National Nestbox Week

Today, Saturday 21st, is the last day of this year's National Nestbox Week.  So we thought we'd pop up to announce that we've now completed our new, experimental peregrine falcon nestbox. 

Nick Moyes pokes his head up through 
the 'landing platform' on the new tower-top box.

It's been quite an effort, hauling tools and timber up the Cathedral tower and working up there in the cold wind. I'm extremely grateful to Nick Evans for his help and especially his carpentry skills without which the construction would have been so much harder. Thanks also to Anthony and Roger for their help in multiple ascents of all 189 steps, taking materials to the top of  the tower.

Rear view of the finished peregrine nest box.
A hinged back gives access for ringing and maintenance.

There are still a number of things to resolve, including lots of tidying up, and trying to set up a new camera in the box. (Note: We have still been without an internet connection for the last week, and are hoping to hear back soon from Derby City Council about fixing the issue). Most importantly, we need to schedule at least one maintenance abseil to remove the sagging base of our old nest platform on the side of the Cathedral tower. We don't want this to remain in place and encourage our birds to try to egg-lay there. We won't be able to do this until the first week of March, but in the meantime we look forward to hearing from anyone who sees peregrine activity from the street below that might indicate they have found this new, temporary home.

 

A landing platform with side 'blinkers' should prevent 
peregrines seeing anyone on the tower, or vice versa 
(unless perched above it, of course!).

See what the new box looks like from the ground - it's hardly visible is it - which was exactly what we wanted on a Grade 1 listed building:

View of the new nest box seen from below.

The box being set back from the stonework means that even the landing platform is barely visible. Spot the protrubing pole on which we hope the adults will land before too long.

                                 

To read more about the issues that led to this temporary nest box on the tower roof, see our two previous posts HERE and HERE. 

This project is managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust with support from The Cathedral staff and from Derby City Council's IT team.