Perry Christmas and a Happy Nest Year in 2013

The news update below has just been emailed to over 100 supporrters, sponsors and other people interested in Derby's Peregrines.
If you would like to receive occasional eshots from us (usually only two or three a year)  please email peregrines@derbyshirewt.co.uk  using the Subject: "Mailing List"

Dear Peregrine Supporter

As we reach the winter solstice, it’s heartening to think that it won’t be too long before the days once more start to lengthen, and another bird breeding season will kick off again.

Next year we will be able to do considerably more than in previous years to involve people in Derby’s amazing peregrines. As you may remember, we were successful in our bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to improve the way we engage with people. To that end we have just appointed Ian Layton, who will work with us as part-time ' Peregrines and People Engagement Officer'.

Ian starts with us on January 14th for six months, and brings a lot of experience in community engagement, and no doubt many new ideas for reaching out to different audiences. Some of you will be hearing from him soon, no doubt, and we'll ask him to introduce himself via our blog. We hope to enthuse communities not just in Derby City, but across the county, too.

Work has already started in making improvements to the way we engage with people. We have completely redesigned the peregrine project blog, which now incorporates the super new dynamic banner/logo, designed for us by Derby Cathedral Quarter. It now has a new introductory section, more visible links to our live webcams (one now fully live with sound, too thanks to help from SERCO), plus an introduction which has been generously translated for us into Polish by Eliza Brzozka. This, plus a Czech translation, are currently in the process of being laid out, and there will be more content added in the New Year.

The blog homepage also shows the peregrine conversations going on via our Twitter presence (https://twitter.com/derbyperegrines) which now has over 700 followers. And this week we also launched a Facebook page, too (http://www.facebook.com/DerbyPeregrines)

Next year we hope to improve our webstreaming, and possibly upgrade at least one of our cameras, which this year attracted over 250,000 hits to our blog and the pages on Derby City Council's website. We also plan to bring live pictures of the nesting birds onto the streets of Irongate via a small window display of some sort within the Cathedral Centre, and also to enhance the look of our WatchPoints on Cathedral Green with some additional banners and other resources.

May I take this opportunity on behalf of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and the Peregrine Project Team of wishing you all a Merry Christmas and to thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for Derby’s amazing Peregrines?

Kind regards

Nick

Nick Moyes
Peregrines and People Technical Advisor
Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project

(with additional thanks and best wishes from Nick B who adds:
The weather here in Derby has been extremely wet recently, with fields sodden, roads flooded and rivers raging. Our peregrines will have found it difficult to hunt successfully in such poor weather. Fortunately for them they tend to stash food that they caught earlier so I'm quite sure they won't be starving.)

DVD: The Peregrines of Derby Cathedral

Temporarily out of stock
This notice will be removed once copies become available again.
23 Dec 2016

"The Peregrines of Derby Cathedral" is a great little DVD, now available for purchase for just £6 plus P & P.

It tells the story of Derby's peregrine falcons and features Chris Packham, well-known as both a BBC TV presenter and as a vice-president of The Wildlife Trusts.

All profits from its sale go directly to support our webcams and other project costs. All the Peregrine Project Team appear on the film, as does national prey expert, Ed Drewitt, from Bristol.

The DVD lasts 35 minutes and includes a large number of webcam video highlights taken over the course of the breeding season. Each video clip also comes with  a commentary, so can be great for schools to watch and listen to in class.



You can order the  DVD for  £6 (please add £2.05 for P& P within the UK)  from the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust office in Belper.


To pay by debit /credit card and have one posted direct to your home at no extra cost (if you live in the UK), please phone the Trust on 01773 881188 (Mon-Fri 9am - 4.30pm).
Your copy will be dispatched the same day. UK cheques should be made payable to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, East Mill, Bridge Foot, Belper, Derbyshire, DE56 1XH.

We can post abroad but we will ask you for an extra 'donation' of £1 GBP towards the higher postage costs. (The DVD is not region-coded, so it will play on machines worldwide.)


You can watch a short DVD promo, read testimonials below, or see more of the work of artist Steven McLoughlin which is included in the video.

The Peregrines of Derby Cathedral is an independent production by Delta Echo Media who have kindly given us all the rights to help us raise as much funds as possible for the peregrine project.

The DVD makes a superb present for anyone interested in birds, let alone for all those who have ever logged on to our web cams or visited Derby Cathedral to see these magnificent birds for themselves.


