A merry dance and a welcome to newcomers.

It seems to be an Easter tradition for Derby Cathedral's peregrines to keep us all waiting for the first egg, when so many other peregrine pairs around the country have already laid.

It looked last night as if she might lay, and then again this afternoon it was nice to see her in the scrape leading us to believe the time was upon us. But as the pictures below show, we are still being led a merry dance, and are still waiting.

We have three out of our four webcam streams working right now, with Cam 4 providing both sound and video. Once it has timed out, refresh the screen with F5 to get it to play again. If you see anything of interest, do please leave a comment with the time stamp from the webcams - this helps us try and retrieve any video footage to share on this blog.
And it is an appropriate moment to welcome all newcomers to this project such as Leanne and also Vicki in Canada. Both left messages on our comments facility (see foot of every blog post, their comments can be seen on the previos post).
If you would like to send in a comment telling us where you are watching from it is good to know that our worldwide reach continues. If you scroll down the blog on the right hand column you will find a Clustrmap which, on double clicking, shows not only where people are watching across the globe but also lists every country and the number of hits.
Since 2007 when the cameras were installed, we have had over 33.5 million hits from well over 70 different countries!
Since 1st January this year we have had 59,000 hits from 40 countries. Most hits are naturally from the UK (6720) followed by the USA (466) and Holland (147). In the last half hour we've had visitors from San Francisco, Biggar, Wisbech and Nottingham to name but a few!

Posted by Nick Moyes and Nick Brown

Will we get an Easter egg?

(Blog post updated with video)
With Easter being so early this year we stand a better than evens chance of getting a first egg laid before or over the weekend than in most other years.
For some unknown reason, our Derby female, despite having laid eggs in ten previous years, lays rather later than many other presumably younger females elsewhere.
Already as I write this on Maunday Thursday (24th), we hear (thanks to our super-comment sender Kate in Devon) of eggs at Nottingham (4), Sheffield (3) and Exeter (1).
The last two years she had laid her first egg on 29th March (ie next Tuesday) so perhaps she will just 'miss the boat' as regards Easter.
When she does lay it will be her fortieth egg....quite some achievement!
Usually she lays during the night and therefore under the infra red camera lights which make the eggs look white.
In fact, peregrine eggs are usually a lovely brick red colour when seen in daylight, with varying amounts of darker blotches.

Four clutches from a collection in the British Museum

Our female has laid four eggs every year since 2006, her first, when she probably laid three (she certainly reared three chicks). That year there were no cameras so we can't be sure there wasn't an addled egg which failed to hatch, and the birds' legal protectoin prevented us from looking over the top to count them from above.
The gap between eggs is usually about 2-3 days so her clutch will not be complete until over a week after she lays the first egg.

Full incubation doesn't start until the last egg is laid, though she may spend time covering her eggs before that if the weather is particularly cold. In fact, the early eggs can withstand going cold so we don't need to worry about them being left uncovered.....it is normal peregrine practice to do so!

This delayed start to egg incubation means that the eggs all hatch out more or less together, though sometimes there is one which takes longer to chip.

However. peregrines are great parents and will ensure that even a smaller chick gets fed and thrives.

Of course, we shouldn't really count our eggs before they hatch...and certainly not before they are laid, so we need to watch and hope that we do indeed get an egg for Easter (or soon after!).

No doubt our eager web cam watchers will put up comments as soon as anything happens. So keep an eye on the comments as well.
Some clever viewers have even been capturing their own screenshots and videos of the webcams. This one by Wendy Barrter was shared on YouTube: 

Nick B (Derbyshire Wildlife Trust)

Does our 030 think she's an osprey?

The latest news of 030 (the colour ringed female that fledged from Derby Cathedral's nest last June) came in an email from John Wright yesterday.
John is a key player in the amazing osprey reintroduction project at Rutland Water.

John contacted us in the autumn with photos and a video of 030 which featured on this blog here.
John's latest email says:

"030 is still present most days on Lagoon 4 at our Egleton Nature Reserve. I haven't seen any other Peregrines associating with her.
Her most recent kills have been Common and Black-headed Gulls, Lapwings, Wigeon, Mallard, Moorhens, Coot and Oystercatchers.

