Saturday 13 June 2009

Watchpoint Report


To misquote one of our popular daily newspapers – Phew! What a scorcher!!
We had fantastic weather on the Cathedral Green today as the many visitors will no doubt testify!On the Peregrine front, the adult female spent most of the session sat on either of the two nearest pinnacles and didn’t show much inclination to do any other than keep an eye on her offspring. The adult male was seen briefly at about 11.30 hunting off to the Northeast but he didn’t return to the Cathedral before we left at 2.00 pm. Of the youngsters, we had views of a maximum of 3 birds but only two could be identified clearly from their ring numbers (these were 009 and 011). The other bird was regularly flitting between the parapet and the tower roof so it wasn’t totally clear if we had three or four of the juveniles present. Wayne did, however report seeing all four juveniles before we arrived. Unusually, we didn’t see any other raptors during the whole session –usually on a day like this, at least one buzzard drifts over.Thank you to everyone who visited the Watchpoint and thank you for your generous donations to the Peregrine Project.
Andy, Chris, Celia & Helen


The picture above is a computer-generated peregrine drawn by one of the (very) young pupils at Brigg Infants School who, with their teacher, Helen, have been keenly watching the birds since the spring. More images to follow.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the updates, they are much appreciated. Glad our babies are still posing for the cameras for us.
Beautiful pic from the young fan, and clearly shows a Peregrine, which is more than any of my efforts do!
Pam

Anonymous said...

Great to hear all four are doing well.

Love the graphic from the very young pupil at Brigg School. Deserves to be put on a postcard.

Julie said...

Love the pic - I think it looks like the smallest chick (008) - am I right?
Am still seeing the occasional sight of 2 birds who seem to be flying round the tower - not sure if they are the adults, the youngsters or just something else passing by - but always seem to be 2 together.

Anonymous said...

I love the picture. You ought to consider using it in the fourth square in the multi-view next year.

EH

Andy and Chris M said...

Watchpoint report – Saturday 13 June

To misquote one of our popular daily newspapers – Phew! What a scorcher!!

We had fantastic weather on the Cathedral Green today as the many visitors will no doubt testify!

On the Peregrine front, the adult female spent most of the session sat on either of the two nearest pinnacles and didn’t show much inclination to do any other than keep an eye on her offspring. The adult male was seen briefly at about 11.30 hunting off to the Northeast but he didn’t return to the Cathedral before we left at 2.00 pm. Of the youngsters, we had views of a maximum of 3 birds but only two could be identified clearly from their ring numbers (these were 009 and 011). The other bird was regularly flitting between the parapet and the tower roof so it wasn’t totally clear if we had three or four of the juveniles present. Wayne did, however report seeing all four juveniles before we arrived.

Unusually, we didn’t see any other raptors during the whole session – usually on a day like this, at least one buzzard drifts over.

Thankyou to everyone who visited the Watchpoint and thankyou for your generous donations to the Peregrine Project.

Andy, Chris, Celia & Helen

Karen Anne said...

What's going on in the nestbox? Is someone having a nap, or is that dinner?

Anonymous said...

Julie, I put a picture on Flickr of the top ledge around 11:45 this morning, showing 2 unidentified flying objects. (It's been suggested they're pteradactyls!) I saw them twice and hoped they were peregrines, as they seemed to be circling.
Tricia

Anonymous said...

glad they all flown the nest ,now its there turn to be hunted

Roger (AT) said...

Looks very much like '08 has flown back to the platform for his evening meal.

Julie said...

Tricia

That is just what I saw 3 or 4 times today. I am not sure about the pteradactyl theory :-) They look more like giant bumblebees to me in your photo! However, I prefer to think that Dad was taking each youngster in turn for a "driving lesson".

wayne1984 said...

hi everyone, just to add to the watchpoint update, after i left today i saw the male {adult} over towards the river gardens in derby. this was for around two or three minutes before i lost sight of him as he had gained that much height. and also as the watchpoint update has said i had seen all four youngsters this morning around the tower. i will be updating my website later this evening with pictures from the last few days.
question to the project team, what happens with the blog and the webcams when the young have fledged?

Roger (AT) said...

@ Wayne:
Thanks for the info on the youngsters, I am sure that we are all delighted to hear that the famous four are buzzing about and learning new skills.

For your photos, will they be in your Blog or do you have your own domain also?

Tom Stephenson said...

Yep - baby back on the tray tonight, just to let us all down gently...

wayne1984 said...

@roger. they will be on my blog, but i am not sure what time this will be.
im happy to see that the youngsters are making it back to the ledge now.

Nick Brown (wildlife trust) said...

The web cams and blog will keep open and active through the summer, autumn and winter as in previous years....provided we can afford the costs.
We should be OK at least until September....so no immediate worries but if you want to donate to the project please do so (but after 9 am, Monday when the office is open again - 01773 881188).
Nick B (DWT)

Anonymous said...

Looks a beautiful evening in Derby tonight - will be watching with interest to see what happens tomorrow.

Mary T, Caerphilly, S Wales.

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous sunset over Jury's Inn! And one bird nonchalently sitting on the edge of the "left" side of the tray, facing in, casually looking backwards (no idea who) Have been at an event at Bucks County Museum all day today where I think I've driven them crazy nagging away saying "why can't you do something fabulous like Derby do".

Anonymous said...

PS I'm especially glad to hear news of 009 because she's the one whose photo I have proudly hung on my wall at home (bought from the Bank Holiday Watchpoint - shows her when she was being ringed)
PPS yes, FAB picture, young person from Brigg Infant School. Well done!!

Karen Anne said...

Things seem to have been relatively calm this year compared to last in terms of rescues, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe the gizmo added to the edge of the nestbox helped?

Phoebe said...

Great picture from the child at Brigg Infant School, Well done you!

It's good to see at least three of the youngsters on the webcams, I wonder where the other one is?

Colin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.