Waiting nearly over?

Our birds this year have had to put up with some very wet and cold weather.  Hopefully everything's gone OK and we may have some chicks at the end of the week.  Our pair have never managed to hatch all four eggs, and it will be a miracle if they do this year – especially with the weather and the egg spotted by Bob that was left uncovered for a long period on 8^th April.   Our birds are lucky in that they have been sheltered from the east by the spire.   Unfortunately today's incessant heavy rain took its toll on two of the four chicks at the Nottingham Trent Univerity site (they are two weeks ahead of our Grantham pair), despite a very valiant 12hour constant effort by the female who was absolutely soaked to the skin as she tried to cover them and shield them from the rain.

Changeover

The male was incubating this morning whilst the female went for a feed. She soon called him off the eggs and within three minutes had settled down herself.

Eggs on the move

The female has moved the eggs a bit more to the back of the tray. Perhaps this happened as she turned them. She seems to be incubating quite happily.

News sheet

Visitors to the Church to see the peregrines live on a 32"screen can now also take away a news sheet with all the latest information . I will be updating the sheet whenever anything exciting happens.

in touch

The female will spend most of her time incubating until the chicks hatch around May 6th. She will then brood them for a fortnight. During this six week period it is the male's job to catch the food and bring it to the nest. He will occasionally incubate, but not for long periods.
Here the female is probably communicating with him as he perches out of picture above her.

Loose egg !

When birds are incubating 24 hours a day, with the female doing most of the donkey work, then they can doze off and not be too aware of what is happening underneath them. Tonight, one of the eggs has rolled out and will need to be covered soon before it chills!

Fourth egg !

After many rain soaked hours, when the female wouldn't budge, the sun came out and she went for a fly round the tower enabling me to get a shot of the fourth egg. This should be the full clutch now. Ahead there will be a long month for us ( and the birds ) whilst we wait for the hatch.

Rainy day

We have had 25mm of rain over the past eighteen hours and our peregrine female can't shed all that! She won't mind being soggy as long as the eggs are warm and dry. This is where an experienced bird like ours shows her skills as a mother.
The tray is specially designed to shed excess rain water through slots in the front.
It is possible that she has laid a fourth egg but we shan't know until the rain stops and she moves around.
Good to see our webcam watchers in Canada and the Netherlands have been watching this week.

Shedding rain

It is raining heavily tonight but the female is shedding the rain by adopting this position.

Monday 2nd April 2012

Incubation has begun, although she has not yet finished laying her full clutch (we are assuming that she will lay a fourth egg). It is usual for Peregrines to begin sitting after laying the penultimate egg. Even the male knows that they should now be incubating, as he took a turn today! Note that he is much smaller than the female.

April 1st - Third Egg Video

A short 2 minute video, with the female leaving at the end.

eggs in the sunshine

The female often leaves her eggs whilst she has a fly round the spire. They are safe from predators as one of the pair will be keeping watch. Woe betide any crow or buzzard that even tries to fly past the church in all innocence!
The peregrines will start incubating seriously when the clutch is nearly complete. This is the way they get the chicks to hatch out within a day or two of each other.

Third egg

It was great to see the third egg at lunchtime today.