Young VG was more cautious and spent a lot of time sitting in the trefoil and at least once fell out but clambered back in. She fledged at 5.05am on Fri 22 Jun and seemed to be doing okay. But next day Nick Dixon heard calls from the Choir Vestry gully. VG had come down there and got stuck. She was rescued and taken to the Vets; the RSPCA fed her for a week, and released her back here Tue 3 Jul. Both juveniles now seem to be doing fine.

For July we are mostly singing Mass Settings in F, but we end the month on another climax with Haydn’s Little Organ Mass.

With the current shortage of resources, numerical & financial, it seems wise to scale back a little over August. There will be no Tuesday Choir Practices from 31 July to 21 August, just as Tuesday & Thursday Vespers take a break in August. Choir will continue to meet at 10am on Sundays, to run through the Music for the Liturgy and polish up a Communion Motet from our repertoire. Mass Settings will be congregational (Merbecke, Martin Shaw and the like) so we can all join in.

Tuesday Choir Practice will resume on 28 August, as Sunday 2nd September has our monthly Choral Evensong at 6pm as well as Sung Mass at 11am.

A quick forewarning that September will be a busy and exciting month at St Michael’s with the Church Open all day on 8th for Devon Historic Churches Ride&Stride and the Deanery Prayer Walk, on 9th for Cream Teas, and 15th & 16th for Exeter Heritage Open Days. Then our 150th Anniversary Michaelmas Celebrations are on the weekend of 29th/30th September.

Other events in July…
Wed 18th July at 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture – Rev Dr David Nixon (St Thomas Church, Exeter, formerly Dean of Studies for South West Ministry Training Course) will ask the question: “What does God think about Brexit?”

Sat 28th July, 9am, Men’s Breakfast, see in churches for details.

Richard Barnes.

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The post Peregrines Progress 2018 appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

One piece of ‘hot’ news is that our young male JN from 2015 has been seen around Taunton with a female peregrine hatched at St John’s RC Church in Bath the same year. We know this thanks to our ringing programmes, and hope they may find somewhere to establish a nest site.

Fri 23 Jun As far as we know, both PP & PM have fledged and are around the Church being fed by the adults. PP stayed put in the nest box for rather longer than expected after PM had left, but eventually seems to have fledged with minimal fuss in the early morning of Tue 20 Jun, I think.

If you’re in the area, please visit St Michael’s Church on Sat 24 Jun, particularly from 2.30pm onwards, when Nick Dixon should be present to answer questions and point things out, with a formal Q&A session timed for 3.45pm. It’s all part of the St David’s Big Bash of Community Events around St David’s Hill.

Thurs 15 Jun After lots of balancing on the edge of the trefoil and wing flapping, PM fledged at 4.17pm on Wed 14 Jun. She went as far as the nearby flat roofs of Dinham Crescent, and spent the night there.

Thursday morning, Elizabeth found PM on the Church Choir Vestry steps; not a safe place with the School Run about to start. Local resident Tony carefully gathered PM and put her in a box for safety. About 9.30 our friendly Vet kindly came to give the juvenile a quick check-over and put her up on a roof. She seemed fit and strong and immediately flew off further down Dinham Crescent.

Around midday Nick Dixon found her down towards the Mill on the Exe, and later in the afternoon PM, now named PoppyMay by the children of St David’s School during Assembly with Curate Christopher, was spotted back near the Church.

Although she has gone quite long without food, she is flying well and roosting near the Church, so hopefully she will get the idea of returning to the Church Tower to be fed by the adults.
Meanwhile PP, named Princess Peach by the schoolchildren, has not yet fledged…

Tue 13 Jun At 6 weeks our 2 strong female chicks have developed their full juvenile plumage, with just a few hints of white fluff left. There is serious wing flapping practice going on, some of it jumping off the rock in the box, other precariously close to the trefoil opening, as they show increased interest in the outside world.

They are also now feeding themselves and fighting over food brought in by the adults. On fine days the adults seem to be absent for long stretches, probably clearing ‘their airspace’ of intruding or overflying threats, like buzzards, as fledging gets near.

