Dave King recently sent me a CD with photos he had taken back in June. So here are a few just to remind you of our birds. It seems a long time ago now that the nest platform was busy with activity. And a
long time until next season too.Meanwhile, if you want to keep track of some wildlife, you could follow the journeys made by several satellite tagged ospreys, some of which have already started to make their way down to West Africa (the experienced female Beatrice and the young male Joe for example).
Roy Dennis, who set up The Highland Foundation for Wildlife, has been tagging ospreys for several years now and it has been fascinating to watch the journeys these big birds of prey make day by day as they fly down from the Highlands of Scotland where they breed to their wintering grounds in West Africa. Just google Roy Dennis and you'll arrive at his website.
I see that Joe made an epic non-stop 470 kms in a day flight recently, ending up on the west coast of France - and this only two months since he made his first flight ever!
I see that Joe made an epic non-stop 470 kms in a day flight recently, ending up on the west coast of France - and this only two months since he made his first flight ever!
I've been out watching local hobbies recently. These small falcons, relatives of the peregrine, have just fledged their young and before long, they too will be heading off south for Africa.
Both ospreys and hobbies are day migrants and they can be seen at various raptor watch points such as those in the Pyrenees and in southern Spain but always singly, never in the large groups that some other raptors, such as honey buzzards and black kites, can be seen flying in. Only a few days ago, almost 3000 honey buzzards were seen passing over the Pyrenees in a single day from one famous watch point called Organbidexka.....a wonderful spectacle.
Nick Brown (DWT)
12 comments:
Apparently the bell ringing open day went well with 180 visitors but no one saw a peregrine all day.
Nick B (DWT)
We have seen one or both almost every day on the webcam's ..... think we have been very lucky this year, it's now 7.45am (Tues) and can see Mr and Mrs P one on the tower and one on the scrape ....... x
Morning..... Wed 9am.... Mr and Mrs P are in residence ..... One on the tower and one on the scrape..bless x
Lovely view of falcon on scrape - love the close-up view!!
I have just uploaded to Flickr two photographs that I took at 13:41 today, Wednesday 31st August. One of the adults had prey on the nest ledge. You can also see how the left hand camera is dislodged.
I was at a historical reenactment event in Surrey over the BH weekend, where I saw a captive male peregrine. He was very handsome, but I was surprised by how small he looked at close quarters!
Kate (Allestree)
Hi, I haven't posted for a while but I have been looking in at the cams when I could.
I was interested in the information on the Hobby that Nick B posted and have identified a Hobby flying over my garden! It took ages to identify because it was so fast. Today I have also seen Ravens flying in the field opposite, I had seen a very large black bird flying about in recent days but today it let out the call that confirmed to me that it was a Raven. It is quite unexpected around here and I wonder if they will stay, not sure if I would like them to though.
Good to see the pair of Peregrines on the tower at the moment, one up top and one on the scrape.
Falcon on right hand cam at 09.36 - lovely way to start the day!!
Thursday 8th 8.30am.... Mr/Mrs P on the tower looking very wind swept and interesting.... x
Just looked in and see both Mr and Mrs P up on the tower, one close up the other on the water spout behind. It's great to see them together like this.
They've been practising that for a few years now, Mo - Looking Interesting. They're pretty good at it now.
It's also my belief they both know all about the cameras which explains why sometimes they'll deliberately sit very close to pudding cam just to obscure our view. On the rare occasions the webcams freeze, this is not a simple technical malfunction. These are the times when the peregrines have had enough of 24-hour surveillance and want a bit of privacy. Either that or they're up to something.
:P
Anyone seen my coat?
9:15am, Monday 12th September 2011
Both adults were perched on east face Jury's Inn lettering, sheltering from the strong winds.
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