Sunday, 20 April 2025

Hatch at last and a first feed

Update Sunday 27th: it's been quite clear for some days now that the other two eggs won't hatch and have been abandoned.
The two chicks are being well looked after by the parent birds and are growing fast......
Lots of Wendy's video clips showing feeds can be found in the comments.

Update Monday 21st pm: second chick has hatched!

Screenshot by Kate of both chicks:


Video by Wendy of second chick revealed:



 
After what seemed like a long wait, a chick was spotted just before midnight last night (19th).
The screengrab below was captured this morning by Helen, one of our dedicated watch point volunteers.





Here's a video by Wendy showing the first feed:




The Project Team
The project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with excellent partners The Cathedral, Cathedral Quarter and the city council's IT team.


100 comments:

Kate said...

Lovely Helen and for others on Flickr.

Anonymous said...

Saw the chick just before 9AM Male was eating a pigeon I think.

Kate said...

Just posted, Flickr, TWO pics from Wendy, one showing FIRST FEED

Wendy Bartter said...

What a grand Easter Sunday as we see our FIRST CHICK getting first feed ...
https://youtu.be/kk2GLb_4wvA

Wendy Bartter said...

Many thanks Kate, footage follows

Wendy Bartter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wendy Bartter said...

Sorry, had to re-upload a muted version of Mum bringing prey at 16.23 as the continuously ringing bells made watching quite painful ...
https://youtu.be/F9XU7VX4aSw

Anonymous said...

Still only 1 chick at changeover.

Wendy Bartter said...

Male comes in at 20.44 to take over, first time I've seen him today and he doesn't appear to be limping ...
https://youtu.be/HZT41PWCLs4

Female comes back at 20.55, perches for 3 minutes then takes over from himself ...
https://youtu.be/fVAB7O5vT-4

Wendy Bartter said...

I enlarged a pic of the eggs which I can't post here, but thought I saw a crack across the middle egg ... maybe another chick by morning ... all early birds keep a lookout please!

Jane said...

7.14 single chicken just been fed.

Anonymous said...

I’ve posted a couple of pics to Flickr

Wendy Bartter said...

Male comes in at 10.26 to take over and we see poor little chick stranded on it's back but seems to manage to right itself before male covers it ... can't see any pips in remaining eggs
https://youtu.be/H25r39xt2nM?si=ognl5icX2p5eTF2e

Kate said...

Thank you Jane and Anonymous? for lovely pics of feed and still three eggs at that time.

Wendy Bartter said...

Thank you for those great pics Carol, chick is so cute at this stage 🐥

Wendy Bartter said...

Thank you Jane for info re early feed 🐥

Chloe said...

Looks like another has hatched around 230pm, I can see a broken egg shell (one of the dark ones)

Helen said...

Is that another chick that has hatched? I can see a big piece of shell.

Carol S said...

Second chick - from brown egg. Added couple of pics to flicker - just visible and saw moving around

Kate said...

well spotted..Chloe, Helen and Carol Thank you. I can see darke shell edge of her nearside wing.....Ha!!!

Kate said...

BOTH chicks being fed now 15.20

Wendy Bartter said...

Great news 🐥🐥 Mum is feeding now so great views of the newbie, am recording, will post soonest!

Wendy Bartter said...

SECOND CHICK ... reveal of eggshell and briefest glimpse of chicks ...
https://youtu.be/xilb-HiSo78

Anonymous said...

I could only see the elder chick being fed. Dad then arrived with second offering and Mum flew off. Whereupon Dad took lunch into the far corner, ate it all and flew off. So much for his chickcare skills!

Wendy Bartter said...

Celebrating a great view of SECOND CHICK when male arrived at 15.14 with prey and Mum commenced to feed ... to soon for newbie to get food though it did ask!🐥🐥
https://youtu.be/2PyuifWeshs?si=TvNRmUjInkmAES7i

Kate said...

second feed now pic on flkr

Wendy Bartter said...

Another feed at 16.42 where Male feeds Mum before she then feeds chicks, newbie holding it's head up well ...
https://youtu.be/KW1AsN9L_1M

Wendy Bartter said...

Thanks Kate

Anonymous said...

2 feeding now!

Wendy Bartter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kate said...

Wendy's capture of this feed on;Flickr

Wendy Bartter said...

