Thursday 24 March 2011

It's getting egg-sighting!

Egg laying is upon us. We're at that time when it's anyone's guess when the first egg will be laid. It'll probably be within the next 48 hours, possibly much sooner. We now know that Nottingham's peregrines have already laid their first egg, and ours can't be far behind.

I suspect one of my abiding positive memories of this year will be the happy grins of Craig and others out on Cathedral Green on 16th March when we were lucky enough to see our falcons mating briefly on the very topmost pinnacle of the Cathedral's tower. I think this is only the second time I've witnessed this for real, though the best video we ever captured is repeated below. I just love the way the male soars in from the right and then lands right in front of the camera.

From comments left on the blog, it's clear that a number of readers are now returning after a year's absence. If so, welcome back. Our web camera addresses had to change last year. So if your favourite links are no longer working, simply follow the links provided on the top left of this blog to reach our live cameras and other resources.



Technical problems.
Both our Philips DVD/HDD 3460H recorders have been exhibiting identical faults over the last year, with both disc trays being immensely reluctant to open. Maybe it's the dusty atmosphere inside the bell-ringing chamber. I've been forced to use project funds to purchase two identical replacement machines on the second-hand market as there seems to be no modern players available at a sensible price that allow continuous recording from external video sources. This is far from ideal as I've lost confidence in Philips equipment in recent years. Nevertheless, I'll be popping one up into the cathedral tower to swap over our equipment in one of my forthcoming lunch-hours, so hopefully I'll be able to pull off a few more videos than have otherwise been possible recently.

11 comments:

Nick B (wildlife trust) said...

No egg by 0500 Thursday morning but a strange clump of prey feathers or other debris is right where an egg would be laid (NM reminded me that eggs will appear whitish during the night time).
Nick B (DWT)

Craig said...

06.53 Also no egg. Looks like the Falcon is on the Tower. Hopefully shes waiting for the weekend so more people can watch :)

Joy said...

9.35a.m. Peregrin on side of the scrape on this beautiful day. An awful lot of prey around won't it go off in this weather, never seen so much before. The one on the tower seems to have been there for days.

Mark Murfin (Christchurch) said...

Lots of 'gifts' from our male in the tray. I'm going for 0505hrs sunday morning

AnnieF. said...

Mrs. F. (I think) is perched on the scrape ledge and Mr. is on the tower.
I'm putting my money on early tomorrow morning for egg #1 - some time between midnight and 6 am. Any takers?

AnnieF. said...

They're both on the tower now, facing each other. It's an amazingly strong bond they have.

Anonymous said...

hi,just wondering if anyone is watching the Nottingham peregrines...I havent seen the male for a few days and was wondering if anyone else has..thanks

Craig said...

@Anon re Nottingham

I've seem him, he's around.

re Derby

Didn't they do a similar thing last year keeping everyone waiting. They enjoy a good tease don't they.

jean (Scotland) said...

Yes! The Nottingham Peregrines are fine, saw them both this morning

Anonymous said...

First egg sunday I reckon.

Anonymous said...

do they have another nest site??sadly it looks like they might have laid there??