Last week I was away on holiday and as I didn’t have regular access to the internet I was unable to keep an eye on Mr & Mrs Peregrine back home in Nottingham. Thanks to facebook updates posted by my colleagues at the Wildlife Trust I was, however, able to keep in touch to some extent – I was especially interested to see the pictures of the wood pigeon sitting nonchalantly on the ledge!
The female on the first egg (March 14)
As I’ve been busy catching up after my week off (I’m sure people save up their emails for me and then send them when I’m away) I’d still not managed to view the live stream. So it was with great excitement that whilst still ploughing through emails I spotted one informing me that we had an egg. I’ve now had a look at the wonderful close up of Mrs Peregrine on the nest this morning – now we have our first egg, the webcam should always have something in view.
As the adult birds had been active around the nest site for a considerable time we did wonder if the eggs might arrive a little earlier than last year, but from memory, this is over a week earlier. It will be interesting to see how many eggs she lays; the pair have consistently had three or four chicks each year and once she finishes laying we’ll only have around a month to wait for them to hatch.
Erin McDaid
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
NTU Falcons 
Beautiful. Who do I contact regarding a proposal relating to the Falcon project that you may be interested in?
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Has she lost her yellow numbered leg ring? Bottom left corner of box…
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Hi there – no it won’t belong to the falcons, the adults don’t have leg rings.
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Morning…..Congratulations are in order….. However on close up on the scrape this morning revealed what appears to be an identification ring at the front of the scrape, does anyone have any ideas as to what bird it belongs to, can’t see a foot attached …..must have been last nights supper…. again well done Mrs P…. Mo x
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I see a pigeon ring in the photo just in front of the bird at Nottingham, another breve racing pigeon slaughtered again.
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As part of their varied diet they will from time to time take racing pigeons – if it is a ring then any found at the end of the year are logged here – http://www.rpra.org/StraysReportingForm/tabid/105/Default.aspx. You may find this recent blog entry of interest http://tinyurl.com/7ezupnd
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not a very fast racing racing pigeon
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first egg laid today 14/03/2012,great stuff,derby peregrines no eggs at moment
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What is the usual interval between eggs?
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Hi there – the usual interval is around 24hrs but there is sometimes a couple of days in between
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Interval between eggs range from 48 to 60 hours. Of course there are always exceptions, we have observed eggs being laid with 8 days between them. Because the falcons can regulate the development by not incubating but just keeping the eggs lightly covered, the hatch dates usually are closer together then the laying dates. Keeping the eggs cool will slow down development of the embryo, heat on the other hand can be lethal.
For egg and hatch dates of almost all the web-cam-monitored Peregrine Falcon nests world wide see this calendar: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AucV-KOU5RwsdHl3ZU1mMlQ5c2JrOEsyTEVTM3BhNFE&single=true&gid=4&output=html
It will be updated daily.
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Totally unnatural habitat for falcons to nest in. Just shows the huge over-population due to protection by the RSPB.
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Hi there – In recent years peregrines have become a regular feature in a number of towns and cities across the UK, with the birds taking advantage of manmade structures which mimic their natural habitat. The birds would traditionally have nested on cliff and mountain ledges – a habitat closely replicated by tall urban buildings. Many of these urban pairs have succeeded where pairs in more remote areas have continued to be targeted by people keen to destroy the nests or steal the eggs.
Whilst the total population has recovered well from the terrible lows of the 1960s caused through long persecution and chemical contamination, the population has been slower to recover in some areas and in others is even thought to be contracting.
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Perhaps this may be that we the human race are destroying the natural habitat.
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I’m surprised that the falcon leaves the egg unattended! She often seems to be just sitting on the ledge and not the egg and a while ago she was nowhere to be seen at all.
Is this normal?
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Hi there – Now that the 1st egg has been laid the female will spend more time in the nest to ensure the egg doesn’t get too cold, however, she won’t sit on them constantly until most of the eggs have been laid.
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This is the first time I have had the pleasure of watching the falcons I am overawed , I do understand why some people may be distressed by the killing of wild birds , racing birds etc but this is nature what else would the peregrines eat?
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had a look this morning around 2-3am and she was sat on her nest.(first time id seen her on the nest during the night but then don’t usually get to see her often during the night) i wondered if an egg may be due low and behold ive just looked and there it is. great
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just happened to be watching when she laid egg,feel like a dad again,YIPPEE
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that must have been an amazing sight. Think we saw it just a little later
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You can all see it happen! There’s a video of the birth of the first egg (and a few other recent highlights) up on http://www.ntu.ac.uk/falcons now (2012 footage tab).
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Thank you so much for this wonder insight into the falcons lives, so fascinating to watch them!
You rarely seem to see both the male and the female on the ledge at any one time, where do they go when they are not on camera?
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The birds will have preferred spots close to the nest where they rest up and preen but now that there is an egg in the nest the female will never be far away.
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Hello! Watching with interest from across the pond in Winnipeg, Canada. We’re spying on your birds while we wait (im)patiently for our birds to return from their winter holiday down south. Our cams aren’t running at the moment, but we are chattering away (on the forum) in anticipation (like parents waiting for their children to get home?)
Best regards
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Oops, I meant to leave a link for you, so you could place us. Feel free to comment on the forum and/or explore the site.
http://www.species-at-risk.mb.ca/pefa/
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Looks like a great project. Please keep us informed!
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The male is a really beautiful tiercel. His “hood” is very dark, almost like the Australian sub-species.
Right now (10.58 GMT) the female is back on the egg. A second egg may appear today or early tomorrow.
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Second egg has arrived!
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Yes! Second egg is delivered! Just before noon (UK time)
Screenshot: http://slechtvalkenforumnederland.nl/viewtopic.php?p=12823#p12823
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Cracking quality footage. Hoping to see the next egg soon.
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