I see it was the female who brought in prey this time

Wendy Bartter said...

Here is the female bringing in prey and feeding chicks, male flew off ...
https://youtu.be/49p0jMIENuM

Anonymous said...

Still two chicks at 23:50.

Anonymous said...

Feed at around 6am, one of the remaining eggs has a pip and a crack.

Kate said...

Ooh! thanks anonymous

Kate said...

Male brings feed , she steps aside to sort it, then starts feeding the Two. Icannot see any crack 07.20

Wendy Bartter said...

Part of feed from 11.10, both chicks looking strong ...
https://youtu.be/-JvGFgxvCok?si=ff589OUnd6H_lono

Anonymous said...

Where is mum or dad, no sign of either for last 7 mins now. Still 2 chicks. Is leaving them this long to hunt normal?

Anonymous said...

https://youtu.be/yMaYHPO_Kmg?feature=shared

Helen said...

Hi Ali, the adults are probably not too far away, just out of view of the camera perhaps. They usually keep a close watch. It’s fairly warm today as well, so not really unusual.

Anonymous said...

Thankyou Helen. xx

Wendy Bartter said...

Even more strange is that Mum brought prey to scrape and didn't feed chicks!

Wendy Bartter said...

I found it really strange that Mum didn't feed them, prey looked substantial enough ...
https://youtu.be/cLDe-jMJ8Ho?si=aZEJ7p77jEWWNzJN

Wendy Bartter said...

Same thing happened again at 18.25, don't understand it ...
https://youtu.be/kgnN9z7SwBk

Anonymous said...

Wendy is it possible the parents know something we don't? (nature can be very cruel). Or could it be possible the other 2 eggs aren't fertile and the scent from those are confusing the parents? Clutching at straws for this odd behaviour.

Wendy Bartter said...

I don't have any reasonable guesses Ali, just know that the female is currently very unsettled, constantly picking at the gravel and just had another go at the wooden divider strip which she has pretty much destroyed, nothing left now to keep chicks from straying into other scrape too early! I was busy for quite a while this afternoon and no idea if I missed a feed!

Helen said...

I saw them being well fed at some point this evening but I can't remember what time it was. Both chicks had a good amount considering how small they are. I had a quick look at the videos and the chicks didn't seem to react when the prey was brought in so I'm guessing that they didn't necessarily need feeding at that point. I think they are probably being fed a lot more often than we think or know about!

Anonymous said...

Just checked some screenshots that I took when I saw them being fed earlier this evening and it was 18.16 so they had only just been fed!

Helen said...

Just added a few pictures on Flickr of them being fed.

Anonymous said...

Helen you sensible lady! Thankyou for being the voice of reason ❤️

DW said...

6:40am - chicks being fed. Both getting a good amount. Both looking good at this stage.

Anonymous said...

Thanks DW, and agree with Helen re yesterdays observations, The prey that Wendy Vid was very scrawny and I think she was probably thinking maybe too bony for the chicks Ha!!!

Kate said...

sorry not anonymous twas me Kate sorry.( I forgot I cleared my cache)

Kate said...

Lovely Feed now .Both getting a share 0813

Wendy Bartter said...

Thanks for all info regarding feeds, pleased to hear that all progressing well 😀

Wendy Bartter said...

Saw a brief feed approx 10.46 and could see a reasonably full crop on one of the chicks😀

Jane said...

2 chicks, 2 eggs, just had a good feed, possibly blackbird..

Wendy Bartter said...

Earlier comings & goings of parents and views of chicks ...
https://youtu.be/xIdXLOAvw1o?si=uzf8rjdEyHudJDMV

Wendy Bartter said...

Thanks Jane, managed to record that one, just editing now

Wendy Bartter said...

The full feed after Male brings prey and Mum feeds the chicks ...
https://youtu.be/HfSRHP9sc54?si=r2GdFSmUy4MDE86u

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for these videos. I can't get any sound on this one. Is that a problem with my setup?

Wendy Bartter said...

Strange actions again at 18.10, rough on the chicks, good job they're robust ...
https://youtu.be/0MPmikV6NIY?si=FIS1D2eDISmymzAD

Wendy Bartter said...

Sorry about that, can't think why sound wasn't picked up, will investigate🤔

Wendy Bartter said...

