Our three peregrine webcameras are online again after an unexpected break over Easter. Please accept our apologies for this break in service which occurred when all our Council's servers had to physically relocated. Thanks to our brand new IT company, Serco, for fixing this problem.Interestingly, daily hits fell from around three and half thousand to just over five hundred during this period, although our blog's ranking in the top 500 birding websites did not change much because it doesn't measure hits to our webcams.
More importantly, we hope you can see for yourself that our peregrines are doing fine, and there's still a couple of weeks to wait before they start hatching.
We've recently received some donations to the Project, and our thanks to everyone from as far afield as Hong Kong, Canada, Austria who have supported us, not to mention those closer to home, too. We will update our homepage in the near future with all recent donors.
46 comments:
Great to have the webcams back. Thanks :)
pax Canada 8.55am
Yes! there back, so nice to see the falcons again, thanks :-)
Wonderful to have the cams back, I've been checking every day over the break to see if they were back - so glad they are!!!!
Jayne
I've missed the cams SO much over Easter. Woohoo, they're back!!
Great to have cameras back Joy
Hoorah! Worcester's no substitute for the real thing...
Yes! Yes! So good to see the webcams again. I guess a lot of customers used to view the blogs via the webcam page - which may explain the marked drop in hits.
@ Karen Ann - I cannot see why my Firefox suppresses the word verification image. I tinkered with the settings for an hour but then gave up!
Miserable weather here in Derby today. I feel like the peregrine, keeping snuggled down out of the weather. I do regret that the building of that hotel blocks the view northwards. Oh well!
Jackie
And here's another "welcome back, you were missed". However, it all looks just the same - and thank goodness, as has been said before, the break happened now and not at a crucial time like hatching or fledging! We've got a vile grey, wet day here in Aylesbury too - and I have to go out in it now. It'll give me a chance to see what might be on the County Hall Tower Block (if anything!!)
Andy have you been popping down recently ???
Regards
Colin
Mr P just took over (looking after the kids) from Mrs P - a well deserved break I'm sure for Mrs P
Mr P sat on the ledge for quite some time lookin around. I don't think Mrs P was very impressed - I could imaging her saying "here I am lookin after the kids and you're galavanting with yer mates all night." LOL
Of course this would have been true in the human world.
Colin will pop down today about six hope to see you there. Andy! hope your well.
Hurray, webcams working once again. Nice to see everything's alright with our little family and they had a peaceful Easter. Roll on end of April... looking forward to seeing the chicks.
I think one of the birds has got a kill - you can see it from the pud camera. Its happily tucking into it.
I've been up to London today and the weather has been awful - the rain's been lashing down. I hope it's been kinder in Derby for our birds, especially the incubating female.
EEK! Very strange views at the moment. The "left camera" seems to have a huge close up, so I can see a small part of the incubating bird but very "bigged up". The pudding cam view has a strange large blob of light on it - not like anything I've seen before.
We've had better weather down here today, hope you've had the same in Derby.
Pax Canada 4.09pm
yes the camera's look a little strange
All looks fine now with the cameras. Incubation looks as if it's going on peacefully and uneventfully too - and it looks a pleasant day in Derby.
I've checked and we DO still have our THIRD summer pair around Bucks County Hall but they're not breeding. Are they just mentally defective or are they still too young - at what age are peregrines normally ready?
Do the birds have another favourite perch, somewhere out of camara shot? During the past 2 days I have not seen a second bird on the puddding cam or next box. I hope they are both ok.
They seem to be favouring the left side of the Catherdral looking from the front with the nest ledge on.
Regards
Colin
Looks like I missed some action this afternoon, there seems to be lots of new feathers on the ledge. Drat! Work does get in the way of serious pere-viewing.
Pax Canada 12.19am
well it wont be long now before the first egg hatches, I have not seen much of the male falcon, I guess I keep missing him.
Hi Pax C, I was concerned that I had not seen the tiercel for two days, but yesterday evening I got a 6 second glimpse. He visited the nest, got sworn at for disturbing her, and flew off!
I would love to know what was on the menu yesterday, the feathers are quite large but I cannot tell the species.
