Exactly on schedule, the female Peregrine Falcon on Derby's Cathedral has laid her fourth egg of the year today, Easter Sunday (5th April), thereby completing her clutch.
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| Four eggs clearly visible |
Now the long and (especially for her) arduous business of incubation will keep her tied to the nest platform for the next 30+ days.The male will do all the hunting while she takes the lion's share of incubation duties.
Last year, the final egg was also laid on 5th April and the first chick hatched on the 3rd of May.
So if the incubation period is the same this year, we can expect the patter of tiny talons to begin around the same date.
The egg laying period has been watched by people around the globe - see the Clustrmap lower down on this blog which shows where people are watching from (double click and you even get a list of countries and also the number of hits from both within and beyond the UK!).
As many of you know, the project is funded mainly by donations though we have enjoyed a 3-year lottery grant which finishes this summer. Even that grant has to be matched by donations of over £1000 each year - and so far we are hardly off the ground - so any little will help!
Should you feel like making a donation (handled by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust which manages this project), then click on the Donations tab on this blog or visit the Trust's website where you will also find links to our VirginGiving page. Thank you.
The Project Team (Nick Moyes, Ian Layton and Nick Brown)
Ps. Tomorrow (Monday 6th) there is a bell ringing event at the Cathedral - full details are on the previous blog post reached by scrolling down.......
55 comments:
How wonderful to have an egg laid on Good Friday then another on Easter Sunday! It is panning out to be a copy of last year! And, I should be back in time to see the hatching.
Hope the bell ringing went well.
@Phoebe: Thanks for your comment about the bell ringing but it hasn't happened yet. It's tomorrow, on Easter Monday, with the doors open from 10am to 4pm so you've still got a chance to come along and get a peregrine's eye view of Derby from the top of the tower.
We'll also have the live web-cam monitor on in the Ringing Chamber so you watch the activity on the scrape, live and without the 10 minute time-out.
Looking forward to seeing you all there. :-)
Roger
Thanks Roger, but I thought there was also some ringing the other day. Unfortunately I won't be coming as I have arrangements at a local nature reserve. I have been in the past and did the walk up to the roof of the cathedral, it was awesome and I encourage anyone to go, you'll have a really good time. Everyone is so friendly and helpful.
Hope it goes well.
So....... I went on the top of the cathedral today and saw peregrines eye view. Was amazing
Well done Julia, so it was well worth it!
I have to say Phoebe a bit harrowing going round and round up the steps to get there but worth it once you are up there
Yes it is but still worth it, I went up on all fours!
I must say it was easier coming down again.
There was a rope ensuring people didn't go hanging over the east side of the cathedral so all good
wonderful- still as captivating after all these years as when I 1st logged in to watch
20.40...... Mrs P up on tower preening. Not sure whether she has eaten. .. Mr P on eggs until 20.47 when Mrs P returns and he flies off to let her resume...
Love their commitment
Enjoyed my day at the cathedral but have strained my left thigh muscle and it's very sore. .... those steps are hard going
Julia, it is hard work going up those steps and for me, being older, I had to rest up afterwards. Hope it soon gets better.
All quiet on the scrape now as the pair take their turn on the eggs. The tiercel does like to do his bit.
The tiercel is up top eating and she is lying down with head to the side.
the tiercel just brought her some food and she jumped up from the eggs, she started eating then flew off with it. Eggs are alone again.
Looks like stream 4 is frozen at 17:00 hours today
Sorry I meant stream 3 is frozen at 17:00 hours today.
I have 2 & 3 frozen right now. Mrs P is sleeping right now.
Apologies for the camera failures. These cannot be fixed remotely and seem to have been caused by some configuration changes made beyond the project's control. They are being investigated but we cannot promise a return to full service quickly...please bear with us.
The Project Team
No problem Nick! We know you are always doing your best! Thanks for all you all do!
A real pleasure to be able to watch with such a clear view and sound. I'm encouraging friends to have a look in too. Liz
I hope Streams 1,2 and 4 are working OK now. Please note that Stream 3 is not currently in service, but us in the process of being set up over the next few weeks. There are a number of computing issues to resolve before this is fully sorted.
Please continue reporting any webcam failures as this is very helpful to The Project Team. Some feedback may not appear immediately when comment moderation is in operation.
Sorry, error in deleted post above, so trying again. I hate Google+!
Changeover at 14.02 hrs. I think it's the tiercel on the eggs now.
Streams 1, 2 & 4 working well, thank you.
Both in attendance at the scrape, falcon on eggs and tiercel on ledge, he keeps looking up.
Good to see both parents on duty this afternoon. During the changeover just now, the fantastic close-up of the camera revealed the 4 eggs in a surprisingly wide ring of dry gravel compared to the surrounding darker wet gravel. Those feathers fluff out a fair way!
Hello, we are Oak class and we are Year 1 and Year 2 children.
We have looked at the webcams for the first time and we are very excited about learning about the Peregrine Falcons.
Today we heard the peregrine's squawk for the first time. We also heard the cathedral bells!
We have started our peregrine falcon topic today and we've written a lot of questions that we would like to find the answers to by the end of the topic.
We guess that the first chick will hatch on 5th May.
In green class we saw four eggs . thery wer redish and rownd . The femele was terning the eggs so thery dvelep rite. The femele gets of the eggs so she can strech her wings . The male sat on the eggs . The male wud not get of . The peregrine falcons has a hard job too doo. Thery sit on the eggs for four weeks in all ciends of wether. Peregrines are very good.
I so rarely catch a change over but just did. Mr P is now on the eggs. He came up on the ledge and she immediately got up and away she went. A little over 2 weeks and the first one will be here and then the fun begins.
She just came back, sat on the ledge and looked at him. He got up and away he went. She preened a bit and then went over to the eggs, moved them around a bit and took her time settling on them. They are so gentle for such fierce hunters.
Hi Oak Class and Green Class - it's great that you are both watching the peregrines this year!
Sitting on the eggs for 30 days can be a bit boring but when the chicks hatch out (early in May) there will be a lot more to see happening on the nest.
Stay around for that!
The Project Team
Right at the front of the box where the eggs are there is a white, what looks like a cocoon? could this be a moth or butterfly? What do you all think?
Hi Glynn May, it is more likely a feather caught up in the gravel. We'll have to keep and eye on it to see if it moves in the wind.
@Glynn May and Phoebe. I wondered if it was a pellet regurgitated by one of the peregrines. They do produce them quite regularly.
Just seen the shift change at the nest, the Falcon has flown off and the Tiercel is now taking his turn on the eggs
@ Helen, a pellet was my first thought but then didn't expect it to be white in colour, but it could be.
Peregrine pellets are very pale so I suspect what has been seen was one.
Whereas owl pellets are full of prey bones (usually small mammals with the occasional frog or bird), peregrine pellets are devoid of bones since the birds only eat the flesh.
Nick B (DWT)
Thanks Nick B for the pellet information. It hasn't moved so I suspect that it is a pellet. We learn something every day!
I first noticed the "pellet" on Monday. It was vertical against the edge of the nest tray and appeared to be waving its legs. A few hours later it seemed to have expired.
Camera 4 not working well for the last half hour. I have clicked on it twice and sometimes that works but right now it isn't working.
I expect the Cams require a lot of techno tuning at this time, to bring them out of hibernation, so to speak, and pull the system together. It'll start to settle down soon, as the team continue to tweak it's ears and oil it's cog's, so by the time the eggs start hatching it's always usually running sweet as a nut.
You'll be reaching for the popcorn very soon now Abby Lynn!
I can hardly wait Lorraine!
Well, My P just came back and the Mrs took off right away. He went over to the eggs, moved them around a bit and then did his little wiggle of his body and covered them. So nice to see.
Cam 4 working very well tonight.
Previous comment should not be anonymous.
It's great to see them back again, fingers crossed for a successful fledge
Saturday 18th and cameras 3 and 4 don't seem to be working for some reason, hopefully these can be fixed soon
Mrs P fast asleep on this lovely sunny morning. Hope all is progressing well.
Mrs P just left and Mr P doing his little wiggle before laying on the eggs. He has some feathers ruffled. Maybe he was in a bit of a fight. I have noticed they do this exchange often between 6:15 and 6:35.
Camera 4 not working right now. I tried 4 times.
Cam 4 ok now. Mrs P just came back. I wasn't watching constantly but this seems to happen every am. She goes away between 6:15 and 6:35 and comes back around 8:15. A 2 hour break. Has anyone else noticed this time frame?
In case anyone's getting itchy, there are now 3 peregrine chicks at Nottingham Trent Uni.
http://www.ntu.ac.uk/ecoweb/biodiversity/falcons/index.html?campaignid=falcons
I've never noticed the morning routine Abby-Lynn, as I'm more a night viewer than early morning. Perhaps the falcon takes a longer "break" because of the long sit through the night. She probably enjoys hunting her own food whilst she's away also.
I've learnt from the blog that peregrines like to bathe ( there are some lovely snippets of this behaviour on YouTube ) so maybe she does this also, before returning to relieve Mr.P from duty, feeling all fresh, full and re-energised!
Nice to hear the Nott's chicks are doing well.
Well, the usual switch didn't take place this am. It is 7:15 and she is back already. so, I guess I just caught them a few days in a row and thought it would happen every day. Love watching them. Our camera placement is much better than Nottingham's. Another 10 days and we should be seeing a chick.
He flew up to the scrape and sat on the edge preening for about 5 minutes. Then walked over and she got up when he was very close and took off. He is now covering the eggs.
She just flew off and left the eggs unattended! Just a few more days and the first chick will appear. I am really looking forward to it.
Stream 4 camera not working quite right. Time does not change. If you change to stream 2 the go back to 4 the time changes but otherwise it stays the same. Frozen.
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