09.00, Good Morning all with Poppy, two chicks and just the one remaining egg.
09.10, She falls asleep facing S /W.
09.23, Poppy awakens consumes a few stones then falls asleep once again.
09.31, Poppy sits up to have a preen giving us a quick glimpse of her two chicks and one remaining egg.
09.44, She sits down and starts shuffling anti clockwise, rotating a whole 360% finally settles down in the same position facing West.
10.10, Henry comes in and takes over from Poppy, giving us another look at the two chicks and the egg, settles down facing North.
10.38, change over, Poppy comes in and takes over from Henry.
11.00, That's my shift finished, now handing over to Debbie.
11.00 Falcon is on the nest and has been since 10.38. She is resting but awake. Today the weather is grey, cloudy and chilly. The temperature is 9 degrees but feels like 7 degrees. The moderate breeze is from NE
11.46 Occasionally she rises a little and a peek at the chicks is possible for me.
11.51 She calls once
11.52 Tiercel flies in with prey. Falcon gets up and immediately starts shredding the meat into chick beak size pieces. Both chicks feed enthusiastically. Tiercel also feeds a chick but mostly he watches her feed them. The egg is visible and I cannot detect any crack or pipping.
11.55 Tiercel flies off leaving mum to continue feeding.
11.56 The chicks are still feeding. Mum taps the closed beak of a chick to tempt it but the chick doesn't respond, so mum gives the food to the other keener chick.
11.58 One chick continues to be fed but the other one has fallen asleep
11.59 Falcon finishes off the meal herself while both chicks zonk out
12.01 She abandons the leftovers and nestles over her chicks /egg
12.11 She calls several times
12.13 She shuffles, looks at the chicks and settles back
12.20 She shuffles and tucks the chicks under her brood pouch. She is facing the camera
12.27 She looks about
12.34 She shuffles and faces right
12.53 She is disturbed by something
13.01. The tiercel enters the box. The falcon stands revealing the 2 chicks. She shuffles back over them facing the back of the box.
The tiercel moves to the front of the box and drops down onto the west side of the roof.
13.05. Falcon is pecking at the gravel in front of her.
13.07. As she stretches forward she raises her rear end and reveals two white bundles of fluff. There are the remains of food next to them.
13.08. Falcon stands and repositions herself facing SE tucking the chicks underneath her.
13.11. Watchpoint (WP) report the tiercel is now back on the NE pinnacle. Preening.
13.15. Falcon raises her chest and a foot sticks out. Their feet are large compared with the rest of the body, like flippers.
13.18. She is relaxed, keeps closing her right eye.
13.23. A little head pops out, so cute, falcon pushes it back underneath into the warm. There is a breeze up there. She turns to face N.
13.28. Falcon shuffles round to face S, quick glance of the 3rd egg.
13.29 Male is on the NE pinacle
13.33. She is disturbed by a fly for a couple of minutes, watching it closely.
13.35. She gives a good view of the 3rd egg as she turns it and pushes it further underneath. Cannot see any sign of pipping.
14.02. Falcon is still relaxed and dozing.
14.14. Falcon is alert and looking up. WP report the tiercel had flown away but now returned and landed on the SE pinnacle.
14.17. The tiercel is flying again.
14.21. Falcon preens her chest lifting off the chicks. She watches them for a while, stretches and the relaxes over them.
14.25. Falcon is not relaxed. She keeps looking out of the box. Could be that pesky fly after the remains of prey which is lying close to the her.
14.35. The falcon is preening and scratching. Meanwhile a little one takes a look at the outside world. She gathers it back in.
14.37. WP reports that the tiercel is back on the NE pinnacle.
14.53. WP report that visitors today total around 169. It has been holding a ‘drop in’ this afternoon in an effort to recruit more volunteers to help.
The tiercel is feeding on cached prey on the ledge.
14.56. Tiercel arrives on the roof with food. The falcon doesn’t waste any time and hastily gets up, treading on her youngsters, and rushes out to meet him. The chicks are left along for seconds before the tiercel comes in and tries to cover them. Not very successfully. He chirrups to them.
14.58. The falcon returns with the prey and takes over. Tiercel leaves.
14:50 I notice that the Falcon keeps getting visited by a large fly, or at least that is what it seems to be!
14:55 The Falcon gets up, treads gently on the chicks(!), and leaves. The Watchpoint had just reported the Tiercel arriving with prey. He arrives on the platform and begins the now awkward task for him, of covering the chicks.
14:59 He doesn’t need to settle for long, as the Falcon arrives back on the platform to feed the chicks. Her back is directly in front of the camera, so it is difficult to see how successful the feed is.
15:03 It looks like the chicks have had their fill, as the Falcon seems to be concentrating on her own hunger for the moment, and after a further brief offering to one of the chicks, she takes the prey remnants and leaves. The Tiercel arrives again almost immediately after, and settles, facing away from the camera in the sun. He too is aggravated by a fly, which he snaps at as it goes past! Food hygiene note to peregrines – leaving lumps of food laying about will attract flies!
15:13 That *”*” fly again! He snaps at it again, but to no avail.
15:19 The Tiercel’s head is moving up and down, as if he is eating something! Maybe another food remnant.
15:21 The Falcon returns after her feed, and the Tiercel leaves. She has her own trouble getting settled over the chicks, but manages it eventually, and ends up facing out of the platform, South-West facing.
15:28 She has to have another shuffle and is now facing the camera, then within a few moments, rotates still further to end up facing almost East.
15:35 The falcon is following that fly again!
15:39 She is quite relaxed now, and one eye drifts shut from time to time.
15:46 The Falcon keeps lifting herself up, to allow the chicks a bit of room. Their heads seem to be just behind a curtain of feathers on her breast. Correction, one head, one tail! She seems to be having a staring contest with a stone!
15:54 She continues to lift up occasionally, but is also relaxed enough to allow her eye to close. She yawns again!
16:02 The Falcon’s head comes up suddenly, and she looks round quite sharply, but nothing is visible on the inset screen.
16:07 She reaches over her left shoulder, and does some preening, but seems to come to rest there, perhaps snoozing. The chicks are quiet. She has a quick look out, then puts her head back again.
16:16 Another check, then back to the snooze position.
16:18 The Falcon rouses herself for a more extended look across the roof of the church, then preens a little more, but does not tuck her head back straight away, as on previous occasions. After another look, she does put her head back into snooze mode.
16:28 She extracts her head, and looks round for a few seconds, then looks down to check on the chicks, although they are currently out of sight under her feathers. Another sharp move of the head, probably because of the fly!
16:36 A little pink foot emerges from under the Falcon, then goes back again!
16:39 The Falcon returns her head to the under-wing position. The chicks are both protruding slightly, one head poking out among the down.
16:47 She rouses up again, and inspects the surroundings – all quiet at the moment. The end of a chick’s wing is seen waving about briefly. Mum returns her head to her wing.
16:54 A tiny white stream issues from one of the chicks! It’s a “blink and miss it” moment!
17:00 This session comes to an end with the Falcon, head tucked under her wing, with the two chicks just visible under her feathers. All very peaceful!
Thank to todays volunteers for the blog- Peter, Debbie, Graham and Julia and Kim.
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