference to right and left cameras. I think for now we'll keep our main nest feed on one page and the multi-image view on the other, which we'll refer to in some ambiguous way so as to allow us to switch the camera feed over without confusing visitors any more than we do already!

Anonymous said...

On another Peregrine webcam website, "Imprints", they say their Falcons are often seen turning their eggs in order to keep them evenly warm.

I've never seen the Derby birds do this. Is it too early for them to be doing so or any other explanation?

It would seem to make sense but in my experience, even a very brief glimpse of Derby's eggs is a rare sight as both birds seem to be extremely protective.

Anonymous said...

Hi tm
The parents are definitely turning the eggs regularly and if you check Froona's website (there's a link on this Derby page under March 31 entry)she has photos of the eggs and 'changing of the guard'! Veronica in Cornwall

Anonymous said...

Really enjoy your birds and the cam's. Thought I'd leave a link for those who enjoy watching Peregrines nest. This link is to a site in Columbus,Ohio
USA(http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/wildlife/dow/falcons/live_ledge_video.aspx

Anonymous said...

hi it just a thought but is there anyway that the quad cams could b double clicked on to enlarge them as iv seen 1 off thr birds with a kill 2day n would have been nice 2 see it on a larger scale like the nest cam is

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

May I correct the url to Columbus Ohio, which wasn't complete in the previous comments? It's: http://ohiodnr.com/wildlife/dow/falcons/columbus.aspx

You get a great option of refreshed still images, or a live audio/video feed. Their birds are now incubating four eggs, and were ahead of ours last year, but laid later than our this year. I owe many thanks to their coordinator, Donna Daniel, who was most helpful to me when Derby Museum was planning the webcams here last year.(was it really only one year ago?) I then felt terribly guilty when we learnt that none of their eggs hatched out in 2007, whilst two of our did. It was the first time I realised that things could go terribly wrong, and dash all our hopes for the season. Such is life. We wish them well for this season.

Regarding double-clicking our image to get a larger picture. No, this isn't possible. Behind the scenes we can remotely select what images you get in the frame, but there's no way we you can double click to go to that single image.
We listened to the feedback we were getting and felt that the "quad view" of three pictures gives the best overview of what's happening on the tower at any one time, and that the single big view of the nest is probabl;y best for now.
We were planning to invest some of the kind donations the project has received into a third image feed, but there are now further developments going on behind the scenes which we hope to bring you later in the season. These could be just as effective. No promises at this stage - but it's exciting stuff, I can tell you.
Nick M.
Derby Museum & Art Gallery

Anonymous said...

Watched the local news at lunchtime and the Derby Peregrine project was shown! Bet the site will have even more hits now!

Anonymous said...

I've just found the news item on the ITV Central website. It's at: http://www.itvlocal.com/central/news/?player=CEN_News_15&void=176746

Anonymous said...

THANK YOU for that link to the news. It was really great. Was that one of the 'Nicks' in the footage? I wish there was a way to post photos here as I watched a really neat incubation change where the male was most reluctant to give up his duties. Veronica in Cornwall.

Anonymous said...

Veronica,

Email your photo to
peregrine@derby.gov.uk
then they can put it up on the web site if they like.

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

That's right, Veronica. As Karen Anne says, email me your special photos. But may I make one plea? In Derby City Council we only have a 40Mb Inbox limit, so please keep the file size down to a sensible level - no more than 200k. If I need to capture a webcam image I hit Print Screen - then paste that into an image editing program, cropping out the surrounding garbage. Save it as a jpeg and email it over. Please only send the really special ones or else I'll get a very full email system in no time at all!!
Nick M.

Anonymous said...

It was Nick M (for Moyes) of Derby Museum on Central TV's news today. He's the guy we all need to be very grateful to for the brilliant work he has done over the last year and a half to get the camera's in place and the images out on the internet.
Make no mistake, Nick has worked very far beyond the call of duty on this project and continues to do so!
I'm the older, greyer and, well, craggier Nick (B stands for Brown)who works for the county wildlife trust. You might have caught me on the DVD promo with the trust logo in the background.
For some strange reason the peregrine world is full of Nick's! Apart from Nicks M and B, Nick Evans is the friend of Nick M's who made the nest platform and abseiled down with Nick M to fix it and subsequently cleans and maintains it.
Nick Dixon,based in Devon, is a further Nick who was a great help in the early days when Nick B was just thinking about how good it might be to have a platform up there and was trying to sell the idea to Nick M ! It seems such a long long time ago now.....
Anyway, if you were confused before, you'll be doubly so now!
Nick B (he's the one...etc etc)

Anonymous said...

The Aylesbury Peregrines have gone off on perigrinations - sigh! I blame that flighty piece of a female, she came and seduced our male away (although he'd hardly have been able to raise a family without her!) So, continue to rejoice in your wonderful fortune Derby (as I know you do). All looks calm and peaceful there today - a bit misty in the background, as we have it down here in Bucks too. My peregrine watching will have to be exclusively via your webcam now - I'm going to have to switch live watches to badgers now. Wish me luck with that! I shall also have to hang on for the Hobbies returning to Tring Reservoirs.
Sue H, various locations in Bucks

Anonymous said...

By the way, no need for anyone to get their Nick-ers in a twist working out who's who. We have Nick M(.oyes, or .useum); Nick B(.rown or .eardman of DWT); Nick D(.ixon or .evon) and Nick E(.vans or .gg guardian)
Sorry, I'll get back to work now ...
Sue H (again)

Anonymous said...

What a shame, the left camera on the sitting female has gone down :-( I hope you can get it fixed soon because I love watching them.

Anonymous said...

To Sue H in Bucks...thanks for that great 'nicker twister' Sue. That is such a help sorting out who's who. Much appreciated. Veronica in Cornwall