While Thursday is our best guess for fledging from previous experience with female chicks, it could be any minute or any day now.

Congratulations to Nick & Jason’s Peregrine installation at Woking for successfully fledging 5 chicks this year.

Tue 23 May Our 2 chicks are 3 weeks old and the camera will be switched off for a while around 5pm this afternoon while they are weighed and ringed under licence. They look to be growing and developing well, starting to pad around the nest box & flexing their wings, and showing signs of feather development.

Also to inform that the 2 unhatched eggs will be removed under licence and sent for analysis. Thanks for your continued interest in the St Michael’s Peregrines. Richard, Nick, Jason.

Weighing and ringing went fine – we have 2 females this year who have been given coloured leg rings PP & PM. They are now exploring the whole of the nest box, some of which is out of sight of the camera – so don’t panic if occasionally you can’t see them. We are not expecting them to fledge until around 14-17 June.

Wed 10 May – so, a week on from the hatching of one egg around 3.30pm Tue 2 May and a 2nd egg around 11am Wed 3 May, it’s clear that the other 2 eggs are not going to hatch. This follows a similar pattern to the past 2 years where just 2 out of 4 eggs have hatched.

This may result from our adult Peregrines being relatively old now, meaning not all eggs are fertilised or develop well. However, it should give our adult a good chance to feed and raise 2 strong young chicks towards fledging in mid-June.

Enjoy the next few weeks on camera as the 2 fluffy chicks hopefully grow strong and pretty, and then go into the slightly messier stage of developing proper feathers.

I’ve had occasional issues with the video stream not displaying properly, but found that clicking the “full screen” symbol lower left in the image and back again usually recovers the nest box picture if refreshing the webpage doesn’t do the trick.

One of Nick & Jason’s other webcams, at Woking, is now watching a large group 5 chicks grow!

Sat 22nd April – and it’s high time I started a blog for this year’s Peregrine activity up on the Spire here at St Michael’s.

This is the 21st consecutive season of egg-laying at St Michael’s Mount Dinham; the first 11 used an external NE-facing shelf, since 2008 in the nest box mounted inside the SE-facing trefoil opening high in the Spire. This year Jason Fathers of Wildlife Windows and Nick Dixon have installed a new HD Camera in the nest box with a wider view including the trefoil opening from where the adults like to look out on their domain. After various issues with our broadband connection, the pictures have been clear and reliable since egg-laying began.

This is probably the “third generation” of breeding adults, with present male since 2005 and present female since 2009. There are pros & cons to Peregrines using such an enclosed breeding site. Indeed, are there any similar ones elsewhere? Adults, eggs and chicks have more protection from spring gales and summer storms during the breeding season, and from predators. But there may be risks from accumulation of debris (we have virtually no chance to clean it) – only 2 out of 4 eggs hatched again last year. But overall their record is good.

So, they laid their first egg at about 2am Fri 24 Mar, the same day as last year, just a few hours earlier.

A 2nd egg was laid about 2.45pm on Mothering Sunday 26th Mar, about 60 hours after the 1st, and a 3rd egg at 11.55pm on Tuesday 28th Mar, 57 hours later.

The 4th & final egg was laid at 10.16am Fri 31 Mar – Wendy Bartter has kindly made a youtube video of it (as she has of the other 3 eggs being laid). Wendy has a Peregrine specific YouTube account, and also links from her and the @StMikes_Exeter twitter accounts. And use the “Peregrine Falcons” link across the top of this Blog page to go to the Webcam view.

The adults are now just over 3 weeks into the task of Incubation, and seem to be doing it well as usual. There should be just under 2 weeks till hatching, which if timings are similar to last year would most likely be on 2nd or 3rd of May…

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June this year has Lectures, Pentecost, Trinity, & Corpus Christi; But especially please put Sat 24th June in you Diaries for the St David’s Big Bash across St David’s Hill, with a Book Sale, Refreshments, Cream Teas, Music, Heritage & Peregrines at St Michael’s!