Testimonials

• DVD came in the post this morning, have just watched. It is a pure delight, cannot recommend it highly enough. Congratulations to all concerned!! and Thank You! Audrey (UK).
• DVD excellent. I won't spoil it for anyone who has not yet seen it by saying no more than you are in for a treat. Enjoy!! (Pam - Derby, UK)
• Just finished watching the DVD, which I thought was excellent. Superb. (Ed Green, Chief Executive, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust)
• Oh my gosh...I just finished watching the DVD and logged on to congratulate you all for such an incredible production. Thirty five minutes of pure magical joy. I was smiling the whole time. Ave Maria will hold new meaning for me now. (Veronica, Cornwall, UK)
• Have just watched the DVD, which is truly excellent - a definite "must-have". (Anonymous blog comment, Derby)
• I really enjoyed watching the DVD last night. Thank you Derby Wildlife Trust for a really speedy and efficient postal service. It's a super DVD and I thoroughly recommend it. (Sue H. Bucks, UK)
• Ee-chupp! Yeah, my DVD came today. It's wonderful. I was so mesmerized by the opening, it wasn't until it stopped playing that I realized I had to click "play film" :-) (Karen Anne, North America)
• "Its superb . The photography is lovely, the graphics great and the webcam images fantastic -the whole story, great mating and the early chicks are really nice too. It's good to see a modern slant on it visually. Liked the talking heads and the whole story. Thank you for inviting me to contribute. (Chris Packham, BBC TV Presenter)

Some other sites

With not much happening on the web cams, here are a few photos of other urban sites being used by peregrines in the UK and elsewhere.....

First a rather delightful photo from Poznan in Poland showing four peregrine chicks in a whicker basket nest placed high on a building in the town. Photo courtesy of Ed Drewitt.

Then, the nest box on Lincoln Cathedral (right).
Can you just make out the brown coloured nest platform at the base of the right hand 'window'? It's in a rather similar position to ours in Derby.
If my memory serves me correctly, this pair failed this year though I don't recall why.

The church on the left is St. Michael's in Exeter.
Originally a pair of ravens built a nest of sticks on the external ledge just where the spire begins.
A pair of peregrines ousted the ravens and nested there themselves. However, the nest was unstable and it was decided to replace it with a wooden construction which resembled the raven's nest in that it was made of logs round the outside.

A web cam was placed close to the nest and it was this site that gave us in Derby the inspiration to do something similar here in Derby. Nick Dixon, who was intimately involved with the Exeter site, was extremely helpful to us in those early days, providing us with a nest platform design and masses of valuable advice.

The Coors tower (above) is situated in Burton on Trent, some 8-10 miles SW of Derby. Originally known as the Bass tower until Bass (the Brewers) was taken over by Coors, a nest box was sited close to the top and peregrines have nested there for many years.

Finally, a photo (left) of the recently sited platform in Aylesbury which had a web cam focused down on the nest last summer when two young were raised. Thanks to Sue H for information about this site.
To see a recent regional TV clip about this site click on http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/story/2012-11-30/world-famous-peregrine-falcons\ .

Nick B (DWT)

New images

Local photographer, Colin Pass sent in a couple of shots of our adult male (right)  and female (below) on the Jurys Inn sign a couple of weeks ago and Helen Naylor sent over some new (computer graphic) artwork by her class at Brigg Infant School so here they are for you to see and enjoy.

The winter approaches and although we are finding very little in the way of prey remains at the foot of the tower, you can be sure that the peregrines are taking advantage of some of the thousands of migrant birds that have been pouring into Derbyshire in the last two months. Among them will be woodcock and snipe (both caught at night as they migrate over the city), teal, lapwings and golden plover plus fieldfares and redwings.

This is also proving to be a 'waxwing' winter. Waxwings are an irruptive species which means that in those years when there are no food supplies for them in Scandinavia and Russia, they migrate westwards to Britain to take advantage of rowan, pyracantha and other berries planted in suburban streets, around supermarkets and retail centres. In 2006, another 'irruptive' year, a few waxwing feathers were found at the cathedral....so it is possible that the peregrines might take one again this winter. We'll keep an eye out for their tell-tale feathers with the red waxy tips.

Nick B (DWT)
Ps. The graphic is by Katie and Dillan - to whom a big thank you!

Recruiting an Engagement Officer begins

An advertisement has just been put out by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust for a part time Peregrines and People Engagement Officer (PPEO) post to start in January 2013, funded by HLF, the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Initially the post is for six months (Jan to end July 2013) working three days a week with a further three months in summer 2014.

The PPEO will work to engage local communities with the project, prepare education packs and other resources for schools, help with the blog, give talks, help organise and run the Watch Points next summer among other duties. They will work closely with both 'Nicks' - Nick Moyes, now contracted by the Trust to work on the project as its Peregrines and People Technical Advisor and Nick B in his voluntary capacity.
For more details of the post please see the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's website
(  http://www.derbyshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/jobs  ) or ring the DWT office on 01773 881188 in office hours and ask for an application pack if you are seriously interested in applying.

Clearly there are certain qualifications and skills that are required, for example, some experience of environmental education delivery, IT skills etc. and it would be worth checking through these before deciding whether to apply or not. The closing date for applications is the 16th November with interviews on 26th.
There may be an opportunity for the PPEO to carry out some paid work on the project in the gap between July 2013 and April 2014, depending on what non-HLF monies we have in hand. There's plenty of work to be done!
Nick B (DWT)  (Peregrine photo courtesy of Dave King)

Peregrine in Hospital

This morning, we were surprised to hear Radio Derby carry a story in the news about a peregrine falcon that had been found injured at the new Royal Derby Hospital. It had been collected by staff and was about to be released later in the day, having been cared for in captivity for some days.

