‘Hearts in mouths’ time for our peregrine followers

Any moment now: our chick is almost ready for his first aerial foray

Visitors to our falcon cam and blog have certainly been through the mill in recent weeks. Following the heart rending events of April which saw three of our chicks perish, those that have watched our remaining chick flourish so far are now waiting anxiously for the moment he finally leaves the ledge for his maiden flight.

If we assume that our sole survivor was amongst the first to have hatched this year, he would now be old enough to be thinking about his first aerial foray. Over the past week or so he has been spending more and more time away from the nest tray, walking along the ledge and flapping his wings – strengthening and testing them out.

As a result we have received many calls and emails in the past few days from worried viewers who thought he’d gone over the edge – but so far, he has usually turned up somewhere further along the ledge.

At some point he will step, leap, jump or even fall off the ledge, and hopefully he’ll either soar into the skies with a successful flight or at the very least, his wings will be effective enough to break his fall if he doesn’t quite get the hang of flying at his first attempt.

Over the past few years a number of chicks have landed rather unceremoniously on the streets below the nest site – but thankfully they are usually none the worse for wear and one of our conservation team pops out and returns them to the ledge.

Rescuing the chick from the ground and placing it back in the nest is very different to intervening when the chicks were suffering after the storms, because our intention is to return it to give the parents a chance of completing rearing it. Had we removed the chicks after the storms, they would no longer have been wild birds.

It will certainly be a while before our famous chick will be reaching speeds of over 120 miles per hour in the pursuit of prey, but once he takes to the skies and his juvenile feathers make way for the more characteristic peregrine plumage he’ll look more and more like his parents.

Once he’s mastered the art of flying he’ll still be dependent upon his parents for a while, so hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy the exploits of the chick for at least a little longer before he departs for pastures new.

Once he does fledge and breaks away from his parents it is likely that he’ll stay within about 60 miles and hopefully he’ll lead a long and productive life. However, as events have shown us so far this year, success in the natural world can never be taken for granted. In some parts of the UK the success rate of breeding falcons is as low as one chick raised every two years, which serves as a reminder of just how successful our Newton building pair have been to date.

Erin McDaid
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

Our falcon chick grows in stature – and we welcome new spring arrivals to Brackenhurst

Two little owl chicks are ringed at Brackenhurst

We have recently observed the peregrine chick becoming increasingly mobile and growing in confidence, spending more time out of the nest tray and on the building ledge. Being out of view of the camera clearly causes some concerns for viewers when they don’t spot it shuffle out of sight – and we feared the worst ourselves on Tuesday evening, after logging into the webcam on our return to the office to see an empty nest box.

The chick is also growing in stature, through the development of leg muscles and ligaments, allowing it to start walking on its feet instead of its haunches. Growth of pin feathers on the wing edges and body are sure signs of a developing healthy raptor, which is becoming more inquisitive with its surroundings each day. In the coming weeks we will witness wing stretching, flapping and small hops of flight to further develop the body muscles and bone structure required to assist with the rigours of raptor flight.

Obviously this is occurring up and down the country as broods begin to fledge, leave the nest and start their challenging lives within our cities and countryside. A recent blog has mentioned how important bird ringing is to allow us to study the life cycles and distribution of many avian species.

The adult kestrel, found at the Brackenhurst campus

At NTU’s Brackenhurst campus, staff and students, along with the South Notts Ringing Group (SNRG) ring birds on the estate through the winter months and chicks during the nesting season. The SNRG encourages students to become involved in bird ringing through taster sessions during the winter, while providing vital information and results to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) which will often be used in student studies.

Last week the SNRG was on site checking owl boxes once again, only to find one now being occupied by a female kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and five chicks. It was found in the same box previously used by the tawny owl mentioned in an earlier blog. We also came across a little owl (Athene noctua) nest with two chicks in a tree.

