0427 hrs the female leaves the nest
0429 hrs the male comes back, with small unrecognisable prey, looks around guiltily. Chicks don’t look over sure about eating. He tries to feed them a few mouthfuls.
0430 hrs the female comes back, tells dad to clear off, which he does, and then carries on with feed.
0439 hrs the female has the last few mouthfuls and then settles over chicks for a while. Both chicks feeding and looking strong.
0500 hrs off she goes again
0513 hrs she comes back in, tries to cover chicks, struggles.
0656 hrs the female moves to front of box. Sits a while before dropping onto ridge of roof (can be seen on inset camera). Chicks awake, fidgeting and preening. She walks the length of the ridge eventually launching over Cromer at 0659 hrs. The male came back in almost immediately with prey, quickly followed by the female who snatched the food and sent him packing. The smaller chick in best position and got a good feed.
0744 hrs the female has a preen before spotting the leftovers which she removed from the box. You can also see the “freckle on her left cheek.
0938 hrs one proud peregrine and her chicks
1015 hrs the watchpoint report they are up and running and a lovely day it is for it! The male is currently on the South West pinnacle. The female is in the box with the growing chicks.
1019 hrs the male has a short flight around the church before going back to the South West pinnacle
1029 hrs the male moves to the North East pinnacle his tail is just visible from the watchpoint
1030 hrs the female can be seen on the inset camera on the runway outside the nest box
1040 hrs the male is on one of the gargoyles feeding
1100 hrs the chicks are currently alone
1113 hrs the Falcon leave the box after looking directly at the camera
1119 hrs the female is now on the South West pinnacle
1125 hrs the female moves to the North ledge
1136 hrs both adults are seen stretching their wings flying around the area of the church
1138 hrs the male is feeding the chicks, it looks like pigeon
1144 hrs he flies away with remains
1152 hrs to 1155 hrs both adults can be heard calling
1156 hrs the Tiercel comes in with a carcass. Only the smaller chick is interested, larger chick got more in previous feed.
1159 hrs the Tiercel pulls out a long intestine and starts to gather it in his beak. The chick grabs an end and starts to swallow. Funnily it reminds me of children sharing spaghetti. This continues for a couple of minutes.
Watch here if you dare: https://youtube.com/shorts/Nbl8k6lAVBA?feature=share
1202 hrs the chick has a piece of ‘spaghetti’ hanging down its cheek. It is starting to peck at the carcass.
1204 hrs the continuing feed from the Tiercel has had the effect of drawing the intestines into the chick’s mouth. Now the other chick, evidently the larger one, stirs and steps up for food from the Tiercel, while its sibling moves away, presumably bursting at the seams!
1207 hrs The Tiercel pulls out what appears to be the heart of the prey, which he then consumes himself. He takes the carcass, and leaves the chicks.
1208 hrs The Falcon arrives on platform, immediately picks up a fragment of food, which she shares with the larger chick. Having finished that off, she takes up position, standing guard over them.
1211 hrs the Tiercel left the nest box with the remnants of the feed and the Falcon came back moments later. He moved to the view of the watchpoint on the South West Gargoyle / drain spout
1244 hrs one of the adults arrives on the North East pinnacle out of sight of the watchpoint
1253 hrs the larger (slightly) chick stirs from being flat out on the gravel with its leg stuck out behind, and stands up close beside the Falcon, then slowly slides back down to the floor. Its sibling is quietly preening in the background, its bulging crop nicely visible.
1257 hrs The larger chick stands again, then turns and collapses to the floor, one of its legs pushed out behind and under the Falcon. Sleep follows quite swiftly.
1302 hrs The Falcon watches the world through just one eye, tracking a fly which zips about the platform.
1305 hrs The larger chick, in the foreground, has a quick stretch of one wing, making the Falcon move her head back to avoid it. She then begins a preening session of her own.
1308 hrs One of the chicks begins to squeak, and the Falcon looks down briefly, but then resumes her watch on the world outside.
1312 hrs the chick in the foreground repeats its wing stretch, but does not stand up. Then the other chick sticks its head up briefly too.
1314 hrs the foreground chick repeats its actions, and this time the Falcon moves off enough to have a wing stretch of her own. She is now standing beside the chicks, facing forward on the platform (South).
1318 hrs The Falcon is suddenly looking around as if tracking something in the sky nearby, but she does not move from her position.
1320 hrs the foreground chick rouses itself enough to turn round and stick its head through the Falcon’s feathers. As Mum starts to clean one of her talons, the chick tries to join in, but soon tires and closes its eyes again.
1323 hrs the same chick stands up, and the Falcon walks to the front of the platform and flies away. The standing chick begins some more preening, while its sibling watches from the prone position.
1325 hrs the female is sitting on the Fleur De Lis on the South side of the tower
1328 hrs the female flies back to the roof area
1329 hrs Calls from a peregrine nearby, perhaps the Falcon, who was reported as perched on the South side “gingerbread men”. Further calls, then the Falcon returns to try to shield the chicks, one of whom makes quite a fuss about it.
1335 hrs Both chicks have now stood up and moved around. One slumps to the floor to the left of the Falcon, while the other has moved away a little to the right of Mum, and has a pick at its feet, before other preening. It is currently the more adventurous of the two, while the larger one continues to suffer the attempts by the Falcon to shelter it. The smaller chick has a brief try at flapping its wings, then gradually edges closer to the Falcon. There is now DEFINITELY much less room for them both under the Falcon, so the smaller one just has to lean against her as much as possible for the time being.
