In practice this means…

Recorded, streamed or Zoom Services only until Sunday 7 March, Lent III.

Tuesdays, 6pm Plainsong Vespers still only on “Friends of St Michael’s” Facebook group.

Resume Public Worship in St Michael’s Church. 

Wed 10 Mar. Worshipers may attend 9.30 Matins, 10am Mass in St Michael’s Church.

 Sun 14 Mar in St Michael’s, 11am Mass for Laetare & Mothering Sunday, Lent IV. Communion wafer will be brought to you in the Pews.

 Wed 17 Mar, St Patrick, 9.30 Matins, 10am Mass in Church.

 Sun 21 Mar, in Church, 11am Mass for Passion Sunday, Lent V.

 Wed 24 Mar, Eve of Annunciation, 9.40 Matins, 10am Mass in Church.

 Sun 28 Mar, in Church, 11am Mass for Palm Sunday. Blessing of Palms but no Procession. Sung Passion Gospel.

 HOLY WEEK – reduced to allow approx. 48 hours between Services in each Church.

 Tue 30 Mar, 6pm Plainsong Vespers on Facebook group

 Wed 31 Mar, NO Stations of the Cross. 9.30Matins, 10am Mass in Church.

 Thu 1 Apr, 7.30pm Mass for Maundy Thursday at St Michael’s. Probably NO Foot-washing. Stripping of Altar and Altar of Repose, to be decided.

 Fri 2 Apr, Good Friday, NO Liturgy of Presanctified or Veneration of the Cross.

Service of Good Friday Readings and Reflections at St David’s Church.

NO Evening Tenebrae Service – there is a recording available.

 Sat 3 Apr, Holy Saturday, 8pm Easter Vigil Mass – Ceremonies of the New Fire, Paschal Candle, Exultet, Renewal of Baptismal Vows. At St Michael’s.

 Sun 4 Apr, Easter Day, NO Mass at St Michael’s.

9.30am Easter Eucharist at St David’s Church.

The provision of Music for Sundays and Feast Days will depend on Resources and Church of England Rules. Currently Organ music and up to 3 Cantors are allowed. Congregational singing is not allowed.

The post Lent & Holy Week 2021 appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

Reflections, Windows, Worship options in Church & online, Social Action & gentle Satire.

Also News, Dates & Times, Direct link here

/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NewLeaves_Dec20.pdf

The post “New Leaves” December/January appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

Regular times:- Sunday Sung Mass 11am. Choir Practice 7-8.30pm Tuesdays – new singers always welcome. Vespers is sung Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6pm. Matins & Low Mass take place Wednesdays at 9.30/10am.

Sun 23 Dec, Advent IV. 11am Sung Mass. Missa Brevissima, Casciolini. Ave Maria, Arcadelt.

Mon 24 Dec. Christmas Eve. 11.30pm. Midnight Mass of the Nativity & Blessing of the Crib. Sumsion in F. O magnum mysterium, Keitch. At 11pm, the Choir will sing Carols from the Gallery or on Mt Dinham.

Tues 25 Dec. Christmas Day. N.B. 10.30am (Turkey time!). Sung Mass of the Nativity & Prayers at the Crib. Merbecke/Shaw. In dulci jubilo, Praetorius.

There will be no weekday Masses for St Stephen, St John or Holy Innocents at St Michael’s – you might like to try the Cathedral, or St David’s on Thursday at 10.30am..

Sun 30 Dec, Christmas I. 11am Sung Mass.

Sun 6 January 2019, Epiphany of the Lord. 11am Sung Mass. Wood in F. Whence is that goodly fragrance, Willcocks.
Sun 6 Jan, 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction. Smith. Psalm 98 & 100. Stanford in C. Anthem: from Christus, Mendelssohn. O salutaris & Tantum Ergo, plainsong.

Sun 13 Jan, Baptism of the Lord. 11am Sung Mass. Missa l’Hora passa, Viadana. O Lord, give Thy Holy Spirit, Tallis.

Sun 20 Jan, Epiphany II. 11am Sung Mass. Rheinberger in F. New Year Carol, Britten.

Sat 26 Jan, 9am. Men’s Breakfast at The Imperial.

Sun 27 Jan, Epiphany III. 11am Sung Mass. Missa Sancti Nicolai, Nicholson. O sing joyfully, Batten.

Weds 30 Jan, 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture. Dr Darren Schreiber (Univ of Exeter) on “The Neuroscience of Political and Religious Beliefs”. All welcome, free entry, voluntary donations, refreshments & discussion.

