Peregrine Falcons first nested on Derby's Cathedral, England, in 2006. Our Peregrine Project is now run by a partnership between Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Derby City Council, Derby Cathedral and the Cathedral Quarter. Here is what's happening in 2026. . .
Our webcams have frozen on a lovely sunny scene yesterday in Derby. Unfortunately today's heavy rain clouds cast a shadow on many things, including news of our webcam internet connection.
It appears that our Cisco wireless access point is faulty, and may need to be replaced. Looking at its oddly flashing lights today, it seemed to be continuously trying to reboot itself. Not good news. Thankfully we are supported by Serco, Derby City Council's IT new support organisation. Their monitoring systems had already alerted them to a problem, and they were investigating it at the same time as I was.
So what's a wireless access point, when it's at home? Basically its a radio connection that links Derby Cathedral to the City Council's network, allowing the webcam signals to get out to Streamdays, who then serve back those pictures to you, our viewers. A faulty unit means no signal is getting out, and the unit may have to be replaced - we shall know more next week.
This is a surprising failure as they are normally very rugged devices, rather like a wireless router, and Cisco equipment is top-of-the-range. Serco hope to check it out on Monday, and we should know more soon.
PLEASE NOTE: Tuesday night update: Our web cams pages are still down, but our IT Support company is dealing with the issue. Thanks to "Pax Canada" for reminding us that you can always check the webpages oif our hosting company, Streamdays, to see the images, though only refreshed at infrequent intervals. Webcam feed1 Webcam feed2
Here's a picture taken on Tuesday morning, showing Mum still on her eggs. (It was captured via a private link direct to our video server inside Derby Cathedral's tower) ___________________________________________________________________
(modified Monday 13th April)
Here in the UK, the peregrine 'bible' is undoubtedly the monograph entitled simply The Peregrine Falcon by Derek Ratcliffe, published in 1980 by T and AD Poyser. The paintings and line drawings are by Donald Watson, a very fine Scottish wildlife artist who, like Derek, sadly died a few years ago.
Derek was a leading ecologist in the UK and he tramped the scottish hills and other peregrine nesting habitats for many years gathering data about his favourite bird.
The book, which runs to over 300 pages, is packed with information about peregrines though it was written before they began to nest on artifical structures such as cathedrals and pylons in the UK. It explains how DDT and other pesticides thinned the egg shells of peregrines such that they smashed before hatching. This lead to the catastrophic decline in this species and many other 'top predators' in the 1950s and 60s.
The book is out of print in the UK (but reprinted by Princetown University in 1993 I am told (thanks to blog comments - and available via amazon or alibris). No doubt copies can also be borrowed from libraries.
Ratcliffe's book is a scientific one though very well written and accessible to the amateur. Perhaps one of the finest pieces of natural history writing is The Peregrine by J A Baker, first published in 1967 and then again by Penguin Books in 1976 and reprinted in 1984. The author uses lyrical prose to relate the lives of peregrines wintering in Essex.
The linocut to the left is by UK artist Robert Gillmor, taken from his excellent book called Cutting Away, published a couple of years ago.
Possibly the best know UK artist who painted peregrines among many other birds was Charles Tunnicliffe, who lived on Anglesey of the North Wesh coast and studied the sea cliff nesting peregrines at South Stack.
This fine painting (right) is taken from the cover of The Peregrine Sketchbook by C F Tunnicliffe, published by Excellent Press in 1996.
On Saturday morning it appeared our picture stream had frozen. Then later on our brand new audio/video stream also disappeared. We're really sorry about this.
We think we've traced the first problem to our hosting company, Streamdays. Many of the webcams they power around the country also seem to have frozen around 22:50 UK time on Friday evening. We're confident they will fix this soon, as their past record on this has been excellent.
The new live audio/video feed from our latest sponsors, Media on Demand, was working brilliantly earlier on, but later started giving only audio, and then disappeared completely. This may have been due to high user demand after our first stream failed. Or something could have happened to break the connection when we re-booted all our equipment inside Derby Cathedral's ancient tower. (Thanks for doing this, Tony)
So until Monday at least it seems we will be without a video feed. Rest assured that our cameras and recording equipment are still working fine. The configuration of that feed will have to be left to the IT experts from Capita early next week as it's beyond the skill of our Project Team.
Meanwhile, here is a lovely video clip of the chicks being fed on 13th May,
And here's below is a jay (Garrulus glandarius) being quickly dispatched after being caught and brought to the tower earlier this week. Peregrines have a special notch on their bills with which they can sever the neck of their prey, and presumably other parts, too. We do see the last moments of the jay in this clip, but it's important to appreciate that these are hunters, and that the killing of prey does happen and is an essential part of their lives. (As is the feeding of the plucked prey to the cute chicks). As we write this, we hear word from Tony, the Head Verger at the Cathedral that the head of what might turn out to be a Little Owl has just been found below the tower. We'll keep you informed on this, too.
Technical hitches inevitably happen from time to time and we do try our very best to sort them out as soon as we can. It's unfortunate that we've had two failures at the same time.
We have had other problems with our pictures freezing during the year, and we may need to buy a new video server if it proves to be an equipment fault here. If you want to help us to do that, then please consider making a donation. The project takes both time and money to run and these are very limited despite the sponsors and donors we already have. To donate please email enquiries@derbyshirewt.co.uk for details of how to get money to the project but please be aware your email will not be responded to until Monday. Many thanks. Nick B (DWT); Nick M (Derby Museum & Art Gallery) PS. If you are a newcomer to this blog please scroll down and read the previous entries to discover the magic of the new streaming service and see other essential messages and news.
Our webcams have frozen on a lovely sunny scene yesterday in Derby. Unfortunately today's heavy rain clouds cast a shadow on many things, including news of our webcam internet connection.