Photograph: Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

This came as a quite a surprise as we'd heard nothing and nobody had thought to contact us, not even from the radio station with whom we've long had a close association. Luckily we know that our two birds were seen on top of Jurys Inn on Monday afternoon, so it couldn't be one of ours. That was a relief.

We immediately rang both Radio Derby and the Royal Derby Hospital facilities team. The story emerged that an adult peregrine had been found bloodied and injured at the bottom of a small courtyard which acted as a light well to the seven storey hospital building. Luckily a falconer employed by the NHS Trust happened to be present that day (he comes every week from a professional pest control company to use their own falcons to reduce the pigeon problem around the new hospital). He took the bird back with him and to a vet for examination.

Peregrine falcon just before release.
Last seen heading towards Mickleover.
(Photo: Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)

I spoke to the falconer, Ritchie, this morning and learnt that the injured adult falcon had been convalescing in captivity for some days, and was shortly to be released. He thought it was between four and six years old. We have looked into trying to get the bird ringed by our licenced ringer today, but have been unable to reach him at such short notice. We also discussed holding the bird for a further night at the home for a local Derby falconer, so it could be ringed in the morning. But Ritchie felt it has been held in captivity long enough, and was keen to release it as soon as possible. So by 3pm it was agreed it would be released unringed. As always, it is important to put the interests of the wildlife before the interests of scientific study or education.

At this time we don't know where the falcon came from; we do know that other peregrines are seen from time to time over Derby, though these normally get seen off from the city centre by the resident birds. Meanwhile, our own injured falcon from 2009, Cathy, is still being cared for by our local falconer. She has always been well enough to fly (I've flown her myself), though we knew she would never have the ability to hunt and feed herself in the wild. We are currently discussing what arrangements we make for her in the future, and hope we might be able to get her seen by more people and school children than has been possible up to now.
You can follow the original story of Cathy here and here and here

Nick Moyes
Peregrines and  People Technical Advisor

Úvod (Czech Introduction to the Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project)

Úvod
Sokoli stěhovaví jsou nejrychlejší živí tvorové na této planetě.
Před šedesáti lety málem na celé severní polokouli vymřeli kvůli znečištění životního prostředí pesticidy. Ale teď se jejich počet znovu obnovuje. Stále častěji je lze nalézt, jak hnízdí na vysokých budovách ve městech, stejně jako na jejich obvyklých stanovištích na skalních výstupcích a útesech. Loví a zabíjejí pro potravu jiné ptáky, které si pak přinášejí zpět na svůj hnízdní výstupek.

Náš projekt
Od roku 2006 náš projekt pomáhá páru sokolů stěhovavých hnízdit a vyvést mláďata vysoko na starobylé kamenné věži katedrály v Derby v Anglii. Opravili jsme velkou dřevěnou plošinu v polovině výšky 480 roků staré věže po zjištění, že ptáci dorazili a snažili se tam zahnízdit. Platforma jim nabízí jim výstupek na budově dost velký pro to, aby nakladli vejce a vyvedli mladé. Tento projekt Peregrine je partnerský. Více se dozvíte zde.

Webkamery
Jsme vybaveni třemi webovými kamerami, které můžete nyní sledovat po celý rok. Pracují také v noci. K dispozici jsou dvě kamery a mikrofon na hnízdní plošině. Třetí kamera je na vrcholu věže, kde se sokoli často živí, spí a dokonce i páří. Rada města Derby nám svou internetovou linkou pomáhá, abychom dostali sokoli online. Kameru ke sledování si vyberte zde.

Samice sokola stěhovavého se nazývá v angličtině "falcon", a je o dost větší než samec, který se nazývá "tiercel". Oba dospělí mají bílou spodinu s vodorovnými tmavýni vlnkami na břiše, a břidlicově šedá záda a křídla. Mladí ptáci jsou mnohem hnědší barvy a mají svislé čáry na břiše, na rozdíl od dospělých. Můžete snadno rozeznat dospělé od mladých na záběrech webových kamer, ale není to tak snadné rozeznat samce od samice, jen když jsou oba spolu, a můžete porovnat jejich velikosti. Pak je to jasné.

Náš Blog
Náš projekt deník (blog) je v angličtině. Publikujeme detaily o tom, co se děje po celý rok, i mnoho fotografií a videa. Můžete přeložit libovolnou stránku pomocí nástroje "Translate" v pravém horním rohu každé obrazovky. Povzbuzujeme návštěvníky, aby zanechali komentář nebo se ptali. Chcete-li to provést, klikněte na odkaz "comments" (komentáře) pod posledním blogem. (Nepřidávejte prosím komentáře u starších příspěvků, protože je velmi nepravděpodobné, že by byly prohládnuty a zodpovězeny.)
Pro přidání komentáře se nemusíte přihlásit. Nicméně, běžně všechny komentáře před zveřejněním moderujeme (schvalujeme). Pokud chcete, můžete nám poslat e-mail přímo na peregrines@derbyshirewt.co.uk. Uděláme, co bude v našich silách, abychom odpověděli na všechny otázky.