Sun 3 February, Candlemas (transferred from 2 Feb). 11am Sung Mass. Stanford in C&F. Nunc Dimittis in B flat.
Sun 3 Feb, 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction. Reading. Psalm 122 & 132. Stanford in B flat. Anthem: Hodie beata virgo, Byrd. O salutaris & Tantum Ergo.

Advance notice:- Weds 20 Feb, 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture. Prof Emma Loosley (Univ of Exeter) The Syrian Conflict: What is it Really about?

We are delighted to welcome Matt Clark as Organist and Harry Sullivan, Organ Scholar at the University Chapel, to share playing for our Services and Choir Practices.
Wishing you a peaceful & joyful Christmastide from all at St Michael’s Mount Dinham.

Richard Barnes

The post Christmas & Epiphany at St Michael’s appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

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

If you have special memories or photos of St Michael’s over the years, please let us know. It would be good to compile some articles and a display for our Sesquicentenary celebrations in September. Also if you have ideas how best to celebrate it.
At the recent St Michael’s District Church Council Meeting, Richard Parker, Amy Down and Richard Barnes agreed to co-ordinate Events for the 150th Anniversary.
We hope these might include:-
Devon Historic Churches Trust Ride&Stride and Heritage Open Days on Sat 8th/Sun 9th September, with Exhibition and Talks.
A 150th Anniversary Dinner.
Reconstruction of an original Service at St Michael’s – Music, Liturgy, even the Sermon!
Michaelmas itself is Saturday 29th September – a Thanksgiving Mass.
Pageant involving our local Schools with a Victorian theme.
Come&Sing Performance. Perhaps “Ein deutsches Requiem” composed by Brahms in 1868, including ‘How lovely are Thy dwellings fair’.

Meanwhile, please pray for our continuing life & mission, and support your church with your time, talents and giving.

A Happy & Joyful Easter to & from all at St Michael’s. Christ is Risen; He is Risen indeed. Alleluia!
Some April Events at St Michael’s
Sun 8 Apr Low Sunday 11am Sung Mass – Fr Christopher Durrant – Palestrina
Mon 9 Apr Feast of the Annunciation (transferred) 6pm Sung Mass (please note the time)
PLEASE NOTE CHange of Date for Annual Parish Church Meeting at St David’s Church. Now Mon 30 Apr 7pm.
Sun 15 Apr Easter 3/II 11am Sung Mass – Fr Nigel Guthrie – Harris in F
Sun 22 Apr Easter 4/III Good Shepherd Sunday 11am A cappella Mass – Byrd 4
Sat 28 Apr 9.30am Men’s Breakfast – check in church/on line for venue
Sun 29 Apr Easter 5/IV 11am Sung Mass – Sermon B ill Pattinson – Darke on F
NEW DATE Mon 30 Apr 7pm Annual Parish Church Meeting at St David’s Church. All welcome
Sun 6 May Rogation Sunday 11am Sung Mass & Procession, 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction

Regular pattern of Worship at St Michael’s.
Sundays 11am-12.05 – Sung Mass, followed by Refreshments. Bountiful Table of preserves, cakes etc. each 1st Sunday of the month.
Sunday 6-7pm (1st Sunday of the month, but not Apr 1st ) – Choral Evensong & Benediction.
Tuesdays & Thursdays 6-6.40pm (except in August) – Plainsong Vespers & silent meditation.
Tuesdays 7-8.30pm – Choir Practice. We need more voices in the Choir; we have experienced singers in all parts, so you don’t need to sight-read or sing solo – it’s more about listening, blending and following the conductor.
Wednesdays 9.30am – BCP Matins. 10am – Said Mass.
Thursdays at St David’s Church at 10.30am – Holy Communion followed by Refreshments.

All are welcome at St Michael’s, where worship is traditional, music is excellent and people are friendly. Please join us.
Richard Barnes.

The post April 2018 at St Michael’s appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

2018 is our 150th Anniversary. If you have special memories or photos of St Michael’s over the years, please let us know. It would be good to compile some articles and a display for our Sesquicentenary celebrations at Michaelmas.

Fri 2 Mar at St David’s Church. 7.30pm Exeter College Choral Society conducted by Alfie Pugh, accompanied by John Draisey. Mozart, Kodaly & Rachmaninov. £12 (£5 students).

Sun 4 Mar, Lent III. 11am Sung Mass. Missa Brevis, Lotti. Motet: God so loved the world, Sir John Stainer. Celebrant: Fr Nigel Guthrie. Followed by the Bountiful Table.