Thurs 1 June, at St Mary Steps Church, at 12noon – Interment of the Ashes of Canon John Thurmer.
Thursday 1 June at 7.45pm, we are delighted to welcome Dr Bruce Coleman, to distil his wide knowledge of Victorian History in a lecture in memory of Canon John Thurmer, entitled “The Oxford Movement in Church & Society.” Please support this event.

Sun 4 June Pentecost/Whitsunday, 10.45am. Sung Mass. Wood in F. Litany to the Holy Spirit – Herrick/Hurford. Celebrant is Ven David Gunn-Johnson. Also please bring and/or buy at the “Bountiful Table” after the service.

Sun 4 June 6pm Evensong & Benediction – Radcliffe Responses, Psalms 67, 133. Walmisley in D minor. God is a Spirit – Sterndale Bennett.

Also Sun 4 June, starting at 6.30pm, at Exeter Cathedral, the local #ThyKingdomCome Prayer Event hosted by Bishop Sarah with music led by the University Chapel Choir & St Andrew’s Cullompton’s worship group.

Sun 11 June Trinity Sunday 10.45am. Missa ‘O quam gloriosum’ – Victoria. Benedicta sit Sancta Trinitas – Agazzari.

Thurs 15 June at 7.30pm, Corpus Christi. Sung Mass with Procession, witnessing to the presence of Jesus in the world. Byrd 4-part Mass & Ave verum corpus.

Fri 16 June at 12.30pm Funeral of Olive Folland, dear friend, stalwart member and bell-toller at St Michael’s for many years. May she rest in peace and rise in glory. All welcome.

Fri 16th – St Richard of Chichester, 1253, who wrote “O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother, May I know Thee more clearly, Love Thee more dearly, Follow Thee more nearly” – perhaps best known as the song “Day by day” from the 1970s musical Godspell.

Sat 17 June at 12 noon, Erika Borley, our Director of Music, and Stephen Wagstaff will be celebrating their Wedding. All members of the congregation are warmly invited to attend the service and to stay for cupcakes afterwards.

Sun 18 June Music Sunday 10.45am. Introit “Cantate Domino” by Pitoni. Missa Brevis ‘Laetatus Sum’ by Dr Nigel Browne, based on themes from Parry’s “I was Glad”. Motet: 8-part Jubilate Deo (Psalm 100) by Giovanni Gabrieli.

Sun 18 June at 4.30pm, Afternoon Tea Concert with Exeter Chorale. Please join us for a generous helping of music on the theme of “Light”, served with home-made cakes, tea or coffee. All for £8 (£5 students, children free).

Fri 23 June at 12noon, Parish Lunch Club at @34 Restaurant, Exeter College, Hele Road, Roast Lunch and chat. Please sign up in one of our churches. N.B. date changed so as not to clash with Funeral of Olive Folland.

Sat 24 June from 11am-4.30pm at St Michael’s, St David’s and venues in between, St David’s Neighbourhood Partnership hold the St David’s Big Bash with all sorts of Events, Stalls, Activities and Refreshments. St Michael’s will be hosting a Book Sale & other stalls, and showcasing our Heritage, Organ, Music & Peregrines during the day – which concludes with a Service at 5pm in St David’s Church to which all are welcome.

Sun 25 June Trinity II, 10.45am. Mass in C, and Anthem “Greater Love hath no man than this”, both by John Ireland (1879-1962).

Tue 27 Jun is the 153rd anniversary of the death of John Dinham, tea merchant & philanthropist.

Wed 28 June 7.30pm St Michael’s Lectures. Dr Lindsay Whetter, who has a University of Exeter PhD on Faith in the Prisons, will take an “inside look” at life and faith in English jails.

Thurs 29 June 6pm, CBS Mass for Saints Peter & Paul. All welcome. This is the 3rd anniversary of the death of Revd Dr John Hughes.

Richard Barnes.

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Juvenile with leg ring PG fledged early Mon 13 June, exactly 42 days after hatching. He flew a bit, got mobbed by gulls, was found in an Exeter College car park, and rescued because newly fledged young find it difficult to get airborne from flat ground. PG was returned to the Church, and spent a night on tiles.

Tue 14 June, PG was rescued again, and was hand fed road-kill squirrel by a local vet. This is more intervention than we would like, but is what would be done for any animal found in distress.

PG was re-roofed, rescued and re-roofed again before he flew off, again attracting unwanted attention from the local gulls, and spent the night on Exeter Community Centre. Meanwhile PH had decided on another day of feeding and wing flapping in the nest box.

Juvenile PH fledged early Wed to the Church roof and spent the day exploring its roofs. No intervention was required today. Meanwhile we were pleased that PG was found back at the Church, flying more confidently. So by end of Wed 15 June we had 2 adults & 2 juveniles active on St Mike’s.

That’s all I know so far – seagulls still a nuisance, but things looking fairly good.

Update Fri 24 June – now the juveniles are on their own with the adults, learning to fly and hunt, and we have to take our chances as to how many we see together at the church.
The juveniles will start to fly further afield as they get more confident over the next few weeks.
As far as I know – I’ve certainly not heard otherwise – both juveniles are strong and well, and all 4 birds are using the church as their base and for roosting. But there’s been little sign of the young going back into the nest box, unlike in some previous years.

Update Thu 4 Aug – sadly, on Thursday 28 July, one of this year’s juveniles, PG who had received such care in the 2 days after fledging, was found dead in Paul Street, Exeter, apparently after a flying accident.

The events this year at Norwich Cathedral nest site remind us not to be over-sentimental about these magnificent wild birds of prey. “Mother Nature” is not always as gentle as we like to imagine. There, an incoming younger female, from the urban site in Bath apparently, displaced the male’s older mate from previous years after she had laid her eggs; the male was a dutiful single parent feeding all 4 chicks that hatched; but as they came due to fledge the new female became aggressive to these chicks that were nor her own; two died and two which made it to the ground have been taken into care, hoping that they can be saved and released back into the wild in due course. Ours is not to question their natural behaviour – rather to reflect on humanity’s varied behaviours.

From earlier this year, a week before fledging.

And 3 weeks before fledging.

Screen image from day after ringing, Tue 24 May, chicks 3 weeks old.

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A couple of days later than in recent years, the first egg was observed by Nick Dixon to be laid at 7.07am on the morning of Maundy Thursday, 24th March. The birds occasionally sit on their first egg, but incubation proper does not start until their third egg has been laid.

The laying of the second egg on Holy Saturday, 26th March, was some time between 2.30pm and 5pm, about 58 hours after the first, but if you can help us fix the time more exactly, please let us know by email contact or twitter reply.

We would hope that a third egg will be laid in the wee small hours of Tuesday 29th March.

Update 1. Thanks to Nick Dixon for seeing the 3rd egg laid this morning at 7.27am (BST), 63 hours or so after the 2nd egg. Incubation proper should now be starting, ‘shared’ by both adults. Based on previous years for our Peregrine pair, we would hope for chicks to be hatching after about 32-34 days, so 29th April – 1st May as a best guess.

Will they lay a 4th egg this year, on Thursday afternoon? And if so when will we spot it under the sitting adult?

Update 2. Yes, pretty sure I’ve just glimpsed a 4th egg, which must have been laid between 6.45pm and 7.30pm BST Thursday 31st March. Incubating adults now hunker down over their eggs like a slate-blue Thunderbird 2. Female does most of the sitting, but calls loudly to the male when needing a comfort/food break.
Yes, definitely 4 eggs.

This is the 20th consecutive season of egg-laying at St Michael’s Mount Dinham; the first 11 using an external E-facing shelf, the last 9 in the nest box mounted inside the SW-facing trefoil opening high in the Spire some 20-odd years ago.
Probably the “third generation” of breeding adults, with present male since 2005 and present female since 2009.
There are pros & cons to Peregrines using such an enclosed nest site – are there any similar ones elsewhere? Adults, eggs and chicks all have more protection from spring gales and summer storms during the breeding season, and from predators. There are risks from accumulation of debris (we have virtually no chance to clean it) – only 2 out of 4 eggs hatched last year and one of the chicks in 2015 was weak on fledging. But overall their record is good.

Update 3. Tue 12 April and both adults are attentive to the task of incubating their 4 eggs; just over a third of the way through. A screenshot from a couple of nights ago showing both in the nest box.