The SNRG’s records show the kestrel to be two years old, having been previously ringed about half a mile away, on the estate, in February last year. Without ringing, this information would have been unknown.

Brackenhurst, home to the university’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Studies, provides an ideal setting for the study of wildlife, environmental conservation, agriculture and horticulture-based courses. For more information visit www.ntu.ac.uk/ares

Simon Taylor & Gemma Clark
Field & Environment Technicians
NTU’s Brackenhurst campus

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust visit NTU to ring our falcon chick

Andrew Lowe, the West Notts Conservation Officer for the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, bought a team of experts to the NTU City site to ‘ring’ our soon-to be-named falcon chick. In this video you can see what they did and hear an explanation of the importance of them doing this. You might also be interested to read our previous blog about falcon ringing.

Camera: Jared Wilson
Editing and post production: John Anderson

Watch out for a new blog next week about other birds and wildlife being ringed around the NTU campus.

Start voting to name our peregrine chick

Help us to name our chick before it leaves the nest site

We have received a whopping 424 suggested names for our peregrine chick – and are pleased to announce that we have now whittled them down to a shortlist of our favourite six. The names in the running are Darwin, Ernest, Storm, Noah, Unity and Chick.I.Am. An online poll is now live on the website so please do vote for your favourite before the deadline of Wednesday, May 30 at 5pm. We plan to announce the chosen name the following day.

The names put forward each have their own significance. Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’; the biblical story of Noah and the slightly more obvious – but extremely popular – Storm. Unity was a name previously adopted by many who were commenting on this blog while Ernest was put forward by a follower whose grandfather of that name was an avid viewer of our falcon family and sadly recently passed away. As for Chick.I.Am, well it just made us chuckle – perhaps someone is confusing their raptors with their rappers.

As stated previously, we are also planning to give away a peregrine falcon toy to one person who initially suggested the name finally chosen for the chick via the online poll.

So please get voting!

Dave Rogers
Nottingham Trent University

Falcon webcam hits half a million views mark

Popular: our peregrine chick

Well it seems the popularity of our peregrine family knows no bounds – our falcon webcam has now passed the half a million views stage and continues to rise rapidly. This blog has also clocked up a massive 130,000 views and almost 1,300 comments have been posted.

Viewers of the webcam herald from 99 different countries (one more would be very welcome indeed!) while people from almost 70 countries have visited the blog. The figures for both the camera and the blog have been rising each month, with May unsurprisingly being a very busy month with people keen to know how our final chick was coping following the dreadful storms in which it sadly lost its three siblings.

New this year is a high definition camera which has provided even more detailed views of the birds’ activities. As well as providing higher-quality images, the moveable camera can give a 360 degree view and has a zoom function which has allowed the monitoring team to track the birds along the ledge of the building. It also has infrared sensors to ensure the best possible viewing round the clock.

Last year the falcon cam witnessed an impressive 260,000 views over the course of the project.

The falcon cam has been viewed in: Albania; Algeria; Argentina; Australia; Austria; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belarus; Belgium; Bermuda; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Brazil; Brunei; Bulgaria; Canada; China; Colombia; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Ecuador; Egypt; El Salvador; Estonia; Fiji; Finland; France; Germany; Ghana; Gibraltar; Greece; Guernsey; Hong Kong; Hungary; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Iran; Iraq; Ireland; Isle of Man; Israel; Italy; Japan; Jersey; Jordan; Kenya; Kuwait; Latvia; Lebanon; Libya; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia [FYROM]; Malaysia; Malta; Mauritius; Mexico; Moldova; Montenegro; Morocco; Netherlands; New Zealand; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Peru; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; Qatar; Romania; Russia; Saudi Arabia; Serbia; Singapore; Slovakia; Slovenia; South Africa; South Korea; Spain; Sri Lanka; Sweden; Switzerland; Syria; Taiwan; Thailand; Trinidad and Tobago; Tunisia; Turkey; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United States; Venezuela; Vietnam

Dave Rogers
Nottingham Trent University

The importance of bird ringing

Ready for ringing: our peregrine chick

We are expecting to ring our peregrine falcon chick this afternoon and so the falcon web cam will be turned off for a brief period. Bird ringing is vital, it helps us to learn more about the lifecycle of wild birds – and prevent wildlife crime.