Sun 4 Mar, 3pm. Trumpet, Organ & Piano Recital, Will Palmer & Peter Adcock. Fundraiser for St Peter’s School Malawi Project.

Sun 4 Mar at 6pm, Choral Evensong & Benediction. Byrd Responses. Psalms 11,12. Hymn: 67. Canticles: Dorian Service, Tallis. Anthem: Wash Me Throughly, SSWesley.

In his Ash Wednesday Sermon, Fr Christopher encouraged us to spend more time in prayer in Church, and to study to broaden our imagination. We could use one or more Wednesdays in Lent (28 Feb, 7,14,21 Mar) for this. There is Stations of the Cross at 6pm – a prayerful 45min meditation on Jesus’ way to the Cross. And the Lent Reading Group at 7pm for an hour or so exploring the life and thoughts of St Antony, the founder of desert monasticism.

Sun 11 Mar, Laetare & Mothering Sunday, 11am. Mass in F, Harold Darke. The Lord bless you & keep you, John Rutter. Ven David Gunn-Johnson. Rose Vestments, flower posies & simnel cake.

Thurs 15 Mar. Parish Lunch, 12 noon, at Exeter College’s @34 Restaurant – please sign up in Church.

Sat 17 Mar at 7.30pm, Exeter Chamber Choir Concert. Music for Lent including MacMillan Miserere & Lotti Crucifixus. Admission £10.

Sun 18 Mar, Passion Sunday, 11am. Sarum Plainsong Mass. O große Lieb, JSBach. Fr Nigel Guthrie.

Sun 18 Mar, 4pm in Exeter Cathedral. Farewell Service for Bishop Sarah Mullally, who will be installed as Bishop of London in May.

Sat 24 Mar, 9.30am Men’s Breakfast at the Imperial. Details from Ian Smith at St David’s.

Sun 25 Mar, Palm Sunday, 11am. N.B. BST starts. Blessing of Palms & Procession. Sung Gospel. This Mass will finish a little later than usual.

Summary of Holy Week at St Michael’s

28th Spy Wednesday, Stations of the Cross at 6pm, Liszt Via Crucis.

29th Maundy Thursday, Sung Mass with Foot-washing at 7.30pm, Casciolini & Elgar.

30th Good Friday Liturgy & Veneration of the Cross at 10.30am and the moving Office of Tenebrae sung from the Gallery at 8pm, Plainsong, Lassus & Palestrina.

31st Holy Saturday, Easter Vigil Mass with New Fire & Lighting of Paschal Candle at 8pm, Stanford & Handel.

Sun 1 Apr, Easter Day, 11am Festal Sung Mass. This Joyful Eastertide. Mozart Mass in D. Hallelujah Chorus. Ven David Gunn-Johnson.
NO Choral Evensong & Benediction today – Choir & Clergy serviced out!

A Happy & Joyful Easter to & from all at St Michael’s. Christ is Risen; He is Risen indeed. Alleluia!

Richard Barnes.

The post March 2018 at St Michael’s 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…

The post Peregrine News 2017 appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

Wed 1 March, Ash Wednesday. Services Morning & Evening.
9.30am Matins, 10am Said Low Mass with Ashes. Fr Christopher.
7.30pm Solemn Sung Mass with Imposition of Ashes. Mass in the Dorian Mode – Tallis; Remember not Lord our offences – Purcell. Preacher Ven David Gunn-Johnson.

Sun 5 Mar, Lent I. 10.45am Sung Mass. Cranmer’s Litany of 1544 in Procession. Missa de Angelis; Purge me, O Lord – Purcell. Fr C.

Sun 5 Mar at 6pm, Choral Evensong & Benediction. Byrd Responses. Ps 50 vv 1-15. Short Service – Weelkes. Wash me throughly from my wickedness – SSWesley. Fr C.

Tue 7 Mar at 6pm, CBS Plainsong Mass, Saints Perpetua & Felicity, Martyrs at Carthage (203). Fr David Hastings.

Each Wednesday in Lent, 8,15,22,29 Mar & 5 Apr there is both Stations of the Cross at 6pm with a prayerful 40min walk around St Michael’s Church led by a different person each week, and the Lent Reading Group at 7pm for an hour or so exploring the life and thoughts of St Augustine through his famous autobiography, the Confessions, led by Oliver Nicholson.

Sun 12 Mar, Lent II 10.45am Sung Mass. Sarum Plainsong. God so loved the world – Goss. