May23 update. Three weeks old and the two chicks have been weighed, to check development and discover that we have one female and one male this year, and had identifying leg rings fitted, to help with scientific study of survival rates and dispersion of urban peregrines. They appear to be healthy and growing well. This despite the adults seeming to spend as much time clearing their Exeter airspace of other raptors especially buzzards, as they do hunting for prey to feed their chicks.

It’s the end of the fluffy phase and the start of the less tidy time of growing proper feathers, exploring the box, testing and strengthening those wings and getting ready for fledging, hopefully in the week starting Sunday 7 June.

May15 update. Two weeks old and being left by themselves for longer periods during the day, the 2 chicks are still all fluffy and white, but developing strong legs and talons as well as their wings and characteristic head shape. Apologies for some down-time on Wednesday from a power issue in church and the flurry of feathers during windy weather yesterday.

A week on from the hatching of 2 of the eggs, at around 6.30am on Thursday 30 April and Saturday 2 May, it’s clear that for whatever reasons the other 2 eggs are not going to hatch, and the adults should gradually lose interest in them.

The 2 little chicks are sitting up, appear to be eating and excreting well, starting to flex their little wings, and look pretty lively, so let’s hope that with just the two of them to feed, their growth and development carries on over the next 5 weeks, and the outcome after fledging in June will be more successful than last year.

At other sites, the Nottingham four seem to be doing well, Norwich hatched all 4 but one has since died, and Derby and Bath have each hatched 3 of their 4 eggs.

Calendar Notes around hatching time:-
Thurs 30 April was the 150th anniversary of the sad death of Admiral Robert FitzRoy (1805-65), a great-grandson of King Charles II (it’s in the name), and Captain of HMS Beagle for Charles Darwin’s voyage (1831-36) gathering data which helped form his theory of Evolution. FitzRoy was also founder in 1854 of the pre-cursor of the Met Office, coining the word “forecasts” for his warnings from 1861 onwards of weather hazards around the coasts of the UK.

Sat 2nd May was the Feast day of Athanasius of Alexandria, 4th century Christian teacher and formulator of “orthodox” creeds to help understand the nature of Jesus Christ and of God as Trinity.

1st May was the Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles, i.e. two of the first 12 disciples of Jesus. They are often known colloquially as Pip & Jim, which might well be rather more suitable names for our 2 Peregrine chicks.

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Many took the opportunity to observe the Peregrines before attending Nick Dixon’s talk. A cameraman from the BBC’s One Show has been on hand too, so we hope there will be a feature on St Michael’s Peregrines in due course.

However, on Thursday 12th, the young male was found down, with some damage to his primary feathers; he has been taken to an RSPCA unit for treatment and rehabilitation, and we are still hopeful for a good recovery.

Heritage & Music Festival 2014

David Briggs – International Organ Virtuoso

Meanwhile on Sunday 15th June, again at 7.30pm, we can learn more about the fascinating history of the part of Exeter we now call Mount Dinham, from Roman Camp and virtuous Victorians to melodious musicians and eloquent educators, from archaeologist and historian, Richard Parker.

Church and Episcopal School

Organ Rebuilt

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Church and Episcopal School

Application date for Young Organists’ Competition extended to Sat 7th June. See details here

Peregrine chicks weighed, measured and ringed, all three are healthy, developing well and getting around the nest box. See website and click Peregrine link. And yes, I’ve unofficially named them after their leg-rings HeCtor, HeBe & HeiDi!

Poster now available for Celebrity Recital by David Briggs, International Organ Virtuoso, to launch the our new Organ, on Monday 16th June at 7.30pm.

Opening organ concert on reconstructed organ formally in St Jude’s Church, Birmingham, where David’s grandfather was Organist, inspiring him as a child to learn to play and to improvise.

David Briggs – International Organ Virtuoso

It is a real coup for St Michael’s to have David Briggs come and formally open our newly installed pipe organ next month. It will be a thrilling opportunity to hear one of the world’s foremost organists perform pieces from J S Bach to Dukas’ the Sorcerer’s Apprentice (from Disney’s Fantasia), and to improvise a Symphony from themes suggested by the audience!

And a beautiful poster for the whole of our busy Festival Season.

Heritage & Music Festival 2014

We hope to see those who live near enough at St Michael’s as we celebrate.

Best regards, Richard.

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Female peregrine feeding 3 young chicks

The adults have started using the top of the spire as a lookout and are patrolling their airspace, so buzzards and other aerial passers-by watch out.

This Saturday, as licensed ringers, Jason and Nick plan to measure, weigh and leg-ring our 3 young, 3 week old eyases. This should also confirm the expectation of 2 female and 1 male again this year. (The 4th, unhatched egg is still there, but now ignored by the adults.)

Accessing the Nest Box at St Michael’s

Enjoy the next 3 weeks of growth and development at close quarters on the Devon Birds’ sponsored live stream available on St Michael’s website.

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Female Peregrine feeding 3 chicks; 1 egg unhatched.

While one chick, possibly a male, is noticeably smaller than the other two, all seem to be feeding and growing well at this stage.

Apart from a 2-hour outage on May Morning when the streaming server had some maintenance, the live webcam footage on St Michael’s Website generously sponsored by Devon Birds has been running uninterrupted for over 3 weeks with intimate viewing of our Peregrine family day and night.

On this Blog, April was a record-breaking month with nearly 1100 views from 360 viewers. It’s also good to see the Young Organists’ Competition post getting some hits – let’s hope we get a few applications too.

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It was a wet and windy night but, with a touch of late night peregrinitis, it looked to me like one of the eggs had cracked around midnight and by 1am on the 27th the female was removing the shell and eating some of it, but nestling so well that I couldn’t see any chick. An automatic recording at 3.30am showed her removing a second shell and gave hints of some fluffiness under her breast.

At 8.30am Nick Dixon caught a swapover on the live webcam and saw 2 chicks and 2 eggs. At 12noon, accompanied by the church bell ringing for the Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven), Kim confirmed this at another changeover of adult birds. Fittingly Sunday’s Mass setting was by William Byrd.

By 3.30pm I was suspecting maybe a third hatchling, and this was clear at 4.45pm when the female left the 3 chicks unattended in the nest for about 10 minutes. Two chicks were stretching upwards and squauking, with the third smaller chick less vocal; two female and a male?

It was a little worrying that the adults kept the chicks warm but showed no sign of attempting to feed them at all on Sunday, though they looked quite comfortable and active. Today, Monday, feeding has started with breakfast and tea observed; it will be a day or 2 more before we know whether the 4th egg will hatch.

Inside the Spire of St Michael & All Angels

We are hugely grateful to Devon Birds for sponsoring the live-video-streaming. Please also visit their website to learn about the wider bird scene in Devon.

It’s not cheap (sorry for the pun) to run the streaming, so a little donation to one or both of St Michael’s and Devon Birds would be much appreciated.

Congratulations also to the educated Peregrines of Nottingham Trent University who hatched 3 eggs on St George’s Day, last Wednesday; they now have 4 chicks.

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