We renewed the Osprey nest/platform that is on Lagoon 4 yesterday. This has been her favourite sitting place for much of the winter. It had lost most of its sticks and nest lining but is now in tip top condition. 030 went straight on to the new nest today, excitedly playing with nest lining. 

030 sitting proudly on an osprey platform
She's too young to think of nesting herself  but clearly
enjoys the view from this mega nest.
Photo: John Wright

A four year old male Osprey (51) spent much of last season on this nest platform but failed to attract a female. It will be very interesting to see what happens if/when he returns to his nest in the next few weeks and finds this squatter on the nest......very probably fireworks!"

030 this time on an osprey perching post nearby.
Burley House looks close by but is a mile away on a hilltop!
Photo: John Wright.

Many thanks to John for keeping us briefed about 030. How exciting to discover what one of our fledged birds is getting up to - and where!

Nick B (DWT)

Exciting Derby Book Festival talk in June

As part of the second Derby Book Festival, there will be a talk by David Lindo, "The Urban Birder" in Derby Cathedral on Wednesday June 8th so, if you live within reach, make a diary note!
David will talk about his travels to watch birds and other wildlife in cities across the globe and, since he has already visited Derby and seen our project first hand, he has agreed to include a section about us in his
talk.
David first visited the city in 2010 to research an article for a bird watching magazine. Nick Moyes and I spent an enjoyable and sunny day showing him around. We climbed the cathedral tower, explained about the Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project and we also took him to see The Sanctuary Nature Reserve, long before it was threatened by development.

Nick Moyes with David Lindo, clearly dazzled
by the sun and by the project!

Derby Book Festival was a new venture last summer see here .
It was so successful that the organisers have widened its scope this year. They wanted to include some environmental authors and the first one to accept an offer to speak was David. Read more about his talk, entitled "Tales from Urban Jungles" here
Emma Wood, who is organising the Watch Points this year with help from our brilliant team of volunteers, will organise a special pre-talk Watch Point between 5 and 6 pm. Full details to follow.
Tickets for the talk itself will be on sale from 5th April either via the Festival's website or from Quad in the Market Place.

Nick Brown (Derbyshire Wildlife Trust/Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project)

Calling teachers - Now's the time to teach your class about Peregrines!

As our peregrines get into breeding mode (they've been seen displaying and gravel-scraping in the last few days), it is just the right time for teachers to think about engaging their classes with our exciting and very educational project.

There are several ways to do this:

2014 web cam view from the wide angled camera

1. Simply show them the live web cams on a whiteboard in class or in break time.
2. Use the project as part of your curricular teaching (see below).
3. Loan one of our Schools Resources Boxes...they can be delivered free to your (county council) school!
4. Request a school visit by Emma Wood, People Engagement Officer at DWT.
5. Consider bringing your class down to see the birds 'for real' at a special Watch Point on Cathedral Green in May or June.

A school comes to see the peregrines 'for real'.....

Over the last two summers, we have worked with a number of school teachers to develop a set of Education Resources Loan Boxes for teachers to use. There are three of these available to county schools, plus one for schools in Derby City. A number of schools borrowed them last spring and used them very successfully.

Contents of a resources box displayed

We have also converted some of the contents of the boxes such that they can be viewed freely online.  The resource pack offers ideas for using peregrines and other nest cameras as the core of a wide range of curriculum activities, from EYFS right through to pre-GCSE classes.

These include:

Graphics work by an infant at Brigg Infants School

• Design Technology, 
• Science, 
• English, Mathematics, 
• Art and Design, 
• Literacy, 
• Speaking and Listening, 
• ICT/Computing
• History
• English
• Geography

All we ask in return is that teachers using our resources let us know how they got on, and give us feedback which may help to improve them in the future. (A few photos would be nice too!)

The Online Resource Pack is available as a 14Mb zipped download of 26 files from our Project's Google Drive here.  If you want to see what's in the resources box, or make your own, download a contents list here.

Let us know what you think!
Visit our dedicate Schools page on this Blog for more teaching resources on offer from the Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project.
To get in touch with Emma, please email peregrines@derbyshirewt.co.uk (Scroll down to the previous post to read more about Emma and see her on top of the tower!).
Emma will be assisted by Marc Whitlock, an education trainee with the Trust.