Mum starts a feed at 18.31from that prey she's been nursing, male turns up later to feed himself at same time, he leaves with it but he brought it back about 5 minutes ago, no-one interested so he flew with it ...

Wendy Bartter said...

Sorry, forgot to insert link ...
https://youtu.be/_T5uD1ZDTBI?si=S90nKmwf3TiJFV87

Wendy Bartter said...

Was a problem with recording software settings on my Win 11 laptop ... a learning procedure in progress🤯

Anonymous said...

Many thanks

Wendy Bartter said...

Male brings a scrappy bit of prey, Mum screeches at him for ages, he attempts to start feeding the chicks but she takes over ...
https://youtu.be/aYsBKUibOTw

Kate said...

feeding now 3.50

Wendy Bartter said...

Male has a screech at Mum to hurry up, she brings prey at 15.46 and feeds chicks again ...
https://youtu.be/U5g_9GBq2ZY

Nat said...

Still only 2 babies

Wendy Bartter said...

Footage of full feed at 18.55 so we can check how much the chicks get ...
https://youtu.be/J0YviLJVIaU

Wendy Bartter said...

Looks unlikely that any more will hatch now ... two is a very manageable number though, much easier to make sure each get equal share of food

Anonymous said...

Looks like there will only be 2 chicks this year now.

Anonymous said...

At 2.03 am, one of the unhatched eggs was already at the edge of the scrape, and I saw one of the chicks roll the second unhatched egg out from under the parent bird and into the corner nearest Nest Cam 1.

Kate said...

Thanks anonymous,at least there will be a good chance for our two.

Kate said...

Feed now 08 43 1 egg out, other still used by chicks as a pillow CHOL:):)

Wendy Bartter said...

This feed starts at 12.09 as cam froze then freezes again in the middle ...
https://youtu.be/lHXsVLCWG58

Wendy Bartter said...

Another feed at 13.32 ...
https://youtu.be/qi55Gvjr-I4

More prey at 15.07 not offered to chicks, maybe too full from previous feeds
https://youtu.be/feero4jgwso

Anonymous said...

Feed just before 18.00

Anonymous said...

Another feed now with both parents

Wendy Bartter said...

Some footage of the feed at 17.47 when male dekivered prey to other scrape and female went to retrieve it (didn't record the later one unfortunately) ...
https://youtu.be/Eh9js8qvCrE

Wendy Bartter said...

Did the male feed the chicks or just himself?

Anonymous said...

It was predominantly the female he had a bit of a go though she seemed to quickly take over if she felt he wasn't doing it right. He fed some to her and also gave her some to give to the chicks. They both had bits of prey though I missed the first part so couldn't see if it was from one prey or two separate. She had the largest fleshier piece his seemed scrawny. They both flew off when finished she returned a min or so later

Nattalie said...

Awww I see one egg has been moved out the nest

Wendy Bartter said...

Many thanks for your observations

Wendy Bartter said...

Actions before, during and after feed at 12.59 ...
https://youtu.be/Eh9js8qvCrE

Wendy Bartter said...

Was kicked out a couple of days ago Nattalie, fully expect the other to follow in due course, obviously both not viable

Anonymous said...

After this they left the chicks for nearly 5 mins before one of them (I'm not sure which) returned with more prey and more feeding

Anonymous said...

Sorry saw this was on the video

Wendy Bartter said...

Another feed at 15.38 ...
https://youtu.be/BpHJfdm0FHg

Wendy Bartter said...

Next lot of prey came in at 17.02, chicks being looked after well ...
https://youtu.be/CHewRJmKu-s

Anonymous said...

Can't sleep at 2.00am and just watched the parent bird fly off leaving the chicks alone and very awake.

Wendy Bartter said...

She won't have gone far, likely just a comfort break

Wendy Bartter said...

Mum brings prey and feeds the chicks at 15.11 (just the one feed today as had visitors) ... https://youtu.be/bgxv3GCrwYI

Jules said...

Mum (I think) also bought prey this morning 8.15-830 ISH both chicks had a good feed

Anonymous said...

Just one of the unviable eggs in nest now and shell is broken too

Nattalie said...

I noticed that too..i wonder where the other one is...and the egg maybe cracked due to parents standing on it I'm not sure but I really don't think we'll get another chicken it's been too long since last hatch

Jules said...

Maybe one of the adults has eaten it?