Sunny, but windy and cold today:
8.50 Falcon on the box - is she laying, or has she laid ?? Looking
around
9.06 Pecking at the gravel and looking around. Grooming for about a
minute. Alert
9.17 Moving about - NO egg - then settling back down in hollow.
9.26 Male heard calling, She moves forward. Alert
9.31 Falcon calling and goes back to her hollow. He's still calling
and she seems to be responding.
9.33 She settles down again with her back to the camera.
9.38 - 9.46 ish Tiercel can be heard continuing to call.
9.49 She is preening. Then starts to move stones making her hollow
deeper, even pulling them in from outside to build up the rim.
9.55 Back in her hollow but standing up and looking around. Seems
restless.
10.06 Still standing in hollow looking around but more relaxed.
10.11 Tiercel can be heard calling again. She is awake and alert but
settled
10.28 She moves forward to the front of the box and takes off !! NO EGGS
11.00 No further sightings or action for the last 30 mins.
11.00 As I start my shift the box is empty and no sign of either peregrine until
12.02 There is a call from one of them close to the box.
12.06 Cam 2 scans around and finds the Falcon on a turret with fresh prey, sorry cannot ID. She is busy plucking off the feathers and discarding them into the wind. She eats for a short time then caches the remains on the next ledge behind her.
12.12 She flies away.
12.13 Cam 2 scans around and finds the Tiercel perched inside the NW turret taking a bit of a battering from the wind.
12.31 He flies away. - still an empty box.
12.35 There is a loud call then the male can be seen entering the box. He continues to make clucking noises for a while and then facing to his left he stands in the scrape looking around.
12.37 The falcon is found sheltering on the inside of the SW turret.
12.42 He comes to the front of the box where stands checking out her surroundings before she starts relaxing and closing her eyes on and off between quick glances in all directions.
13:00 the male (tiercel) is sitting on edge of nest box, buffeted by the wind, closing eyes on and off soaking up the warmth of the sun.
13.02 Still relaxed he opens his mouth and gives a big yawn.
13:04 the female (falcon) is sitting on a crocket on one of the turrets also having some of her feathers ruffled by the wind
13:05 the male (tiercel) opens his eyes on and off to look around
13.07 Something catches his attention as he looks up to her left and follows overhead and to the right. Now back to snoozing.
13:13 the male (tiercel) turns 360 degrees and leaves the nest box
13:14 I can hear calling and the male (tiercel) appears by the turret and copulates with the female (falcon)
13:23 the nest box remains empty and is warmed by the sun between cloudy spells
13:30 the church bell tolls just once
13:45 the nest box remains empty and the female (falcon) is still sitting in the same place on the turret
14:00 no change, same as 13:45, church bells tolls twice
14:11 the female (falcon) begins to preen herself and continues for approx. 10 mins
14.25 Cam 2 takes another sweep around the turrets, nothing to be seen so settles back on the SW again where the Tiercel can only be spotted when his white feathers give a flash of light.
14:26 I hear what appears to be calling (I don’t think it was seagulls)
14:30 the nest box remains empty and the female (falcon) is still sitting in the same place on the turret and the church bells tolls.
14:32 the female (falcon) appears alert and looking around surveying the area
14:39 the sound of calling again which prompts the female (falcon) to look around, for the last few minutes she appeared to be resting / sleeping
14:41 just before flying off the turret the female (falcon) appeared to be calling
14:42 what appears to be the sound of both birds on the nest camera but no sight of them, one of them the appears briefly on the crocket below the turret and flies off again
1445 all quiet and no sign of either bird on either camera
14:46 camera pans and focuses in on one of the peregrines (falcon???) on a different turret sitting in the shade, feather being ruffled by the wind
15:00 the church bell tolls 3 marking shift change 😊 no change since 14:46, the same peregrine is in the same position.
15.00 Empty nest
15.34 Peregrine calling and flew off church pinnacle
15.35 Calling.......more calling
15.38 Poppy arrived to the scrape and settled in. She was calling.
15.40 Poppy standing, moving gravel with her beak then scraping with her legs at nest
15.41 Highly alert and looking around
15.44 More gravel rearrangement
15.54 Falcon called
16.00 Tiercel called again
16.01 Poppy moved more pieces of gravel
16.04 She settled in the scrape
16.06 Poppy stands to arrange nest with her beak
16.08 She scrapes the nest with her legs
16.33 Tiercel calls
16.35 Poppy preens
17.00 Watch ends with no egg......
With thanks to Ann, Julia, Rachel and Debbie for todays amazing blog
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