A quiet day on the top of Cromer Church, but with heavy rain and wind buffeting the tower its no real surprise. Thank you to Ann, Rachel, Graham and Debbie for todays blog
0.00 A sodden falcon on the platform
9 - 11 am Weather cold, windy and raining.
Nothing to be seen on either camera for the entire two hour stint.
Calls heard at 9.50 and 10.25am so the birds were nearby at least for
some of the time. They were probably hunkered down sheltering from the
bad weather.
10.58 the church bell strikes and I take over the watch from Ann. Neither camera has a peregrine in sight at present. The external camera shows half of the NE turret and is looking over a choppy grim looking sea and a sky full of dark clouds.
11.00 a little brief calling can be heard
11.15 still no sign of Poppy (the female, falcon) or Henry (the male, tiercel) …all is quiet if a rather wet and windy
11.28 the church bell reminds me it’s half past…..still no sign of our pair
11.58 the church bell strikes noon ….. my outlook remains unchanged!
12.15 nothing to report I’m afraid nothing has changed
12.30 the church bell reminds me it’s half past the hour again ….. still no sign of our peregrine and then there’s some brief calling
12.45 aside from the sun attempting to brighten up the dreary day a little there is no change here on top of the church tower.
12.55 I can hear some faint chirruping but I’m not sure if it’s one of our pair or not
12.58 it’s time to hand over to Graham as the clock strikes after an exceptionally quiet shift.
13.00, now taking over from Rachel on this horrible wet and windy Tuesday lunchtime, with no one in sight on either camera
13.03, with no sign of them all morning, thanks to Chris when he got home from work for finding Poppy sitting on a old tinned roof. Where he notified me it was situated at the top of some stairs. Still not any wiser
13.22, with Poppy still on the old tinned roof, but now looking around, like she was going to leave at any moment
13.36, Poppy more active, moving about and looking up into the skies
13.45, she disappears, then the camera starts searching the church roof for Poppy and Henry with no joy, eventually the camera stops looking out to sea with N/W turret in the foreground
13.52, no one still in sight, but a voice can be clearly heard in the background
14.14, A big thank you to the camera person for finding both Poppy and Henry perched on two turret crockets, Henry with prey between his talons and Poppy one crocket down, being very vocal, not for long as both of them leave at the same time. The camera scans once again, finding Poppy balancing on a scaffold pole still showing her disapproval because Henry was devouring his prey on another turret crocket
14.26, Henry leaves taking his prey with him
14.53, camera moves, finding no one at home
15.00, after a extremely busy 2 hours, handing over to Debbie
15.00 Just as the church bell bonged three, Poppy arrived into the nest box.
15.04 After some standing and looking about, she settles into the scrape
15.06 Poppy pecks at gravel
15.09 She came to the front edge of the platform, her feathers being blown wildly
15.10 She turns to face into the box on the corner of the platform
15.12 She hops off the platform and out of view, onto the church roof perhaps
15.13 No peregrines to be heard or seen
16.26 Camera scans and locates Poppy on the SW turret against the green lightning safe cable. She is as still as the wind allows.
16.34 Poppy flies off
16.37 Camera scans very thoroughly but no peregrines spotted. However, despite the grotty weather, some spectacular views of Cromer.
17.00 Watch ends
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