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More drama this morning when 003, our only female, took her turn to fall to earth.

At 7.30 she was on the top of this building which is just West of the tower. As you can see the roof is being repaired and when a workman went up to start work she took off and flew round the north side of the tower.

Unfortunately she either didn't clear the trees that grow there or tried to land in the top of them. By the time I got round there she was hanging upside down from a branch but soon came crashing down through the branches onto the paving below. Fortunately Jon Salloway and Graham Whitmore were on hand to help shepherd the bird into a small garden where she could be easily caught.

She was much bigger in the hand than the male, 005, that came to ground on Friday (see previous blog entry). In a strange way, we had rather been hoping 003 would come to ground because worries had been expressed privately about her foot being swollen up. In the hand we could see that her feet were absolutely fine and the rings were loose and free.

Our gloves and carry-box were inside the cathedral but fortunately the verger, Heather, had just arrived to open up, so we boxed her up (the bird not the verger!) and took her up the 198 steps to the very top.

We held the box by the crenellation and she just scrambled out and sat there looking inwards, none the worse for her ordeal....if a little bemused.

These are my less than wonderful photos...some of Jon and Graham's to follow no doubt

Nick B (DWT)

DONATIONS NEEDED!

By the way, should you want to make a donation towards this project and the work we do to look after these fabulous birds (and rescue them when the need arises) please email enquiries@derbyshirewt.co.uk and we'll send you the details of how to get money to us. This is an expensive project to operate. It takes a lot of man hours to achieve everything we have achieved and this does cost money (we do get paid for some of the time we spend on this work, though by no means all, as we give a lot of time voluntarily).

The Wildlife Trust is a charity and it has to earn its keep. We try hard to get external funding, legacies, donations and raise money in many other ways too. Despite this effort, we have a deficit budget again this year so we'll be working even harder to get the funding in to keep all out work for wildlife across the whole county going. See the Trust's website for more information about its work. Derby Museums also has to raise monies for its various project work such as this one, so here again, money underpins everything we do.

Many thanks in advance.