Egg-cellent News

(Newsflash: 2nd Egg now laid. Images to follow.)

So, were we all caught out? I was. Our first egg appeared this morning at 5am precisely, surprising most of us by being a day or two earlier than expected. How do we know the precise time? Well, just watch the video and see for yourself!

Perhaps it's because our falcon is now quite an experienced old bird, but the time it took her to lay this egg seemed much shorter than on past occasions.  Just an hour and a half after laying her precious egg, the male flew in to let her fly off for a few minutes. This was his first close contact with the egg, and he immediately lay on it to keep off the morning chill.

But when the falcon returned it was clear that he did not want to relinquish his prize position. She, so much larger than him, stood on the edge of the platform, trying to oust him with gentle chirrupping calls. Be he stood his ground, head bowed over the egg, and after a minute or two she gave up and flew off, as we can see in the video below.

The Jury's In.....

(Updated 10 Nov) Yesterday morning was fine and bright in Derby - if cold. Winter has arrived as you can see from the lack of leaves on the trees. Gulls were flying from their overnight roosts to feed along the river and perhaps in fields beyond the city's boundaries. A grey wagtail flew by and I heard the calls of a mistle thrush too.

Both adults were on the cathedral tower. The male was on the platform. While I was looking for prey remains he made the 'ee-chup' call above my head. I looked up and saw him glide from the platform, circle round and then fly over to the new hotel where he proceeded to sit on the Y of Jurys....just as Joyce S of Derby had also reported. I've also seen the female again on St Mary's, the roman catholic church, so it seems our Church of England birds are sampling both catholicism and now mammon....

There was not much in the way of prey remains - just a few snipe, lapwing and various thrush feathers.

The project team had a useful meeting with the hotel manager last week, discussing various ways in which the hotel might help the project next year. The birds themselves clearly haven't waited for a meeting- they've taken advantage of its presence already!

Nick B (DWT)

Postscript: The video below was taken in May 2009 as Jurys Inn, Derby, was nearing completion. It compresses 90 minutes down into 75 seconds, and shows our adult falcon looking out over the hustle and bustle of city life below. (Warning: Don't play the audio too loud!!)

Ee-chupp

It looks like Derby's peregrines are amongst the last to lay, judging by Froona's comparison blog.

Yesterday evening our male peregrine was in the nest scrape alone, flying off just before dark. The nest remained empty until 2am when the female arrived, with the male just visible on the ledge below the platform. They both left soon afterwards, but at 3am she returned again, spending 5 minutes in the scrape before moving to the edge of the nest platform. She moved back in to the scrape at 4.30am when it started raining, but stayed there until 06:30 when she went back to the edge again. She finally flew off at 08:00 this morning. This is a change of behaviour we've not seen this year, suggesting that she's perhaps only a few days away from egg laying.


As at 28th March, our birds are still actively displaying to one another. The clip below was captured just before dusk on Sunday 23rd. The male had already stood absolutely still, head bowed, for nearly five minutes before she decided it was her turn in the scrape. Being so much bigger, she soon got her way! My money did go on eggs to be laid around 1st April, but now I'm not so sure - we'll just have to wait and see.

Here are the dates and times people have suggested so far:
17 March, early morning - Jan, Dayton Ohio
21 March 8:00 am. - Anonymous
01 April @ 00.45 gmt -Lyndsey, Chesterfield
01 April 23:00 Nick M. Derby
02 April around 08.10 - Anonymous
03April, 3:45am. - Jennie, HK.
04 APR 16:20 -Spikennipper in Ashford, Kent.
07 April - Pax, Canada
08 May 10:02 AM. - Lewicki.
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