1343 hrs the smaller chick is actively preening while leaning on the Falcon. Then it shuffles forward a few steps, before turning back to take up position in front of Mum, facing toward the back of the platform.
1356 hrs the male is on the South East pinnacle and just visible to the watchpoint. The Falcon gives a few squawks, and the Tiercel can then be heard calling in the background.
1416 hrs The Falcon stirred from her relaxed pose and started to look around, then carefully extracted herself from the chicks and moved to the front right of the screen, before disappearing off to the side. The chicks lay in a bundle in the middle, although the smaller one stirs and re-positions itself over its sibling, before indulging in some more preening.
1424 hrs the female flies to the far side of the North East pinnacle
1428 hrs from the bundle of fluff, a head appears, then some squeaks start up. The larger chick then stands, ejects a white stream towards the camera, and slumps back down again.
1430 hrs This time, the head of the smaller chick has appeared over the top, and there is a series of hoarse sounding calls rather than squeaks. This chick is also looking off to the right of screen, so maybe the Falcon is in view. Incidentally, these last two images show the difference in appearance of the heads, the first being the larger (older) chick, the second the smaller (younger).
1432 hrs The Falcon returns, causing mixed calls from the chicks as she again takes up a protective position.
1444 hrs The Falcon is again plagued by a large fly buzzing round. She disengages herself from the chicks, walks to the front of the platform, and flies away. She seems to have gone back to the same spot on the South side of the church. The larger chick watches her go, then gets upright and begins some extensive preening. Its sibling watches through one eye, and gives a yawn before settling down to snooze again. The larger chick’s vigorous head scratching disturbs its sibling, but not enough to cause complaint. Sleep is preferable at the moment! The chick which was standing is now back in the huddle, and stretches its head up a few times as if trying to regurgitate something.
1454 hrs the same chick continues with the head stretch and gape a few more times. There are calls from a parent off camera.
1456 hrs After a few more gapes, the chick settles its head into its wing and seems to nod off. Its sibling is also asleep, flat on the gravel.
1459 hrs The Tiercel arrives on the platform to a chorus of cries from the chicks, but he can only stand with them, and has brought in no food. He stands for a while, then moves to the front of the platform. After a minute or so, he flies away. Thus endeth the session!
1500 hrs Lots of calling, chicks are looking well, Tiercel has flown out, one of the chicks is preening. The watchpoint report seeing the Falcon fly around the tower before landing on the North East pinnacle and the Male is now sitting on the Fleur De Lis on the South side of the tower.
1511 hrs Falcon has flown in, chicks hoping for some food, lots of calling from outside
1518 hrs the Falcon is sitting on edge of the box, chicks are sleeping
1530 hrs the Falcon has flown off
1531 hrs the Falcon is back lots of loud calling outside, trying to cover the chicks, but they look too big for that now, one is having a wing flap looking quite independent, legs not quite strong enough to stand all the time. The male is reportedly on the South side of the South East pinnacle
1540 hrs Chick is tired now after all the exercise and is looking sleepy
1550 hrs the Falcon is napping intermittently
1553 hrs there is lots of calling from outside again
1557 hrs chicks are now covered a bit by the Falcon
1600 hrs one chick making a loud calling noise while adult bird appearing to be completely oblivious to it standing looking out of box.
1602 hrs still calling then settled down
1604 hrs Adult continuing to look out of box and alert. Chicks very still.
1606 hrs adult looking down at the chicks facing back of box
1607 hrs quick peck of stones & movement from the chicks, while adult looks down
1610 hrs the adult continues to be attentive and alert while chicks chill!
1613 hrs the adult having a bit of a preening session while remaining in same position looking out for the chicks.
1623 hrs a few minutes more preening and still in same position and very alert. Now moving to the edge of box and flies away leaving chicks on their own. One is making very loud chirping/ screeching. Both chicks stand up and flap around calling loudly.
1628 hrs One chick is definitely bigger and stronger looking (this may just be one is male and one female and one is 3 days younger
1629 hrs One chick preening the other having a nap. Still on their own. There is the occasional flap of tiny wings.
1635 hrs loud calling then in flies adult with food. Loud calling from both as they demand to be fed!
1640 hrs feeding continues with loud squawking. Can’t see what the prey is. I still don’t know which adult it is!!
1644 hrs Oh no one was just fed a claw!! Yikes!! Seems ok!! That are having a jolly good feed.
1646 hrs one chick turns round with its back to the adult then sits behind the other chick and then snatched food away from the other chick.
1649 hrs the adult flies out of the box with the carcass with some chirping from the chicks and flapping of wings. They both have large crops!! Now cuddling up. Adult outside screeching.
1653 hrs adult returns with carcass and has his/her meal. Chicks chirping eagerly hoping for more I think but at the moment not getting it.
1655 hrs the adult has given up and starts feeding them again. Is it the same adult as left earlier? Sorry I can’t tell.
1657 hrs the adult flew away again with the carcass. Leaves the chicks alone. One of the adults making a loud noise outside. Chicks cuddling up.
1700 hrs an adult comes back with prey and begins to feed the chicks again.
Thanks to Peter, Barb, Sue, Julia, Mick & Brendon for their blog entries today & to our watchpoint volunteers Andrew, Johnathon & Bev who engaged with over 104 visitors.
A photo of our lovely Tiercel
Comments