Životní cyklus sokola stěhovavého
Sokoli stěhovaví kladou vejce na jaře, kolem konce března. Z vajíček se líhnou asi o 30 dní později na začátku května mláďata. Během následujících šesti týdnů mláďata rychle rostou, a vylétají z hnízdní plošiny na začátku července. Mláďata lze pak vidět na obloze nad Derby, jak se učí létat a shánět potravu. Do září se obvykle vzdálili od Derby a najdou si domov jinde.

Sledování sokolů stěhovavých v Derby.
Je snadné vidět sokoli stěhovavé, pokud žijete v blízkosti Derby. Dospělí sokoli se zdržují v blízkosti katedrály v průběhu celého roku a jsou nejlépe vidět z trávníku parku za katedrálou. Viz. situační mapka "Location map" na hlavní straně bloku. Pokud navštívíte Derby jako turista nebo jako jeho obyvatel, najdete katedrálu jen pár minut chůze od hlavních nákupních center a zařízení pro volný čas v centru města. Spojením návštěv obojího můžete strávit pěkný den.

Provozujeme speciální pozorovací místa “watchpoints” na trávníku v parku za katedrálou od poloviny května do července. Můžete použít teleskopy nebo dalekohledy poskytované místními dobrovolníky, kteří s vámi rádi pohovoří a zodpovědí všechny otázky týkající se úžasných ptáků Derby. Zkontrolujte blog v zprávy, kdy sledování probíhá

Často lze vidět sokoly z části vnitřního obchvatu Derby, známé jako St Alkmund's Way. Jeden nebo více ptáků často sedí na vrcholu obrovského nápisu v modré barvě na Jurys Inn hotelu. (Nesnažte se je pozorovat během jízdy!)

Přednášky a dosah.
Pokud vaše místní komunita, skupina nebo organizace, je v Derby nebo Derbyshire můžeme být schopni přijít a hovořit s vámi o našich sokolech stěhovavých. Nebo bychom mohli uspořádat speciální návštěvu sledovacího místa tady v Derby, nebo během návštěvy Derby katedrály. Dáváme přednost menšinovým skupinám, protože to budeme podporováni Heritage Lottery až do roku 2015. Možná budeme muset přidat další skupiny. Kontaktujte nás a rezervujte si přednášku.

Peregrine Champions
V roce 2013 začneme povzbuzovat jednotlivce v rámci komunitních skupin a organizací, aby se stali "Peregrine Champions". Dáme jim informace, zdroje a školení, které potřebují, aby mohli jít a mluvit s ostatními v rámci svých vlastních místních skupin. Doufáme, že tímto způsobem se více lidí a skupin zapojí a nejmilovanější ptáci ve městě budou více oceňováni. Máme představu tyto skupiny by většinou souvisely s věkem, zdravotním postižením nebo etnický původem. Pokud budete mít zájem stát se “Peregrine Champions” pro příští sezónu, kontaktujte nás prosím prostřednictvím e-mailu na adrese peregrines@derbyshirewt.co.uk

Podpořte nás
Pro příští tři sezóny jsme získali finanční podporu Heritage Lottery pro řadu konkrétních aktivit a rozvoj. Ale finanční prostředky jsou stále potřebné k udržení webcamer a zlepšení projektu jinými způsoby. Pokud byste chtěli diskutovat o tom, jak byste mohli podpořit Derby Cathedral Peregrine projekt, ať už finančně nebo jiným způsobem, kontaktujte nás.


Další informace o projektu je k dispozici na internetových stránkách Rady města Derby.

Toto je návrh úvodu. Pokud byste chtěli navrhnout změny nebo byli ochotni ho přeložit do jiného jazyka, prosím zanechat komentář níže, nebo nám napište.




This translation courtesy of Zuzana Syrová

Sent Sept 2012

Sokół wędrowny (Peregrines in Polish) and an update

See an update at the foot of this post

Animated image made and posted by Derby webcam-watchers in Poland

Over the last week we have made big changes to this blog and, judging from your comments, you seem to like them. There's much more to come, of course. The latest addition is an "Introduction" page, accessed from one of the Tabs at the top of the homepage. Next to it is another labelled "Polski". This is the first of three pages which will be produced with information about our Project in one of the main non-English languages spoken in Derby and Derbyshire.

It contains the summary introduction of our project, very roughly translated into Polish. (Roughly, because it was done by "Google Translate" rather than by a real person!) We hope that one or more polish-speakers might come forward to help us translate it properly. (Update: We have now received an offer from a trained Polish translator, and have also received a separate translation into the Czech language, for which we are very grateful.)

That there is strong interest in Derby's peregrines from within Poland can be evidenced from the images and video on this page. All were captured and posted not by us, but by Polish peregrine enthusiasts on their own discussion forum: (Sokół wędrowny - DERBY Anglia - 2012)  Already this year there are nearly 40 individual pages devoted just to Derby, mostly of images captured from our webcameras, and discussions around them. They are well worth a look, and we've shown a few extracts at the bottom of this post.


Video showing two adults and one juvenile on Friday 14th September.

