So a big welcome to everyone, wherever you are on the planet!
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| The Derby falcon - a 2010 portrait by Colin Pass |
Out of 8589 visits since 1st March, Nottinghan city (956) scored more than Derby city (859) but Derby and Derbyshire combined (1164) just pipped Nottingham and its associated county (1121).
Internationally, the USA (556) are way ahead, with Canada (126), the Netherlands (113) and Ireland (70) following behind. As always, visitor figures reflect where people's ISP connections are located, rather than pinpoint exactly where they live.
To see the figures for yourself, scroll down the blog and double click on the bright Clustrmap of the world. Archive maps of previous month's figures are also available.If any of you visiting this site from abroad would like to leave a blog message to say who you are and where you're from we'd be delighted to hear from you...leave a comment here or on Facebook if it's easier.
Of course, peregrine falcons are one of the most widespread of birds, occurring in every continent except Antarctica. So, how are the peregrines doing in your country if you have any? We'd be pleased to hear from you.....
Nick B (DWT)
This project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, who's website is well worth a visit and, naturally, has this headlining project firmly on its home page. Our valuable partners in the work we do in Derby are the Cathedral of course (without their support we'd be nowhere), Derby City Council - especially the staff in its webteam (and SERCO which manages their IT) and Derby Cathedral Quarter, who have helped the project in many vital ways since 2011.
78 comments:
Hi Nick, thanks for the update and the interesting information. I see from a previous comment that the birds were mating earlier this morning - is this usual behaviour for a Falcon which is supposedly ready to start laying?
12:30 Not sure if it's the falcon but in the scrape hollow being still.
@Penny In paste years (can't remember which) I saw mating in the morning and egg-laying later that same day. So, no, I don't think it is unusual behaviour at all. All part of the pair-bonding process.
12:48 Both in the scrape, lots of ee-chupping. Tiercel has flown, falcon moved to the hollow and is still ee-chupping and being still.
Thanks Nick, I am pleased to know this is normal! Been watching for the last ten minutes or so - really thought we were about to get an egg then Phoebe, but she has hopped out of the scrape again!
Me too Penny! she is staying close by and has arranged the gravel in readiness. The anticipation....
I know! And I have to go out shortly - I just know she will wait till I have gone! ~The suspense is killing me, lol.
18:06 ee=chupping in the scrape only one in there not sure if it's the falcon or not but I think so, scraping at the hollow now.
I'm still banking.
on
'Easter EGG' by breakfast time.:):)
or will it be tonight 20.30
this is number on my 'prove you are not a robot) Ha!!
Kate
Carol Chacon checking in from Alameda, California, USA--a small town/island in the San Francisco Bay.
Hi Carol great to hear from you and thank you for checking in! Better weather where you are than here!
Kate go with it 20:30 could be tomorrow night! They are out of sight at them moment. I think it will be laid before sunrise.
08.40 am Sunday and still no egg but the female is in the scraped depression looking as if she is readying herself...but we've been here before haven't we?
One theory I have is that a developing egg was re-absorbed a week ago and that consequently, producing a new egg is taking longer - but that is just a theory!
Bright sunny morning in Derby but still very cold until the sun begins to work. Reports of -12 degrees in the Scottish Highlands - so I wonder how peregrines nesting on remote cliffs up there are doing?
Nick B (DWT)
Happy Easter from Cheshire to Carol in California and everyone else here, especially the Derby team! Good to see snow receding on the nest platform even though the weather is still freezing. I've had a lot of work on this year but have been watching when I can :) Always good to catch up with the comments and screen grabs on Flickr, thank you. The new camera is incredible, isn't it... the other day, I was admiring the peregrine's variety of feathers, all of them there for different reasons. The ermine-like marking of the breast feathers shows up really well. I am enjoying the new view across Derby too. Fingers crossed for timely eggs...
Why does it not surprise me that there is no egg. This pair do it every year! lol
Just noticed the clock on the new egg-cam has not altered so is now 1 hour behind.
Good Morning Phoebe and everyone else, and Happy Easter! Yes, our little Derby Diva is teasing us yet again - will she - won't she? I shall be lucky to get Sunday lunch ready on time today, as I have to keep popping back to the PC to check on her!
Nick B - I've been thinking about re-absorbing eggs. The eggs are laid with only a few days apart, so there must be other eggs at an earlier stage of development. I wonder if when one is absorbed whether a new one will be produced to make up the numbers and that might be when they lay three and not four. It's a bit like a conveyor belt.
Hope you get your dinner done Penny! Look like we have a breather at the moment.
Lol!!! well my predictions 'up the shoot' AGAIN:)
Really was hoping for one at Breakfast, ah well, 'in her own time'
Hope everyone has a lovely healthy, blessed Easter Break.
Kate
P.S. But hey!!! wait a Mo; might be tonight :):)my number to prove; is showing 22.03.
Kate they are at it again or is it us lol. They are both staying close, one on the ledge and the other on the corbel below.
