Friday 15 April 2011

15th April 2011 - The male and female peregrines

On the 15th April at approx 1100hrs the male peregrine was observed to be taking a turn at incubation. Looking at the two pictures below it is clearly possible to see the size difference between the two birds. At 1120hrs, we were able to video the birds swapping incubation duties.



The male bird in the nest tray at 1121hrs on 15th April 2011



The female bird in the nest tray at 1159hrs on 15th April 2011




Video from the 15th April 2011 showing the male and female switching over incubation duties.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Monday 11 April 2011

Freddy Johnson visit on 9th April 2011

Thank's to Freddy Johnson for this report:

I visited St. Wulfram's Church, Grantham for nearly 2 hours today (Sat 9th April - 12.15 -2.00pm.) Having parked in the nearby Watergate Car Park, I initially scanned the South-facing side of the Church and immediately spotted the male Peregrine perched at the end of the nesting ledge 'parapet', about 15-20 feet from the nesting tray area. He remained in that general area for the whole of my visit.

Inside the Church, the female could initially be seen on the screen to be sitting tight on her eggs. She later changed position close above the nest from time to time and I could catch glimpses of the eggs. She remained almost motionless for some periods, except for snapping at the occasional persistent bluebottle. On other occasions, she stared intently straight into the camera lens and it felt quite surreal to have this magnificent predator fixing me with a steely glare, seemingly only 2 or 3 feet away. As Andrew indicated in his post, the (Sharp) widescreen TV gives pictures of great clarity and definition.

There were no birders around during my visit but plenty of people stopped for a chat both inside and outside the Church, including the Assistant Priest, the Reverend June..

The Coffee Shop inside the Church is a great boon for a relaxing snack with a good selection of cakes including a delicious Coffee Cream cake topped with Walnuts.(opening hours : 10.00 - 4.00pm on Wed, Thu, Fri and 10.00 - 1.00pm Sat.)

A very pleasant and interesting visit - highly recommended. Many thanks to all the organisers.

Freddy

Sunday 10 April 2011

Sunday 10th April 2011


The female is now sitting on a full clutch of 4 eggs. There will be very little excitement now until about the beginning of the second week of May when the chicks should hatch.
She will be fed by the male during incubation and he will occasionally take a turn at sitting the eggs whilst she has a fly round.

Friday 8 April 2011

Friday 8th April 2011


It was nice to wake up this morning and see four eggs at half past seven. The fourth would have been laid much earlier than this. Did anyone see it?

Thursday 7 April 2011

Live Images on NEW television supplied by Belton Garden Centre



The handing over of the new television, supplied by Belton Garden Centre to show live images of the St Wulfram's Church Peregrines – 6th April 2011. From left to right - Andrew Chick (Lincs Bird Club), Will Dean (Belton Garden Centre), Mrs Peregrine (TV Star), Val York (Churchwarden, St Wulfram's). The church is open and the television is showing live images. The coffee shop sells great cakes!

Monday 4 April 2011

4th April 2011



The proud mother with her 3 eggs (see her head just in the bottom left of this video still at 1931hrs).



The female is moving the eggs at this point to get herself comfortable for the night.

4th April 2011


At 1930 hrs we could see that the third egg had been laid. In fact we found out later that it was laid by 1520 today. Susan Yates in Lancashire spotted this when the female briefly left the eggs at that time. Well done Susan!

Saturday 2 April 2011

2nd April 2011



The 2nd egg arrived at 28 minutes past midnight on Saturday morning (2nd April), during a very windy night at St Wulfram’s Church.



Video still showing a single egg at 00:25hrs on 2nd April 2011



Video still showing TWO eggs at 00:28hrs on 2nd April 2011

Friday 1 April 2011

1st April 2011


It's well past the 57 hours and we still only have one egg!
As I said previously, these girls have a mind of their own!
Surely egg 2 will be this evening?