There will soon be lots more ways for people to get more involved in our project. One thing we want to do is to find someone (preferably local) interested in running a twitter account for us. We already have one in English (@DerbyPeregrines) with over 600 followers - see recent Tweets displayed on the right panel of homepage. But we do plan to develop a separate one in Polish  too (@DerbySokoly).

Of course, all this new content is evolving, and could well contain errors at this very early stage. Give us feedback by leaving a comment if you do find things that need correcting or improving.

Extracts of Forum posts from www.peregrinus.pl

22.05.2012r.
karmienie,jedzenia tutaj nie brakuje,posiłki są wydawane w spokoju,

maluszki nie walczą o jedzenia,spokojnie czekają na swoją kolej,karmione są parami ,

by sobie nawzajem nie przeszkadzać w jedzeniu,aż miło popatrzec...

po jedzeniu leżakowanie...

UPDATE 17th October: a short piece about peregrines in Norwich and their prey was on The One Show (BBC 1 TV) last night: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01ng5kg/The_One_Show_16_10_2012/
Go to 23 minutes into the programme. Viewable for another six days from today. Derby gets a brief mention.....
Nick B.

Site Under 'Re-Construction'

Do you remember the old days when half the websites you visited seemed to have a moving image of a workman in a hard hat incessantly digging, accompanied by the words "Site Under Construction"?

Well, we've done away with the animated picture, but the Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project blog has recently been undergoing a bit of a revamp. Recently we asked blog readers and our partners to comment on a new design layout. We had lots of positive feedback (and approval from the Heritage Lottery Fund for the placing of their logo) and are implementing the changes in readiness for new developments in the months ahead..

It's been fun learning a few new skills and tinkering around with stuff called "html". To give you an  idea of what we've been doing, here's a little video to act as an interlude whilst these changes are put into effect. (Update: most changes now completed as at 12th September)




There are bound to be a few glitches, so please let us know any problems you encounter by leaving a comment (click 'Comments' at the bottom of this post.)

To find out the rationale behind these changes, scroll down to the previous post and read about what we hope it will achieve.

Here are a few tips for PC users to help you get the more out of our new blog:

1) To make the blog fit your PC monitor, use a combination of two keys to increase or decrease size. Hold down the 'CTRL' key whilst pressing either the PLUS or MINUS key. Users with a wheel on their mouse can press Ctrl and rotate the wheel to achieve the same effect.

2) To follow a link, but to have it open in a separate browser window or tab, don't just click the link, right-click it. This should bring you a small drop-down menu on your screen close to the mouse cursor  with the options 'Open Link in New Tab' or 'Open Link in New Window'. Choose and click one to keep the original link open whilst opening a new browser screen, too.

3) Proving you aren't a robot when leaving comments on our blog can be awkward. Those letters and numbers you have to read and type into a box can be easily misinterpreted. Get it wrong, and you risk losing your comments. So we recommend you select and copy your comments before doing the next step. A useful shortcut to selecting text is to click within the comments box, then press the key combination of Ctrl-A, and then press Ctrl-C.  (This selects and copies your comments into your PC's memory) If you get the Captcha code wrong, simply paste the text back in and try again. The shortcut for pasting is Ctrl-V.
Invariably you can't interpret the first selection of letters offered, so click the little circular arrow symbol to refresh the characters until you find a set are able to read.

4) If you want to contact the Peregrine Project Team directly, you can now email us on our dedicated address of peregrines@derbyshirewt.co.uk

5) Mobile phone users should not expect the same blog colour scheme as on a computer. It will appear roughly as shown here.

The Blog! The Blog! And an update

Screenshot of our new blog design. Tell us what you think.

Quick Update at end of this post.
Having recently gained Heritage Lottery Fund support for the Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project, one of the jobs we're now doing is redesigning our blog.

We are going to want to accommodate  the new content we'll be developing over the next year or so. We also want to incorporate our new logo which has been designed by our latest partner, Derby Cathedral Quarter.

We've already consulted with a handful of people, but now we want to invite everyone to comment on its appearance before it goes live, and to make constructive suggestions for changes or improvements.

This new design (shown opposite) is intended to give us a number of extra  features, though not all will be in use or available immediately.
These are:

• Better brand identity by prominent use of our new project logo and roundel.
• Brighter, friendlier appearance.
• Better navigation
• Direct and obvious links to key pages by use of permanent Tabs at top of the home page (e.g. to webcams and FAQs) 
• Introductory multi-lingual content (in Polish, Urdu and Punjabi to reflect three of Derby and Derbyshire's most frequently spoken minority languages). Could you help us with this task, or translate content into other languages for us?)
• Clear links to our new Twitter feed: @DerbyPeregrines.
• Clear links to resources for Schools and for children.
• A FAQ Tab for those Frequently Asked Questions.
• External links to other webcam projects and peregrine resources.
• Access to a gallery of work created by local schools, community groups etc.
• Retain and build on links to everyone's photos or screenshots posted on Flickr.
• A single, scannable QR code which recognises the language of a user's mobile phone and takes them to a Wikipedia entry on peregrine falcons in one of 70 languages!
• Allow some of you to become 'Peregrine Champions' and help us blog, tweet and otherwise engage with new communities around Derby with help, support and resources provided by the Project Team. And not necessarily in the English language!