My number is 21:31 fingers crossed.
what's happening in the scrape it looks like the tiercel pretending to lay an egg! Or is it the falcon?
Thanks team for putting the scrape view on full!
It must be tonight surely. I think that was the tiercel on the ledge, and the falcon on the corbel below. He has been checking out the hollow regularly.
I too love the new camera angle--far and away the best of any I've seen on other sites. The two sites I watch in Indiana have eggs--4 in one, 2 in the other. I think the latitude is south of Derby, so that is probably why they are earlier. Lots of snow there too this year. Spring weather in Calif. but rainy. Happy Easter to my falcon friends in the UK. Carol in SF
I know we've been here before, but tonight at 01:35am, our falcon looks very much like she might lay at any time.
(but don't quote me!)
I've been watching since 01:05! Got up for headache tablets lol
Looks like she is going 'April Fool' us all.
The tiercel has landed on the corbel below the scrape, maybe she will lay now he is there.
LOL!!! 08.00
Still faffing, but really into that pre birth mode'frantically spring cleaning'
Dad below keeps looking up; as if to say :has it arrived?
Just before 9am it looked like the tiercel brought in some food which the falcon took down to the ledge below.I think the tiercel followed her a few minutes later for what looked like a quick mating session?
Falcon in the hollow in the scrape eee-chupping to the tiercel on the tower top.
Actually it looks more like the tiercel in the scrape... ? Can't be sure but s/he is in the laying stance.
Hi again Phoebe - hours of our lives are going by that we will never get back, lol. That naughty Falcon has a lot to answer for - I hope she will make it all worth our while in the end and lay a nice clutch of eggs - the sooner the better!
The falcon's in the hollow of the scrape moving stones & generally looking ready to lay; but we've been here before ...
My numbers are 41 & 45 - does this mean anything? :)
Thanks chaps for the close-up. Any minute now?
False alarm!
Hi Annie
She is as confused as we are, but you have to give her credit for trying Bless!!!
re your numbers? Phoebe and I were suggesting an omen of timing on the 24 hour clock :) but like my predictions 'useless'
A picture from this morning has been posted on both our Facebook and our Twitter accounts, and will probably be included in our next blog post.
We now have just under 2,000 images added to our Group Pool on Flickr, with three great ones added today.
Follow the links at the right side of the blog homepage to reach any of these sites.
Some very nice photos on flickr. Good to see colin's shots!
Both in the scrape eee-chupping!
Here we go again, falcon in the hollow.
And she is still there Phoebe - I think she has gone to sleep!
You're right Penny, she is sleeping mostly. I am wondering if something is wrong, maybe the new cam has put her off, or the snow or could she be eggbound? Can we be sure this is the same female from previous years? Does anyone else think she seems out of character. Maybe she is just not ready to lay yet, it has been late some years.
I have been having similar thoughts, particularly with the possibility of her being eggbound. She does seem to try really hard to lay every so often, and then just gives up and goes to sleep. I am fairly sure (as an interested spectator and not an expert) that it is the same Falcon, as I recognise a marking on her wing that I noticed last year. Fingers crossed she is just not ready and all will soon be well.
I hadn't noticed wing markings, I must look back at some of my photos.
Just checked in to find the peregrine on the nest and seems from the blog that she's been there for some time? I can't remember: didn't most of the eggs come during the night last year? Tremendous view of her rear on the new camera... so if we're in luck...
At around 18.40 the falcon was giving the new camera a real hammering, pulling at the casing with her beak around the screw-heads, as if trying to force it off. Maybe that camera's spooking her a bit & affecting her willingness to lay?
She seems very intent just now? Great view on live stream too... high definition and night vision. We're spoilt. Fingers crossed.
Hopefully she is not trying to lay but simply waiting for it to happen.
Oh I see the clock on the new cam is now reading the correct time! ~Thanks
Must admit...i agree with phoebe and others..the falcons does not seem quite right. Could she be egg bound, really hope not, but her behavour does seem odd. If she is egg bound should we worry about this to much. Andy
Last year the falcon spent quite a lot of time sitting in the scrape before the first egg was laid. It seems to be fairly typical behaviour for her. There have also been at least two other breeding seasons when the first egg wasn't laid until the beginning of April, so I don't think we should be worrying too much, especially given the recent weather! There are some great views on the live stream at the moment.
Thanks Helen, I can't remember that. It makes it easier for us all.
Thanks, Helen.
I've been getting worried that everyone else is getting worried!
Please see our new FAQ Tab at the top of the blog. You'll find a timetable for all key milestone events in their life cycle, going back to 2009.
And in 2008 it was March 28th, and in 2007 it was 3rd April. In 2006 the platform was only installed on 5th April, and eggs were presumably laid a couple of weeks after that.
I'm not worried folks!