The peregrine falcon is a magnificent bird of prey and one of the most wonderful sights that nature can offer in the UK. Over the last decade Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust has been working with partners such as Nottingham Trent University to protect these beautiful birds within the county. Much of our work is with landowners  – providing advice and practical help to ensure suitable nesting sites for peregrines are secure – as well as raising the profile of the birds and the problems they face.

However, despite the success of this work, including the hugely popular webcam featuring the peregrine nest on Nottingham Trent University’s Newton building, peregrines in Nottinghamshire continue to be under threat. Although they are a legally protected species, peregrine eggs and chicks are sadly in danger of theft or harm.

Many people believe that egg and chick theft is something belonging to a previous generation, but there have been recurring problems at several sites across the county over the last few years. In 2009 alone, 14 chicks were taken from known nest sites in Nottinghamshire.

Nest cameras – with or without live web links – are one route to help reduce wildlife crime. Closer monitoring of sites helps to prevent thefts and attacks and where crimes do occur, recordings from cameras can help, or provide further evidence to help with prosecutions.

Placing special identification rings on the legs of wild birds, as we do each year with the chicks in the Newton building nest, can also help to deter would be thieves.

The other benefit of ‘bird ringing’ is that the data collected when rings are found (usually when a bird is injured or killed or when birds are trapped as part of licensed research programmes) helps scientists to build up a better picture of the movements and distribution patterns of these wonderful birds.

Ringing usually entails catching birds in fine nets called mist nets, but when dealing with chicks in monitored nest boxes this is unnecessary. A small ring, which is pretty much weightless, is placed around the bird’s leg and the ring has markings which are unique – making it possible to track individual birds. The leg rings have no effect on a bird’s ability to fly, and don’t interfere with feeding or breeding.

Everyone involved in ringing birds has to go undergo a thorough training programme and must be licensed by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) if they plan to ring birds on their own. It is illegal to catch wild birds without a ringing licence.

By ringing birds it becomes possible to gather information about bird movements, breeding, feeding, and lifespan and this information helps us plan for the future conservation of wild populations.

Erin McDaid
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust

Wonderful letter lands on doormat of Falcon HQ

The pupils’ drawing of a peregrine falcon

The most amazing piece of post arrived today. It seems that year one pupils at Brookside Primary School in Loughborough have been following our falcon family very closely indeed. They have sent us a beautiful seven page letter containing a diary they have created in class, which includes detailed information about the birds’ activities. It even has a lovely drawing of one of the adult falcons, along with a great photo they took of the adults feeding the four chicks shortly after they hatched. All the pupils have also handwritten their names.

The letter begins: ‘We are the year one class at Brookside Primary School. We have been very interested in observing the falcons and have been creating a diary about them. We had given them all names and are very sad three have died. We hope the last chick survives.’

Alongside days and times, the pupils have recorded important information in the diary such as ‘the eggs haven’t hatched yet, but they might hatch in a bit’ and ‘the daddy is getting the food and the mummy is sitting on the eggs’. One observant pupil wrote at 10am on April 24 that ‘the chicks have hatched and they are very cute’. Little pencil drawings of the chicks have been sketched alongside.

The letter has been read by everyone here at Falcon HQ and we have all been really impressed with the pupils’ hard work – the handwriting and the drawings are excellent and it’s obvious that a lot of time and effort has gone into this project.

So thank you once again, you’ve really brightened up our day, and we hope that you continue to watch the final chick grow until he is big and strong enough to leave the nest.

Dave Rogers
Nottingham Trent University