To comment, first visit our demonstration blog here.

The questions we'd like answers to are:

1. What do you like about it?
2. What don't you like about it? 
3. Is it easy to navigate?
4. Does the colour scheme work for you?
5. Does it display OK in your browser or mobile phone? (Simpler template for phone users)
6. Are there important features missing that we should include? 
7. Is the right side of the home page too full, or do you find it helpful?
8. If you speak another language fluently, would you be willing to help create content in that language for us?
9. Is the 'comments' box enough? Is there a need for a built-in discussion forum for users to sign-up to? 

We are simply seeking your thoughts and suggestions on making our blog look and work better. So please ignore the content of the homepage posts themselves -  they're just there to give it a 'bloggy' look.  Feel free to leave a comment below this blog post, or on the demonstration sandbox site itself. Or email the Project Team directly with your thoughts.

Our new email address is peregrines@derbyshirewt.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you.

Nick Moyes
(Peregrines & People Technical Advisor)

Nick Brown
(Lead Volunteer for Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project) 

Our new roundel, designed for us
by Derby Cathedral Quarter

Update 4th September: two of our juvs have been seen recently by Christine and there's news that one of the two juvs from the new nest site in Aylesbury has been sighted 18 miles away near Oxford. Maybe some of our juvs are now well away from Derby too! NB

What's On The Menu?

The table below gives an up-to-date list of prey items taken by Derby Cathedral's peregrine falcons.

All except one are birds, all caught in mid-air.
Can you spot the odd one out?

Blackbird	House martin	Snipe, jack
Blackcap	Jackdaw	Starling
Chaffinch	Jay	Swallow
Corncrake	Knot	Swift
Crow	Kingfisher	Teal
Cuckoo	Lapwing	Tern, arctic
Dove, collared	Magpie	Tern, common
Duck, ruddy	Mallard	Thrush, mistle
Duck, tufted	Moorhen	Thrush, song
Dunlin	Owl, litle	Turnstone
Fieldfare	Pigeon, feral/domestic	Wagtail, pied
Gadwall	Plover, golden	Water-rail
Godwit, bar-tailed	Quail	Waxwing
Godwit, black-tailed	Redwing	Whimbrel
Goldfinch	Redshank	Woodcock
Grebe, little	Robin	Woodpecker, greater spotted
Greenfinch	Skylark	Woodpigeon
Gull, black-headed	Snipe, common	Rat, brown

This list was last updated in 2013 

Kingfisher - one of the newest additions to our prey list in 2011.

The Bells, The Bells! And an update

UPDATE:  see end of post


Have you listened to the new video feed from our tower webcams, yet?

If so, you will no doubt have heard the cathedral bells ring out every quarter hour. But have you listened at 9am, 12 noon or 6pm when the automated carillon plays its tune?

Our brand new live video and audio stream is just the first element to be delivered as part of our Heritage Lottery-funded scheme to enhance everyone's experience of Derby's Peregrine falcons. As well as letting everyone hear our peregrines, it seems to capture the very heartbeat of our city in the rhythm chimed out by the cathedral bells. We are very grateful to SERCO for their help in configuring this stream for us, which up till now was only available to your Project Team. SERCO are amongst the first of a new wave of supporters to be joining us to help deliver our HLF targets over the next few years. But more on these developments later.

If you'd like to get really and close up to Derby Cathedral's bells, why not come along to the annual Derby Cathedral Bellringers' Tower Open Day. It is being held on Saturday, 25th August, between 10am and  2pm.  We've just received this press release which we wanted to share with everyone . . .

TRY YOUR HAND AT BELL-RINGING AT DERBY CATHEDRAL

Most of us have heard the bells ringing as we pass a church or cathedral, but have you ever wondered how it’s done?

Well, Derby Cathedral is inviting you to find out more about this unique form of music-making at its annual Bellringer’s Open Day, which is taking place on Saturday 25th August.

During the day, visitors to the Cathedral will be able to tour the tower, watch bell ringing demonstrations and try ringing a real bell under careful supervision.

Doors to the Cathedral tower will be open from 10am – 2pm and admission is just £3 for adults and £2 for children (only the over eights can be admitted).

Visitors on the 11.30am tower climb will get the chance to watch and hear the clock carillon in action and those unable to make the climb to the top of the tower will be able to enjoy an exhibition of photographs of the bells just inside the Cathedral.

Developed in England in the 17th century, change ringing is a unique form of music-making, which forms a significant part of English culture. Yet it remains taken for granted by most people – for instance, have you ever though how people ring a bell weighing the equivalent of a car with such acute accuracy?

Derby Cathedral boasts ten bells in its tower one of which, the tenor, was cast in 1520 and is still in use almost 500 years later, making it one of the oldest working objects in Derby.

