The weather was variable last week, cloud and sun. The birds have taken to absenting themselves from the quarry [or is one of them hiding in the oak trees???] and the kestrel chicks are only seen infrequently - perhaps they fear the peregrines who are around with nothing to do. The Peregrine Watch 2008 finished last Sunday, we had a BBQ to cheer ourselves up - this season we have had some 60 watchers, a number of them first-timers, and it has been disappointing for them not to see the peregrine chicks grow up. Thank you for reading these updates, hopefully next year will be a bonanza year.
Today [Wednesday] we saw the ravens back at their nest. Mrs Raven was in the nest, rummaging around and replacing sticks that the peregrines had dislodged. Mr Raven stood on the outside edge of the nest, looking on approvingly.
We had thought the ravens weren’t interested in the nest once vacated, but we were wrong…! Obviously Mrs Raven felt her home had been vandalised and was putting it right. Will the peregrines now come over to it and rearrange the furniture?? We shall watch with interest.
Four little kestrel chicks are now being seen from time to time - they seem to like siestas between feeding, maybe we have to wait another few days before they spend more time being visible. It’s been a grey weekend. The peregrines received a surprise when the ravens disputed their being at the ravens’ nest - surprise because the ravens aren’t using it! The tiercel has been trying to maintain bonding, on Saturday he brought in a pigeon and presented it to the falcon, flying away to another ledge to give her space, and she ate it. Both birds have continued to alight separately on the ravens nest and survey the valley.
The peregrines just don’t know what to do - they are spending time sitting in the raven’s nest or on the quarry face. Glorious sunshine this weekend. The jays have continued to do a bit of hassling but are being chased off. The great spotted woodlecker is frequently eating peanuts from the feeder. The kestrels have got at least three young - this afternoon their heads came ‘over the parapet’ to see the world. Great sight - this afternoon we saw a kingfisher fishing from the greenery on the wheelpit!
A jay has decided to live dangerously by dive-bombing the peregrines when they are sitting on a ledge. The female has been eyeing it with undisguised annoyance. A couple of years ago the same thing happened and the jay came to dinner, but was the dinner!
The female seems inclined to want to lay again but the male is reluctant to take part. The weather is very variable, lots of showers and grey skies with a little sun.
The kestrels don’t seem to be bringing a lot of food to their nest so chicks, if yet hatched, must be very young.
We have ceased to operate the webcam as there are no young peregrines to watch, a great disappointment to us all. The website is, of course, remaining open.
Both peregrines are still showing interest in the ravens’ nest…. could they be thinking of trying again??? They have no interest in the earlier nest site but are sitting on the edge of the ravens’ nest quite often. The male kestrel is bringing food to its nest so possibly the female is getting ready to feed chicks.
A house martin has been overhead together with swifts. The kingfisher is up and down the river frequently while the dippers and grey wagtails skim the water below the viaduct.
Both peregrines seem a little lost today, no chicks to feed! Perhaps a good thing today as the weather has been pretty poor until late afternoon ,so the birds could perch on the quarry face trying to find cover from the rain. They have been spotted sitting in the vacated ravens’ nest. The kestrels are only seen at times of changeover or of prey being brought to the nest. The great spotted woodpecker, dippers and wagtails continue to give interest to watchers.
Unfortunately today I am the bearer of bad news. As regular visitors to the viaduct are aware, the Peregrines continued to sit on their eggs well into May, arousing suspicions that something was wrong. As time went on everyone involved the project began to face reality that we would not see Peregrine chicks this season.We decided (with advise from RSPB, BTO and natural England) that it would be wise to remove the eggs so that they could be examined to try to determine why this had happened. It seemed that the Peregrines had abandoned the nest yesterday and today a BTO licensed Ringer examined the Eyrie (with the appropriate licence and permission), only to find that the eggs had completely gone. This is very disappointing for everyone involved in the project, as we will now never know what caused the clutch to fail. On a happier note, the Kestrels continue to sit on their clutch, with the female doing most of the incubating. The Male Kestrel regularly brings his partner food, and we wait eagerly to see first signs of hatching.
The hot and sunny weather has changed to grey and wet. Ugh! The peregrines continue to sit - time is getting on now. The kestrels are busy, the male catching prey and delivering it to the female on the nest, the grey wagtails and the dippers are around as are the nuthatches, various tits and chaffinches. the kindfisher and the green and great spotted woodpeckers.
The mallard ducks have taken to searching for seed under the feeders.
Lots of quite hot, sunny weather. On Sunday it got to the falcon and she lay on the ‘ravens’ rock’ flat out, wings extended, sunbathing. We are still waiting to see if any chicks emerge from their shells, the falcon and tiercel continue incubating so maybe the cold snap in April set things back. The kestrels are seen when the male brings in food for the female. Yesterday [Monday] we were very pleased that Mr R B [Dick] Treleaven MBE, author of books on peregrines and with some 60 years of peregrine study behind him, was able to visit the viaduct.
