Hot water bottle day - whatever next?

Monday 25th March - and the deep snow on the platform looks like it will be there for another week, according to the weather forecasters. Yesterday: the falcon was looking as if she was preparing to lay an egg - but on the 'wrong' side of the platform where there are flat slates put there intentionally in 2006 to encourage her to nest on the deeper gravel on the other side. It had worked until the now when surprise March snow and bitter easterly winds came with a vengeance this weekend.

Overnight thinking: how could we melt the snow to give our birds a chance of laying eggs onto the gravel and not onto a bed of cold snow and ice? There was concern that laying onto ice and incubating in that position might result in eggs not staying viable. There were, after all, only two options for them, and both were snow-filled.

Brainwave: since an abseil down was out of the question today (far too windy and also bitterly cold) what about lowering a hot water bottle (HWB) from the top of the tower  - or even releasing some hot water directly onto the snow in the nest?

Nick M dangles a HWB from the top of the tower

Checks with Ed Drewitt in Bristol (a good friend of the project and a bird ringer licenced to disturb and handle peregrines at the nest for ringing the chicks) confirmed we would need the say-so of a local licenced ringer. So we managed to get Ant Messenger (our usual chick-ringer) to come along and approve our plans, which he did after a bit of consultation with the British Trust for Ornithology. (Thanks Ant!)

Said HWB in situ, melting the snow...

Like something from Fred Karno's Circus, Nick M lowered a succession of hot water bottles down from the top of the tower to try to melt the snow right where the female has always laid her eggs in previous years in the deep gravel. The gusty wind took the HWB round the corner of the cathedral several times but, with persistence and luck (and OK a bit of skill too maybe!), Nick managed to land the bottle (at least four times) right where the eggs are normally laid. By the end, you could see gravel! Meanwhile our two adult birds sat quietly on top of Jurys Inn, unaware of the effort and discomfort we were going through on their behalf.

The media were informed (and rather liked the story) - there was a short piece on BBC TV East Midlands Today this evening, and Nick went in to Radio Derby to explain why we had taken this rather unusual course of action.



We realise we normally take a stance of not intervening too much, and always ensure we have pursued both the legalities and the practicalities of the actions we take. So not everyone has felt this was the right course of action to take today, but we can assure everyone that the birds were not disturbed in any way, nor even called out once, which did surprise us. It may turn out that our efforts were in vain after all. Later this evening our falcon appears to have returned to the still snow-bound, right hand side of the nest ledge after a brief foray into the defrosted bit.

So, as egg-laying time gets ever nearer we'll simply watch and wait now to see which part of the nest ledge she finally chooses. And hope that it turns out to be OK after all.

Nick B and Nick M (DWT)