If you are one of our many overseas blog readers,  

or can't come to Derby on the 25th, 

you might like to see videos of the carillon in action 

and find out more about them here

UPDATE 16th August: two juveniles have been seen recently on the tower, plus the adults from time to time.
If you have time/interest, you might enjoy watching satellite tagged Scottish ospreys fly south (sometimes over Derbyshire) on their autumn migration by going to Roy Dennis' website (just search for 'Roy Dennis'). 'Beatrice' has already got down to France (she flew just W of us) but there are more birds to follow. Last autumn a young male called Rothiemurchus flew over Carsington Water and was also seen from the ground as he passed by! NB

Peregrines shot in Malta and a radio programme

Note: for newcomers to this blog, the Derby peregrine breeding season has ended, the four young have fledged and begun to move away. You will still see birds, usually the adults, from time to time on the web cams so it is worth looking. This blog and all three cameras will keep running right through the year. Check out Video 3 which is fully live with sound.
To read about the later stages of the breeding season, scroll down a few posts to late June.
______________________________________________________________________________
Update: a 30 minute programme about Bird Hunting in Malta, the first of two, will be broadcast at 11am on Tuesday 31st July on BBC Radio 4.
News has come in that the male of a pair of peregrines nesting in Malta has been shot by illegal hunters, the

female having been shot earlier in the year.
Here's a link to the story:
http://www.birdlifemalta.org/view.aspx?id=361
Should you have any spare cash, I'm sure Birdlife Malta would appreciate a donation:
http://www.birdlifemalta.org/Content/donate/972/
This group fight valiantly against the powerful hunting lobby in Malta. They are making ground slowly but it is an uphill struggle and they do need as much support as they can get. Brave folk those.....
Nick B (DWT)

Generous donors all.....and a butterfly event in Derby

Update 23 July: some 40 people (including some peregrine people) turned up to look for these little butterflies at the weekend. Only two insects were found but I gather everyone had views of them eventually.
Weekend butterfly event: remarkably, the rare and elusive white letter hairstreak butterfly occurs in central Derby close to the cathedral. This weekend butterfly expert Ken Orpe will be at level 10 of the Chapel Street car park from where you can look down on elm trees on which the insects live. He'll be there at 11am on both Saturday and Sunday (21 and 22 July), weather permitting. Do join him, no charge, after you've had a look at the peregrines of course! If you arrive late, you'll find him quite close by for the next hour or two, maybe on the pedestrian bridge over the ring road by St Mary's church if not at or outside the Chapel Street car park. They are super little insects....if you can find them! NB (photo taken last year at Chapel St CP).

Update Tuesday 17th: we've just received an envelope full of lovely letters and drawings from the children of Ash class at Holmesdale Infant School in Dronfield, North Derbyshire. So a quick 'thank you very much' to everyone who sent us a letter - and also to their teacher, Rachel. NB.
Update Sunday 15th July: the male and one of the juvs (020) were above the nest this morning with another bird on Jurys. Christine had reported seeing all four juvs a few days ago. A search of nearby elm trees failed to find any white letter hairstreak butterflies (though a single butterfly was seen a few days ago) but instead there were several red legged (forest) shieldbugs sunning themselves on lower leaves. Three swifts were over Jurys. A sunny start to the day though blustery and not that warm. NB.
............................................................................................................................................................
Here, as promised, is a list of everyone who has donated to the peregrine project since the beginning of June, when our anonymous donor offered to match new donations threefold.
So far we've had £1562 come in from many sources/people...a wonderful amount. With the threefold multiplier effect, your donations have been increased by the donor to a wonderfully brilliant new total of £6248!
If you've not donated yet, please do consider doing so, however small, because the anonymous donor has generously agreed to continue to apply the multiplier effect for the time being. 

The more money we have, the more we can do to improve and develop this project. Details of how to donate were on the blog post dated 17th June. Please scroll down to find it.

List of donors. If you have been listed incorrectly (eg too much detail in your name perhaps or the wrong spelling) please get in touch via wildlifeenquiries@derbyshirewt.co.uk and we'll change it immediately. The list now includes most if not all donors who used the Trust's virginmoneygiving website to make their donations. For some of these the full details have only recently come through so thank you letters will be on their way soon.

The names are in no particular order and the amounts you give are not specified:
Lynda Osgerby, Ruth Zantvoort, Mr & Mrs Barker, Roger Sharp, Mrs Whale, Mrs. Pittam, Brenda Prai, Mrs Clifford, Anon, Helen Davies, children at Gorsefield Primary School in Lancashire, Terence Bointon, Sharron Hardman MBE, Phoebe @ Ashbourne, Mrs Burton, Ian Spotswood, Caroline Hawkridge, Jane White, Brian Quiney, Ann Gilbert, Robert Grice, Marilyn Shaw, S Wigglesworth, P Woodward, D Newing, R Neal, M Jeffrey, K Ashton, Els Oostenbrink,Anon, Mrs Tillett, Ann Frogatt, Erica Heptonstall, David Radford, Jo A, Joyce Sawford, Jo in Mickleover, sue@peregrino, L Walker, P Smithurst, Mr & Mrs Shenton, Terry Gifford, RJ, G L Flood, A Pooles, Brenda Beardwood, Anon, H Naylor, Jo Palethorpe, Mrs J Hales, Mrs K Merry, A Vallance, Tom Jones, C. Clare, June Laycock, Lesley W, Kevin Hill, R G Waygood, Sue Wesson, Mr. Smith, Dr J Mead, David Bond and Damion Furlong.

