Watch out for four Watch Point events coming up soon!

Update 24 May
The first Watch Point took place today and was a huge success! 
Helen, one of our brilliant volunteer team wrote:

Yesterday's watchpoint was very well attended, with nearly three hundred visitors by the end of the session. Lots of children were among them, including one very young girl who literally jumped for joy when she caught her first glimpse of the peregrines through our telescope. She had come with her family especially to see them, and her excitement at seeing the birds made our day! Both of the adult birds were around for most of the time, with the female on the platform and the male perched higher up on the tower keeping a watchful eye on the chicks below.
We had some great views of the chicks looking over the edge of the platform, occasionally flapping their wings and sending clouds of white down into the air. They were fed twice during the morning and it was good to see them with full crops. The peregrines provided plenty of excellent photo opportunities and you can see some of the great pictures taken by Luke W, who has kindly shared them on our Flickr group - https://www.flickr.com/photos/194643864@N05/54542607375/in/pool-derbyperegrines/ . Luke has more fantastic photographs of peregrines on his own Flickr account. A brilliant first watchpoint with more to come!

The next Watch Point is this Wednesday 28th May between 10 am to 2 pm . 
Do come along and see the birds for real!! Our super volunteers and Marc Whitlock from DWT will be on hand with telescopes and lots of great information!

And FYI: the camera on the right hand side of the platform has been repositioned this morning to afford better views of the chicks.....

Update 20th May: here's a further video from Wendy made today showing how big the chicks are now and how their first feathers are beginning to appear! Growth is so fast it is not surprising that the chicks need to lie down, sometimes for long periods.....

Update 15th May: please be aware that the chicks are now mobile and often move to the side of the platform where they can't be seen on either camera. They have not fallen off! 
Here's a YT video by Wendy of the chicks taken on 16th May. They have grown big for sure!

As the two chicks grow and become visible from the ground below, it's time for us to organise a few Watch Points enabling visitors to the cathedral (and to Derby if you live within reach) to see and learn more about these fabulous birds.
This year the organising has been carried out by Marc Whitlock who works for the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust which manages this project.
We have a wonderful team of volunteers who help us every year and who will be on hand to point things out and help you with the telescopes.

The dates are:

Saturday 24th May
Wednesday 28th May
Saturday 31st May and
Saturday 7th June.

Each will run on Cathedral Green, behind the Cathedral on Full Street between 10 am and 2pm.

The telescopes are set up on the grass on Cathedral Green which makes a very pleasant place to watch the birds 'for real' - quite a different experience from just watching the web cams. It's entirely free and you can stay as long as you wish. Bring a folding chair, some lunch and some binoculars if you have them!

You will see the adults flying about and going to the platform to feed the chicks, the chicks teetering on the platform edge once they have feathers and are flexing them and other wildlife passing by too.

Nest platform circled in red. Photo Nick Moyes

This has included buzzards (which the falcons sometimes attack!), red kites, sparrowhawks and occasionally ravens which now nest just outside the city and which, a few years back, started to build a nest on the cathedral much to the annoyance of the peregrines which chased them off!

     Adults photographed in 2022 by Dave Farmer from the ground below: male left, female right.

Also with the River Derwent close by, we often see grey wagtails, banded demoiselles and even a kingfisher if you are very lucky!

            Do bring youngsters if you have any...they really love seeing the birds! Photo Nick Brown

The Project Team