Unusual to see both adults sleeping in the nest box at night during incubation.

Update 4. May 4th Wednesday and we have 2 little peregrine chicks and 2 eggs still being incubated. For those who’ve not been following events on our @StMikes_Exeter twitter feed, the first hatching seems to have occurred around 4.50am on Mon 2nd May, 34 days after 3rd egg was laid; thanks to Wendy Bartter for notification and a
After quite a long wait a second chick hatched around midnight into Wed 4th May, notified by Ingrid Bwouwer, and today both adults were actively bringing prey into the nest box to feed these two, while still sitting the 2 remaining eggs and keeping the young eyases warm.

Update 5. May 12th Thursday. Unfortunately the other 2 eggs will definitely not hatch now, and the adults are gradually losing interest in incubating them as they concentrate on feeding the 2 young chicks. Indeed, the eyases are growing and developing apace, sitting up against each other, feeding well and really starting to flex their little wings, with the first hints of independent movement too. Here’s a screenshot from the evening of the 6th with both adults and the small chicks. Note the vertical markings of the juvenile in the pinnacle photo compared to the horizontal markings you will see on the adults.

Update 6. Sun 29th May. Hopefully you’ve seen from Twitter or Facebook that Nick & Jason were able to measure and ring the 2 chicks last Monday, 23rd. Growth and development seems fine and it appears we have 2 male chicks this year. The unhatched eggs were removed under licence for analysis. Since then the chicks have started to look more advanced, with feathers coming to replace their down, starting to part feed themselves, bouncing around the nestbox (sometimes out of view of the camera) and noticing the world outside. Best guess for fledging is around 12th June, Music Sunday at St Mike’s and the weekend of official celebrations for the Queen’s 90th birthday.

Screen image from day after ringing, Tue 24 May, chicks 3 weeks old.

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Jun16 update – That did the trick! Juvenile female JK flew from the nest box at 8.10am Tues 16th, enjoying the morning sun and then exploring most parts of the roof during the day. So now our two young Peregrines need to practise their flying and hunting, and keep out of trouble, mainly from the local seagulls, until they can fend for themselves.

Good to meet several photographers and birders at St Michael’s over the past few days – there are some stunning new photos on the Exeter Peregrine Group Flickr page linked under “Gallery” (and scroll down).

Jun15 update – Juvenile male JN was seen back around the church Fri & Sat, a bit bedraggled but ok, and seems to be making good progress now. We need a good strong male offspring, after the males from the past 2 broods died in their first year.

The young female JK, despite spending much time in the trefoil opening, seems rather reluctant to fledge, and is still being fed in the nest box by the adults. She’s only a couple of days over her 6 weeks, so hopefully there’s nothing amiss.

Jun11 – To fledge or not to fledge, that’s been the question this week.

So, male juvenile JN is now a full 6 weeks old and has been spending much time near or on the trefoil opening, but hadn’t yet made that leap into the unknown, until 5.30pm on Thursday 11th June. As observed by Elizabeth, he flew strongly and came down on a Dinham Road roof. Later he flew back up to the spire but couldn’t find the open trefoil or land on the tower, and headed away again. Andrew located him in a fairly safe roost near the church, where he was calling to the adults and they answered but didn’t come to him. So we hoped as night fell and it started to rain he would be alright there or try again to get back to the church.

The female juvenile JK (Rowling?) is 40 days old with just a little fluff still evident that she is preening away, and also doing vigorous wing exercises mainly on the stone lower left in the camera view. Now that her brother has flown the nest box, she is looking a bit bewildered and doing a lot of calling, as they were still sleeping next to each other.

Apologies for the couple of days when feathers were on the camera lens; thankfully it has cleared itself, because it’s not legally or physically accessible now.

Mum was still bringing in large prey for tea-time and other feeds the past few days, so both juveniles should be strong and well fed. I don’t know whether they sense the weather or follow the forecast, but, with thunderstorms and heavy rain potentially in the offing for Friday, JK may be better delaying fledging till the weekend now. We shall see.

