Monday 6 June 2016

Wednesday 8th June special talk, watch points - and beyond

On Wednesday this week our Watch Point, prior to the evening talk by The Urban Birder, David Lindo, will run from 11am right through to about 6pm.
David's talk in the cathedral begins at 6.30 and tickets are still available via the Derby Book Festival website (please see previous post by scrolling down).
David Lindo (right) with our Nick Moyes in 2010
when David visited our project

Ticket holders have been invited to arrive early both to see a small display in the cathedral and to visit the Watch Point in small batches to see the birds 'for real'.
We hope you can either come to the Watch Point during the day or, if you are a ticket holder, come around 5pm - 5.30pm to have an escorted visit (please sign up in the cathedral first though).
The weather should hold so we are looking forward to a lovely evening (fingers crossed!).

More on David Lindo (also see his website here)
David Lindo was brought up in London but somehow managed to get interested in bird watching. His local 'patch' was and still is Wormwood Shrubs...not the prison you understand but the wild open area close by. This green oasis among all the buildings has attracted all sorts of remarkable birds, both residents and especially migrants. To a degree, it mimics Derby's own Sanctuary Reserve at Pride Park. This urban nature reserve is owned by the city council....and a long campaign was waged over its development in 2013/14.
David has visited cities all over the world looking for birds and other wildlife that lives in them. He's definitely one of the world's experts of Urban Wildlife - so the evening should be very interesting.

Future Watch Points (WP) and their timings

Some minor changes to what we advertised in the earlier blog are as follows:

Saturday WPs: start at 10am and go on until at least 1.30/2 pm depending on demand. They are every Saturday now until and including July 9th.

Wednesday WPs (in June only) are from 11am to 2pm.each week.

There will be NO Wednesday WPs in July.

The project team (Nick M, Emma W, Marc W and Nick B)


10 comments:

Kate said...

Morning all
How I wish I was not so far south,for what looks to be an exciting event, am sure those able to attend will be amazed, and look forward to reading update.

This morning sees our group all active and managed to get a blurry capture of all four heads from Cam 2 and it is on flkr as usual.
Kate

Kate said...

5.40.p.m all four visible waiting for a feed Pic on flkr.

Heather said...

Yet another feed, they all seemed to form an orderly queue when I logged on, but plenty to go round. It is incredible how quickly they grow and each year it never ceases to amaze me. Now waiting for a successful fledging - hopefully not as traumatic as the one from the Sheffied crew. Woking pair were living dangerously the other day being fed side by side on narrow ledge.

Yes I think we're all going to suffer from withdrawal symptoms but once more Mr&MrsP have done a sterling job.

Enjoying Springwatch this evening.

Heather said...

Just checked on the Woking site and looks as if they too have fledged as thought they would have been back in scrape by now. Rutland chicks still look tiny. Any news from any of the other nests?

Karen B said...

Hi Heather, I have been watching ospreys at Rutland, Loch of Lowes and a pair at Foulshaw Moss who sadly lost one of their chicks ... Rutlands chicks are big compared to others.. foulshaws are smallest.
Lets hope all do well, am not sure how long from hatch to fledge an Osprey chick takes ???

Our crew look not long off fledging now!!! I too will be sad when they go but like i've said before it is bittersweet. Yes I agree our pair have been fantastic parents.




Wendy Bartter said...

Some footage from this morning ... was it that hot there that caused two of the chicks to pant so? Then the cutie who decided on a 'selfie' session showing us his big gape ... (Blackwall Tunnel???)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVU9iOnPbc8

Unknown said...

Hi, Is it just me or has one of the 4 gone? Thouroughly enjoyed yesterday evening at the Cathederal too thank you to all concerned!

Helen said...

Hi Norma, I can see four heads now. I think one of them is squashed right into the corner. Almost looks like one is sitting on top of the other. They should have a little while to go yet before fledging. One was sitting on the edge of the platform a little while ago. (PS there is a new blog post).

Heather said...

Does anyone know why they stretch their necks and open their beaks as if gasping for air? I don't mean the open beak when it's hot weather but the one in corner was doing it just now. Thought at first it was pecking at the one who insists on living dangerously on edge of scrape but then saw it was like a gulping action.

Presume it's same one on edge each time and wonder why it's doing this, perhaps it's the little one trying to prove he's better (or more stupid!) than his siblings. I'm almost yelling at him to get back in the scrape when they all start wing flapping nearby. Let's hope we don't get a repeat of Sheffied and Woking chicks who each had one nearly meeting an untimely end on fledging. Fingers crossed our four will be safe.

Helen said...

Hi Heather, it could be that they are trying to regurgitate or cast a pellet. All birds of prey form them. I have seen the adult birds doing this before whilst I've been watching them on the cameras. Anything that isn't digestible e.g. feathers or bones, are formed into a pellet which is then ejected through the mouth or beak. Peregrine pellets tend to be quite crumbly and fragile once they have dried out as they are mainly contain feathers since the birds pick the meat from their prey rather than swallowing it whole. Unlike owl pellets which contain the bones of small mammals that have been eaten in one go or gulp! Here's a link to an older blog post that gives a bit more information - http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/pellets.html