Wednesday 22nd June 2011

It would appear that all three chicks are doing well and one took it's first tentative short flights yesterday afternoon. Today one adventurous youngster made it to an adjacent house rooftop - hopefully it will make it's way back onto the church. Now is a good time to see them at the church, as they spend most of the time perched up on the parapet wall and can be seen from the church grounds below.

17th June 2011

The Peregrine chick's have now left the nest tray. To see the birds live, please visit St Wulfram's Church, Grantham.

For the Lincs Bird Club Barn Owl Webcam sponsored by Northern Optics, please click here.

10th June 2011

The chicks have grown very quickly over the past week. Unfortunately they are now quite mobile and spend most of the time away from the nest tray and out of view of our camera. However, mid afternoon today, I noted that two were back in the tray (sheltering from the rain) and I was able to grab the image above. They now look virtually fully feathered.

7th June 2011

I haven't seen the adults feeding for a few days. They don't need to visit so often now. A pigeon carcass can provide a good feed for all. So I was pleased to see the female busy today at lunchtime.

6th June 2011

Two of the youngsters have more clearly developed feathers today. However, all three are in excellent condition. Experienced parents produce good, healthy chicks!

4th June 2011

The chicks are starting to change into darker plumage and are getting quite adventurous.

3rd June 2011

It has been a hot day and the chicks are taking advantage of the sheet of plywood we fixed to the south end of the nest tray to provide shade.

31st May 2011

It didn't take this adventurous chick very long to find her way out of the tray!

31st May 2011

The chicks seem to have grown very quickly over the bank holiday weekend. They will soon be exploring the area outside the tray.

30th May 2011

Short video of feeding time during constant rain, with everyone looking very wet on the 30th May 2011....

27th May - nest visit

A quick nest visit was made today in order to ring the chicks. The chicks weighed 705, 685 and 610 gms, suggesting that all three are females. Whilst the chicks were being measured, ringed and fitted with individually identifiable colour rings (orange with two letters), the remains of prey items were collected for identification. The unhatched egg was also removed and will be sent off for analysis.
The chicks seem pretty healthy and are now starting to grow their wing and tail feathers and they will develop rapidly in the next week or so. They will also become more mobile and in a few days will wander off the nest tray (and out of camera view), but they are likely to return to the tray from time to time

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21st May 2011

What a difference the time of day makes!
In the morning the female was covering the chicks to keep them warm in the early morning chill.
In the afternoon she left them alone them to flop in the bright sunshine.

20th May 2011

Sometimes when I click on the peg cam , I wonder just who is watching who !

19th May 2011

The chicks were sunning themselves at midday today after they had been fed.
It's amazing how mobile they have become in such a short time. The eldest chick is only 11 days old.
The remaining egg will be removed when the chicks are ringed under licence next week. If it is still intact and not dehydrated, it will be sent to the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology for analysis. The centre learns a lot about the chemical state of unhatched eggs and this can give early warning of problems with pesticides in the food chain and other important issues.

16th May 2011

At 07-45 this morning I switched on and saw two adult females feeding the chicks! The plumage colour difference was very obvious when they were side by side but the large size tells us they are both females. The bird furthest from the camera is our regular mother, ringed as a chick in Lancashire in 2006. The one nearest the camera is possibly a chick from two years ago that is "helping out" with the feeding. This is our best guess so far but it does seem unusual!

15th May 2011

At half past eight tonight the falcon was very busy preening. Her time as chief incubator and guardian of the chicks will soon give way to being joint provider of the food, so her feathers must be in pristine condition.

15th May 2011

Nature red in tooth and claw!
At 3pm the chicks had obviously fed well!

14th May 2011

At 0740 this morning the female was briefly off the tray and I could see that the fourth egg had failed to hatch. So we have three chicks. Let's hope all goes well and our pair can fledge all three!

11th May 2011

Just before 12 noon today there was a feed and three chicks and an egg were in view!
After everyone had their share the carcass was dragged away and the female returned to brood them.

10th May 2011

Just after 4pm the female left the tray for two minutes and , as the snapshot shows, there seems to be two chicks and one egg. I can't see the other egg so I guess it is behind the chicks.

9th May 2011 - Feeding Time

A 5 minute video of the female peregrine feeding the two chick's at 1400hrs.

9th May 2011

The male and female Peregrine at the nest site with the 2 chicks.

9th May 2011

We have two chicks! This morning they were seen on the big screen at the Church by eagle -eyed Lynda. The falcon was feeding the chicks at the time.

9th May 2011

This is the first photo of the new chick. It's only a record shot. There will be better ones later.

8th May 2011

The great news is that the female has a chick! At 2pm today Sue, one of our many out-of-county observers, reported an eggshell and she confirmed this at 1715. Derek from our peregrine team also saw the chick when the adult moved.
Well spotted you two and thanks for reporting it so swiftly.

4th May 2011

Yes,the waiting is nearly over! At 1414 today there was a changeover of incubation duties and the four eggs seem to have survived intact. In a few days time we should have the first chicks. Then the excitement begins after what has been a very quiet month.

4th May 2011

The long wait is almost over......

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.

Identified remains of Peregrine prey collected at St Wulfram's Church

A full updated list of the identified remains of Peregrine prey collected at St Wulfram's Church can now be found at http://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/Articles/Grantham_Peregrine_project.html

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 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 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?

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!

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!

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

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?

30th March 2011

It is normal for the female to leave the egg(s) at this early stage. She may be away for an hour or two. Rest assured that she will cover the clutch during rain showers. Should a corvid be foolish enough to get too close there will be a swift return to safeguard her eggs.
Eggs are laid at 2 to 3 day intervals. In fact it can be as accurate as every 57 hours!
This would mean the second egg arriving between 9am and 4pm on Friday. We will have to wait and see. These girls have a mind of their own so she could be later than this!

30th March 2011 - 1st Egg

We think the first egg was laid on the 30th March 2011. It was first spotted by Bob prior to 7am, and we know the tray was empty at 23:00 on 29th. If any insomniacs out there have a more accurate time, please let us know.

26th March 2011

The female roosted in the nesting tray overnight on the 26th March 2011.

25th March 2011

Video - 25th March 2011



Video - 25th March 2011

25th March 2011

The female is spending some time on the tray each day - especially around the middle part of the day. From her behaviour we hopefully may get the first egg early next week........ fingers crossed!

24th March 2011 - Female at the Nest Tray

24th March 2011 - Close Up Images

24th March 2011 - Video from the nest tray

The female Peregrine in the nest tray on the 24th March 2011. (apologies, she just starts to scrap a nest hollow when the recorder stopped!)



The female leaving the nest tray on the 24th March 2011.

22nd March 2011

A picture captured by Jason Fathers from Wildlife WIndows on the 22nd March 2011

9th March

Following a period of some technical difficulties, we are now back on-line with the webcam, thanks to Andrew's technical expertise this morning. His reward was the first person to see the female sizing up the nesting tray.

Peregrine's tail - Jan 31st

Just letting us know that the birds are about - one of the birds tail can be seen in this image take on Jan 31st.

2010 Breeding Season Download

A complete PDF of the 2010 successful breeding season can be download at http://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/Articles/2010_Peregrine_Blog.pdf this document is in PDF format and approx. 1MB in size.

Grantham Peregrines' Nesting Tray Returns, Jan 27th 2011

Welcome to the Grantham Peregrine Blog 2011! The nesting tray has been returned to the tower of St Wulfram's Church, and it is hoped that the Peregrines themselves will return soon.