May 31st - Breakfast

28th May 2012

The chicks are now quite mobile and have been off exploring the walkway around the base of the spire.  They do not spend much time in the nest tray, perhaps because they go on to the north side of the tower where there is more shade.  They come back to the tray occasionally and the photograph below shows one being fed by dad early this morning.

May 25th - Early Evening Supper

The chick's having an early evening meal after a very hot day in Grantham, during which time the chick's spent most of the time sitting in the shade.

May 24th - Post ringing supper...

The chick's watching and trying to catch flies (all happens very quickly at about 12 seconds). Post ringing suppertime, for our recently ringed chick's.

24th May - Ringing visit

The chicks were ringed this morning, during which time the camera was turned off for 20 minutes.  This was just a precaution in case anyone phoned the authorities if witnessing the chicks being taken from the nest (the local police had already been informed by us).  Each chick was fitted with a standard BTO metal ring but also with a lightweight plastic colour-ring (orange with two letters) so that each bird can be individually identified in the field.   At the same time an extra 'L'-shaped piece of plywood was added to the far end of the nest tray to provide the chicks with some welcome shade..........and they made use of that shade later today - the hottest day of the year so far.

May 22nd - Summertime!

Adventurous chick!

The chicks soon start to explore their surroundings. Is this an errant male (on the naughty step) or a wandering female (which are quite a bit bigger even at this age?)

May 19th - Lunchtime....

Big feed in the sunshine !

This lunchtime the chicks had a good feed as the sun shone down on them (and the duff egg.)

 Here Mum is taking the leftovers away and leaving them to sunbathe.

Growing fast

We have been watching chicks at this nest for a few years now but we are always amazed how fast they grow!

May 17th - Early morning feeding time

Short video showing the growing chick's being fed on 17th May 2012.

Change-over time.....

Feeding time - 13th May 2012

Shelter

The female has to judge the temperature and weather conditions whilst the chicks are tiny.

Sometimes they need keeping warm and sometimes they need shielding from the afternoon sun.

Late feed

Tonight there was a late feed. It lasted at least 20 minutes during which time the female made sure that all the chicks got their fair share. Falcons tear their prey and this enables each chick to be fed lots of very tiny portions. She is now concentrating on brooding the three chicks and is no longer attempting to incubate the remaining egg which is no longer viable. When we ring the chicks in about two weeks time we shall collect the egg for analysis by experts.

May 13th 2012 - Dry Weather at last!

Looks like 3 out of 4 again

Tonight the female went off to collect a feral pigeon from the male and I could see that our chicks look really well. As usual, she hasn't hatched all the eggs, but if she raises three then that will be another good achievement on the part of our regular female ( and possibly our regular male!)

A family affair

It was a family scene today. The male had been hunting and the female collected the prey and began a feed whilst he proudly watched.

Change Over-time at St Wulfram's Church - 10th May 2012

Change Over-time at St Wulfram's Church - 10th May 2012. The female returns and then the male leaves....

The male bird attempts to incubate - 10th May 2012

The male bird attempting to cover and incubate ALL three chicks on the 10th May and struggling! Very windy today at the top of St Wulfram's Church!

Feeding Time - 10th May 2012

Feeding time on the 10th May 2012.

Three Chicks on 9th May 2012

The Female leaving the nest tray. And, the female returning on 9th May 2012

Third chick

This morning the female went out for a few minutes and there was an egg and three chicks !

Still two chicks

This morning we had our first chance to take a picture of the two chicks.

Second chick

The second chick hatched around 3-30pm today.

breakfast

This morning the male had caught and plucked breakfast which the female collected and fed a small portion to the 15 hour old chick. Usually she would remove the carcass from the tray, but she chose to incubate the remaining eggs immediately, as number two should be hatching soon. So the prey is clearly visible by her side.

first chick

Just before eight o'clock this morning the female left the nest for a short while to collect some food that the male brought back for her.   This allowed us to see the first chick..........hopefully there will be some more later?

egg shell

There was an eggshell late this afternoon so it looks like we might have a chick!