Keeping a watchful eye

Dave Farmer has been photographing the cathedral peregrines from the ground since 2017.
Seeing the previous blog post, he went down to the cathedral yesterday (20th) and took these great photos of both birds on the east side of the tower, above the nest platform.

 

                     The female spent time preening as well as keeping a wary eye on the world
                                                 Photo: Dave Farmer - gdfotos.co.uk 

                     

                      The male keeping an eye half open in between bouts of sleeping!
                                       Photo: Dave Farmer   gdfotos.co.uk 

The photos are not to scale. In fact the females of this species are about one third bigger than the males. They tend to catch larger prey so the size difference may be a way of ensuring both birds can occupy the same territory without competing with each other for prey.

The Project Team

Off we go again

Antony Pooles, Watch Point volunteer and local bird tour leader, passes the cathedral fairly regularly and he reports that our pair are present and on and off the platform too....which is both reassuring and exciting!
This is confirmed by two screenshots taken by Helen Naylor, another of our Watch Point volunteers, who captured these shots of the female on the platform on Saturday (11th).

Female on the platform 

Female looking up to the heavens.....

We should see courtship taking place on the platform soon and then mating also.
Egg laying might be early again  as it was last year?
Do let us know what you see using the comments facility on this blog.

The Project Team

XJ found dead at Cathedral

Sadly, one of last summer's chicks, with colour ring XJ, a male, has been found dead outside the cathedral.
There were no signs of any injury or disease so the corpse will be sent off for an x-ray, a post mortem and chemical analysis to try to discover the cause of death.
This chick came to ground soon after fledging and had to be returned to the top of the tower. 
It was probably the young bird seen begging food from its parent on the nest platform in October.

All photos were taken by Jessica Kilmurray to whom many thanks.
Jessica works for the Cathedral and was quickly on the scene, photographing and collecting the body and storing it in a cool place.
Getting PM results may take some time but we will update you when we hear anything.

Young peregrines have a fairly low survival rate, facing so many challenges once they have fledged....so it is not unexpected to hear of one being found dead.
What is slightly unusual about this bird is that it has already got a yellow cere (at the bae of the beak) and a yellow eye ring which are features of adult birds rather than those in their first year......

The Project Team

Huge mural close to the cathedral depicts our peregrines!

Ove the last week or so a huge mural has been taking shape on a wall between the Cathedral and the Silk Mill. Created by @faunagraphic artist Sarah Yates and instigated by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust as part of its campaign to make the city greener and wilder, the mural reminds everyone who sees it that urban wildlife can be fascinating as well as good for our urban wellbeing.
The Peregrine Project team has been pushing for something like this for years and now it has happened!
If you are in Derby anytime soon, do please go and have a look at it! And you can listen to an interview about it on BBC Radio Derby here; 
Andy Twigge - “It’s about inspiring people to notice the nature in our city” - BBC Sounds:

 The Project Team

Webcam to broadcast bells rung to mark the Queen's funeral

(The tense of this post has been modified to refer to a past event.)

On Monday 19th September, Derby Cathedral's ancient bells were rung, fully muffled, from 10am to 11am, prior to the funeral of Her Majesty the Queen in London. 

Webcam watchers were able to see and and hear them on a special webcam, which we set up at short notice for the occasion. 

Later that Monday evening, from 5pm to 8pm, a full peal of the Cathedral's bells was attempted. It took the ringing team over three hours to complete and, once again, the bells were be muffled as a mark of respect for Her Late Majesty.

Cast in 1520 during the reign of Henry VIII, this Tenor bell was half-muffled.
It generated a respectful, loud tolling sound amongst all the other muffled peal of bells.

On both these occasions all bells, except for tenor,  were muffled, so as to create a tolling effect.  The tenor bell - had its clapper half-muffled - which created a single loud tolling ring on the backstroke. 

Looking onto the bells in their 'down' position

We worked late into the evening on Friday with Roger, one of the Cathedral ringers, and with Tim Unwin from Derby City Council to provide a way for everyone to both listen and to watch the bells ringing on the day of Her Majesty's funeral. Because of the incredible volume inside the bell tower, we found our camera's microphone suffered sound distortion, but this was rectified before Monday 19th by using an external microphone 

 

Hen harrier nest web cam and news of Hen Harrier Day

Now our Derby web cams are showing an empty nest, you can watch a new and exciting web cam trained on a hen harrier nest in SW Scotland, organised by Hen Harrier Action:

Tarras Valley Nature Reserve: Hen Harrier Nest-Cam☀️18/06/22 - YouTube

Currently the female has small chicks but as they grow, the action in the nest will increase.......
As you may know, hen harriers in the UK (and especially in England) are at a very low ebb, threatened by persistent and totally illegal persecution on driven grouse shooting moorland.

Chris Packham examines a hen harrier killed by an illegal leg trap

Read more about the 'disappearance' of two male hen harriers on the Derbyshire Peak District moors earlier this spring on the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's website:
Sudden disappearance of two male hen harriers in Peak District | Derbyshire Wildlife Trust .

And if you live in Cheshire or can travel there, Hen Harrier 'Fest' this year is near Macclesfield on 24th July:

Hen Harrier Fest 2022 - Wild Justice

This is the first 'real' Hen Harrier day since the excellent one at Carsington in Derbyshire in 2019 attended by over 1500 people with speakers including Iolo Williams and Chris Packham!

Iolo Williams at Carsington Hen Harrier Day 2019

A minibus is available to take anyone wanting to go to HHF. For details please contact us at peregrines@derbyshirewt.co.uk .

The Project Team
Ps There's a lovely nest cam on a pair of hobby's with small chicks in Dorset here:
Hobby (Falco subbuteo) LIVE nest camera, Dorset, UK, 2022 - YouTube 


 

Gaining skills and a Watch point report...

 FINAL WATCH POINT CANCELLED: (SATURDAY 18th June)

With much regret we have decided to cancel Saturdays final Watch Point due to heavy rain being forecast to move in during the morning. Our apologies if you were hoping to drop by and say 'hello' one last time. The birds will still be there, and we'll be there for our next breeding season in 2023. 

Watch Point report for Saturday 10th June by Helen:
We had great views of all three juveniles during today's watch point. One of the male birds (XL) and his sister (XK) could be seen together on the nave roof, and it was exciting to see the adult female fly in low overhead and drop prey down to them. The other male juvenile (XJ) seemed content to spend the morning resting on top of the tower. The adult male was also perched on one of the cameras at the side of the nest platform.
We were kept busy with lots of visitors, including some very enthusiastic children and their parents from a Wildlife Watch Group in Matlock Bath, who were keen to ask questions and find out more about the birds.

The three juveniles are gradually gaining hunting skills but it will be some time before they can fend for themselves.
They usually stay around the tower and Jurys Inn until August when they may begin to drift further away.
Next Watch Point is on Wednesday 15th June.
Please scroll down to the previous post for more information about the project (and how you can donate to support it).

Here are three more great photos of the juveniles taken today (11 June) by Dave Farmer ( gdfotos.co.uk ):

The Project Team