There was a nice comment attached to Els Oosterbrink's donation from Holland:
"Watching the peregrines at Derby Cathedral has become part of our spring so thank you all for making it happen."
Nick B (DWT)
Photo of three juvs courtesy of Ian superbrad Bradley

Welcome to the world!

Double click on the Clustr map on the blog (down the left hand column) and you can see where people all over the planet have been watching our birds in the last month (June). Here's the list of people watching Derby's famous birds from abroad with the number from each one (and its flag!):
United States (US)862 Canada (CA)171 Australia (AU)99 Netherlands (NL)84 Ireland (IE)53 Germany (DE)42 Spain (ES)39 France (FR)38 Saudi Arabia (SA)38 Denmark (DK)37 Taiwan (TW)32 Italy (IT)29 Belgium (BE)27 Austria (AT)26 Japan (JP)21 Europe (EU)21 New Zealand (NZ)16 Isle of Man (IM)16 Hungary (HU)15 Sweden (SE)15 Poland (PL)13 Cyprus (CY)13 Finland (FI)10 Latvia (LV)10 India (IN)9 Switzerland (CH)9 Norway (NO)8 Greece (GR)7 Jersey (JE)6 Iceland (IS)6 Indonesia (ID)6 Brazil (BR)5 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (LY)5 Russian Federation (RU)5 Mexico (MX)5 United Arab Emirates (AE)4 Pakistan (PK)4 Thailand (TH)4 Serbia (RS)4 Turkey (TR)4 Bulgaria (BG)3 Cook Islands (CK)3 Albania (AL)3 Argentina (AR)3 Peru (PE)3 Singapore (SG)3 Colombia (CO)3 Philippines (PH)3 Korea, Republic of (KR)3 Hong Kong (HK)3 Gibraltar (GI)3 Moldova, Republic of (MD)2 Mongolia (MN)2 Malta (MT)2 Egypt (EG)2 South Africa (ZA)2 Croatia (HR)2 Israel (IL)2 Haiti (HT)1 Macau (MO)1 Qatar (QA)1 Cambodia (KH)1 Trinidad and Tobago (TT)1 Romania (RO)1 Bolivia (BO)1 Seychelles (SC)1 China (CN)1 Kuwait (KW)1 Guernsey (GG)1 Lebanon (LB)1 Slovakia (SK)1 Czech Republic (CZ)1 Iraq (IQ)1 Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA)1 Portugal (PT)1 Algeria (DZ)1
Wherever you are from - welcome! Why not put a comment on the blog telling us how you found our site and what you think of it?
This summer we have had visitors to our Watch Points from China, France, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Estonia, USA, Israel, Spain, Poland, Russia and the Netherlands to name but a few!
Within the UK, it is rather pleasing to see almost as many folk living in Nottingham watching as there are from Derby. Of course our birds were later fledging than the single chick in Nottingham so that probably explains the recent surge in numbers from our 'rival city'!
Here's the UK list: just as far as places that had 30 hits or more (and remember this is just a snapshot of where people are watching - ie just the June locations and numbers of hits). For the full list go to the Clustr map and double click on it.

Derby	2,222
	Nottingham	2,132
	Leicester	1,312
	London	1,172
	Derbyshire	713
	Sheffield	618
	Manchester	399
	Birmingham	289
	Lincolnshire	249
	Stoke-on-Trent	230
	Nottinghamshire	220
	Leicestershire	211
	St. Helens	194
	Norfolk	163
	York	162
	Leeds	144
	Doncaster	139
	Coventry	134
	Worcestershire	121
	Bristol	118
	Cheshire	115
	Wolverhampton	100
	Lancashire	97
	Gloucestershire	93
	Durham	91
	Warwickshire	89
	Cambridgeshire	84
	Northamptonshire	84
	Suffolk	82
	Somerset	80
	Milton Keynes	77
	Hertford	75
	Hampshire	68
	Surrey	67
	Essex	66
	Liverpool	61
	Bedfordshire	56
	Rotherham	55
	Stockton-on-Tees	54
	Oxfordshire	53
	Walsall	49
	Peterborough	47
	Kingston upon Hull	45
	Plymouth	44
	Bath and North East Somerset	43
	Dudley	42
	Edinburgh	42
	North Yorkshire	41
	Kirklees	40
	Newcastle upon Tyne	38
	Cardiff	38
	Buckinghamshire	35
	Stockport	35
	Kent	34
	Blackburn with Darwen	33
	Barnsley	32
	Glasgow City	31
	East Riding of Yorkshire	30
	Southampton	30
	Staffordshire	30
	North East Lincolnshire	30

Hits to the web cams  and blog have now exceeded 200,000 since January, continued evidence of the  number of people who visit our site.  Do please keep on visiting. We will post news and updates on this blog throughout the summer, autumn and winter....and, from time to time, our adults will appear on the web cams. They stay here all year round as you probably know.

Nick B (DWT)