The project team

Last minute clean up...and a new team member

Nick Moyes has abseiled down to the platform to clean it up every year since 2006 when it was first put in place. However, this year he has sustained a back problem which has prevented him from doing this important job.
Luckily, and just at the last minute, he managed to find another 'Nick' (this one is Nick E) who, with his climbing partner Pam as support, was willing to do the task for us. Both are members of a local climbing club.
With a brief window of suitable weather today, Nick E abseiled down and has made a good job of clearing up the platform and cleaning and re-aligning the cameras.
Many thanks to both Nick and Pam for standing in at such short notice!
Plans to install a new camera on the platform had to be postponed in Nick M's enforced absence. Hopefully it may be put up later in the season. Similarly, the faulty 'pud cam' camera that looks across the ledge at the top of the tower (towards Jurys Inn) cannot be replaced until Nick M's back is better.

On with the show....
Our peregrines are so determined to breed that our interference with the platform substrate will not deter them for one minute. Whether they know how lucky they are to get a cleaned-up nest each year we rather doubt but we look forward to seeing display and nest scraping resuming again very quickly. If you see either, please leave a comment on the blog - it's really helpful to us since we spend less time watching the web cams than most of you do! Many thanks.

A new addition to the team
This summer, with Ian Layton leaving us at the end of the three-year lottery grant period, we have a new team member, Emma Wood joining us.
Emma works as a People Engagement Officer for Derbyshire Wildlife Trust so she's well qualified to take over from Ian and we look forward to seeing her at this summer's Watch Points, which, along with school and community work, she will be organising and running.

Emma inspects the top of the tower for the first time
with Jurys Inn behind. Both birds were on the lettering!

Calling all teachers!
If there are any teachers reading this during half term who feel inspired to use the web cams and the project in class (there are some excellent FREE resources boxes available) we'll put up a post about them soon.
Meanwhile, welcome aboard Emma!

Nick B for the Project Team

February warm up and a TV piece

Peregrines on TV Thursday 4 Feb.

There was a feature on BBC1's The One Show (programme begins at 7pm) on 4th February about peregrines hunting at night presented by Mike Dilger and featuring Ed Drewitt.

Before Christmas Ed requested us to send the BBC some videos of our Derby Cathedral birds night hunting (eg the one in which a live collared dove is brought back to the tower after dark in 2013) and this sequence is shown briefly.
The programme is available on iplayer here and the piece is about 23 minutes in.

As we begin the month of February, our minds turn once again to the coming breeding season.
With luck, this will be our pair's eleventh season together.
The nest platform was put up in 2006 and we were amazed that our female laid her first clutch of (three) eggs on the gravel within weeks of its installation.
Every year since she's laid four eggs making a total laid of 39 to date.
Of these eggs, two failed to hatch in 2007 and one in 2015, leaving a total of 36 that did hatch.
Of the 36, two chicks died in the nest in 2010 and one in 2014.
So the total that reached fledging age was 33, a remarkably high average per year of 3.3.

Derby Cathedral and tower as seen from The Assembly Rooms car park

What happened to our juveniles after they had fledged we know very little about:
In 2009, one female was found dead soon after fledging and another female injured herself and has been kept in captivity ever since. Her brother was found in 2013 in Nottingham with a very similar injury and he too is now being looked after in captivity.

A recently fledged juvenile in 2011. Photo: Jon Salloway

One of the two females that fledged in 2007 was seen nesting on a cliff in Yorkshire in 2014 but we have yet to be 100% confident about the exact number on her orange colour ring. Someone read it once as being 002 but we would have liked to get other sightings to confirm this. The difficulty is that she is difficult to approach and the nest is in a very hard place to see.

A juvenile on the ledge above the nest platform

Three youngsters 'ready to go'.......

Then, as you may have seen on this blog just before Christmas, 030, a female that fledged last summer, was seen at a nature reserve at the West end of Rutland Water.
As to dates that the first egg was laid each year from 2007 (the first year the cameras were in place), they became earlier but then rather later:
2006 no cameras present but probably last April,
2007 3/4,  
2008  28/3,  
2009  23/3,
2010  24/3,
2011  2/4,
2012 29/3,
2013 4/4,
2014  29/3 and
2015 29/3.

So, there's much to look forward to as the 2016 season starts to happen!

The Project Team