The spider was entertaining last night, presenting a bright, white ghostly image as it scuttled about - too close to the camera for focus, but very well illuminated.
Roger, see my comments of 17th April @ 18:12 on "Cameras Alive" - I think it was a pigeon on the menu from what I could see that day.
Roger, you were lucky to see some entertaining motion from the webcams last night. Me in a different time zone always got a static image, not even seeing a bird on the lower ledge from the left cam. Hope it won't take too long for the eggs to hatch. Jennie, Hong Kong.
He looks reluctant to get off those eggs again 12.04 PM
This is probably one for Colin ..... VCoiin, you were spot on about the laying of the eggs, do you have a prediction for the time and date of hatching?
Eggs should hatch around April the 30th. Depending on just when incubation started, and my maths???
So we should see a chick before April is out.
Regards
Colin
Pax Canada 8.20am
Thanks Roger (AT) :)
Just saw a neat change-over at19:02. They certainly don't waste time do they? The eggs were not exposed for more than a few seconds. I was hoping to catch them on a screen shot to re-assure Jennie, but no luck. Falcon now in charge again.
can anyone please tell me where i can watch the webcams through live stream? at the moment i am watching them and there is a time jump every few seconds with no sound.
many thanks wayne,
Pax Canada 12.11am
Hi Wayne, we hope to see a live web
cam in the near future, for now we are just enjoying watching the falcons this way, and we do get live clips posted from time to time :)
Happy Earth Day everyone
Not seen a 2nd peregrin for days, hope they are ok? Joy
Thanks Roger. If the birds keep changing turn sitting on the eggs, I wonder if they turn the eggs to ensure they get heat evenly. Jennie, Hong Kong.
So probably only a week to go to hatching then! Can't wait. I've been reading the blogs from previous years and it all looks jolly exciting and interesting. Do we have any idea where the chicks from last year and year before have ended up? Presumably they can be identified by their tags. Have any of them been seen recently I wonder?
In answer to Jennie: Yes, the birds do turn the eggs to ensure even incubation. I would guess it's also a matter of sitting comfortably :)
Terry
@Joy - I was also worried, as I had not seen both birds. I did however see a shift change last evening (all over in a few seconds). Colin has been kind enough to tell us that the rascals like to sit out of camera-shot lately. See his blog and some wonderful photos on http://derby-falco-peregrinus.blogspot.com/
How do I send in pictures of the birds to share with the rest of the community? I've taken some closeup shots of the bird which is incubating.
Thanks Terry, Herts UK. I don't normally have luck seeing the other bird. But I think we can roughly tell by looking at the size of the bird. Sometimes you see a smaller size which means the male is on duty. Jennie, Hong Kong.
@ Kishore - I understand that the requested way of sharing photos is to post the pictures on the web (your own site or one of the many photo repositories etc.) and then post the URL in the blog. Otherwise the admin email inbox gets full when naughty enthusiasts send 2Mb jpg bloated screenshots blush blush blush. :-))
Roger's advise is the best for now.
We're just about to seek permission to run a Flickr group page for our birds. The page has been built but you can't post to it right now. We'll announce if it on the blog if goes live and then anyone who joins Flickr (for free) will be able to post pictures to their own photostream and thence to the Group.
('fraid we're rather up to our necks in things right now.)
Terri: As far as I know, there are no recorded sightings of the last two years' young ones. No doubt someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
Way I see it though is this: Far easier to ID a tagged dead Peregrine than a free, flying, living one :)
After all, 99.99% of people probably wouldn't even know a Peregrine from a Buzzard, even if it landed in their garden!
Pax Canada 10.48am
I saw a falcon yesterday sitting on the pudding cam and later on the ledge on the other side of the nest.
Terry, I agree that no news is good news, i.e. no sightings means they're probably doing fine and haven't turned up dead somewhere. It would be lovely to think that they've set up home and found mates in some far flung location, but I don't suppose we'll ever know :(
hi everyone,
i am going down to the cathedral today to have a look around to see whats happening, hope to see Andy Barry John and hopfully Colin and anone else who is about today. i have not been down for about a day and a half. but looking forward to seeing some action today. regards wayne.
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