So, no eggs yet at Derby and all of you watchers getting worried. The weather still looks quite nasty up there - it looks as if a cold east wind is blowing. For what it's worth, my feeling is that the Derby birds are wise old hands with a sort of special sense about the weather. It's as if they know. I feel they'll produce eggs when the weather stops being freaky. I blame the weather for what's happened at Aylesbury - we just have one egg (laid 8 days ago - so no more are coming) How many more catastrophic springs do we have to have before it is accepted that this is the reality of climate change? Meanwhile, I have every faith that Derby will lay when the time is right.
Sue - I didn't know Aylesbury only had one egg, every time I look there is a bird incubating.
Our falcon is now awake and sitting on the ledge.
Hi ! Kaoru from Osaka, Japan. I visit here not only this season but all year round. I watch a pair of falcons nesting on the veranda of Sunroute Kanku Hotel in Osaka and write the watch diary on the web. We have Falcon Cam ,too. But not clear like yours, sorry. Our first hatch will be around April 12.
Falcon Web Cam:
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/hayabusa/izumiotsu/falcon10000/index.html
Youtube Movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km4gasQSFII&feature=channel&list=UL
Hi Kaoru - great to hear from you and thanks for the links. The YT link didn't work for me until I took off the end section to get http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km4gasQSFII - great shots of falcons flying around the top of a high rise block.
Do keep us up to date with progress at your site.
All the best
Nick B (DWT)
Ps. And hello (again) to Carol C. in California.
Hi Karou -it's great to hear from people all over the world that watch the Derby Cathedral Peregrines. I took a look at your birds, you have some very good pictures.
Nothing much happening with our peregrines, they have been taking advantage of the little sun we've had today. It's still quite cold. As I say that one has started scraping the hollow.
Oh, how exciting to hear from Osaka! That's yet another peregrine webcam I'll have to add to my list of ones to visit, I soon won't have time for anything else but peregrine watching. The weather has been a bit better here today with a welcome glimpse of the sun. I've just had a short evening walk and have seen my first house martin of the year. It was hawking over some water,
trying to catch some insects I expect (and wondering where they all are I daresay) We're not very happy that we only have one egg at Aylesbury and just hope that it's viable (only two out of the three hatched last year and the year before we only had one egg which never hatched) My instinct still tells me that Derby have that special "sixth sense" that always seems to stand them in such good stead.
I've just checked out that Clustrmap and I'm shocked to see that there are more visitors from Egypt than from my county of Buckinghamshire - in fact, it's just me from Bucks.
Does seem like we are not going to get any eggs this year....seems abit late now maybe, do you think something might be wrong or not quite right with the falcon, as reading back at older posts you state that she normally should lay earlier the older the she gets, regards wayne.
In 2006, her first year, the platform wasn't put in place until as late as 5th April and she laid maybe 2-3 weeks after that (there were no cameras that year). So I don't think we should give up on her yet awhile.
Even in 2011 she laid her first egg on 2nd April....which is/was only yesterday....
Certainly the snow and extreme cold must have had an effect on the pairs that had not already started to lay. The pair in Bath had very early eggs last year (first on 10th March) but have only just begun to lay this time around.
Nick B (DWT)
The falcon is in the scrape, could this be it?
She's back! Will she or won't she....?
She appears to be resting... the lull before the storm perhaps...
I think she is just ensuring that the Derby Peregrine Webcam is the most watched site in the World! Once she lays an egg the cliffhanger will be over and she does not want her viewing figures to drop! I said she was a Diva, lol.
I think you're right Penny lol
In her own time ....
She's left the scrape now. I got a screengrab of her in flight off the ledge.
19:53 Head bowing and eee-chupping in the scrape. The falcon has pushed the tiercel out of the scrape lol and is now scraping at the hollow.
It looks like she is waiting to lay ... again!
Yes that is how it looks to me too.
She looked underneath herself them moved around and made herself comfortable as protecting could it be an egg? Now we wait and wait and wait to see.
She could have been checking that she was over the middle of the hollow. When they have laid an egg they usually snuggle down on it.
Great to hear from you, Kaoru. I enjoyed watching your Youtube movie of the birds' acrobatics. Colin's photos on this group's Flickr show the feathers in beautiful definition. Thank you both for sharing. Nick M, interesting to read the new FAQs here, which you mentioned, and the useful chart of past egg-laying etc. Sue, you must be concerned about the single egg in Aylesbury, but everyone's efforts there have given your birds a better chance of breeding even if the weather hasn't. Nail-biting times though!
We have an egg today at the University of Buffalo South Campus from the new female peregrine! http://www.buffalo.edu/falconcam.html
5.18 a.m. 4th April have just seen the Falcon lay the first egg, watching here in Canberra. Wow, very excited, well done Mum.
We Have our 1st egg! Well done Mrs p. From christine.
Have I just witnessed the first egg being laid?
Yipeeeeee... Well done Mrs P that makes it Derby 1 Nottingham 3... we can do it.... x
Well done to Hilary in Australia for being the first to report the egg on the blog and to George Ted on Facebook. Seems like it was laid at about 05.18 this morning.
Everyone can relax a bit now. The next thing will be to see if she lays a full clutch....
Eggs should be laid at about two day intervals.
Nick B (DWT)
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