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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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Mar30 update – Nick Dixon is pretty sure he saw a 4th egg at about 1pm on Monday 30th March. If the female was keeping to a 64 hour interval, it would have been expected around 7am Monday morning, but the adults have been sitting tight since incubation proper started with their 3rd egg, so it’s only possible to check when the female goes off for a break and the male takes over. We would be pleased to hear if anyone can confirm and give a more precise time for the 4th egg.

Mar27 update – a 3rd egg has been laid, at 15.05 on the afternoon of Fri 27th March, again some 64 hours after the previous one. As high-status falconry birds in the Middle Ages, it is perhaps appropriate that our Peregrines have laid 3 eggs in this Richard III week.

We now wait to see if that is all; last year our pair laid a 4th egg, which seemed to be unusual for them, although only 3 hatched. Meanwhile, the Peregrines on the Catholic church near Bath railway station have laid their 2nd egg today (Friday) and those on Norwich Cathedral now have 4. The pair at Nottingham Trent Uni are busy incubating their clutch, but Derby Cathedral are still awaiting their 1st egg.

Mar25 update – a 2nd egg was laid sometime between 22.15 and 23.08 on the evening of Tue 24th March, some 64 hours after the 1st egg, longer than the typical 48-57 hour gap expected. If anyone can tell us the exact time, we would be pleased to hear. The female is now sitting the eggs more regularly, but still not all the time.

It seems there were more than one intruder bird last week; the juvenile offspring was observed soaring with the adults, but other(s) were seen aggressively expelled from the territory.

In other news, congratulation to St Michael’s choir member Graham Keitch whose anthem “In Memoriam Ricardus Rex” was sung during the Requiem Mass for King Richard III at the Catholic Holy Cross Priory Church in Leicester on Monday. It has been good to see most religious commentators emphasizing the many strands of continuity with the medieval English church, as we also try to in our website’s History Timeline.

Mar22 – Spring is in the air and egg-laying has commenced in the Peregrines’ nest box inside the south face of St Michael’s spire. This will be an updating Blog, hopefully documenting the laying of more eggs during this week.

I’m pleased to say that both Nick Dixon, our local Peregrine expert, and Jason Fathers, who has installed the camera and hosts the live streaming, were online at 6.30am on Sunday 22nd March to witness the laying of the first egg of the 2015 season at 06:36. This is just a day or two later than the first eggs seen on camera the previous 2 years. Thanks to Jason for this picture…

Typically our Peregrine female lays her eggs at 2 day intervals, and will start serious incubation of the eggs only when 2 or possibly 3 have been laid. So it’s alright that the first egg is being left mainly unattended at present. Also really good to see the egg laid in a scrape well visible in the camera field of view.

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However, tonight (Thu 19 Mar) the female is standing over the “scrape” rather than settling down to sleep, so maybe an egg is immanent.

By day the resident pair of adults have been trying to see off the intruder, but without too much aggression, so Nick Dixon suspects that the third bird may be last year’s surviving female juvenile. If she has failed to find her own territory and mate, this returning behaviour is not uncommon; the resident birds will recognise their offspring and not attack, but the female may see her as competition, hence the lack of welcome.

So an interesting development just as we are expecting the first egg around the time of the equinox and eclipse. It would be great to get sight of a leg ring to back up our suspicions, but asking a lot of any observer or photographer. We think the resident female is in her seventh breeding season here, so probably not ready to be displaced.

After a couple of different technical issues from last year, the live streaming of the nest box camera to the church website peregrine page, http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/peregrine-falcons/
was brought back online on Tuesday 17th March. It has needed a couple of early morning restarts but is otherwise functioning well. (Live streaming costs us about £5 per day, totalling some £600 over the breeding season, so any donations via the MyDonate facility on the website, or otherwise, would be most appreciated.)

Last year’s Peregrine diary can be found in the website blogs for March to June 2014, or with http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/tag/peregrine-falcons/

Meanwhile at St Michael’s we are also getting ready for the solemn and joyful activities with which we Christians recount the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Information on Services from Passion Sunday through to Easter (5th April) and beyond is also on the website.

RB

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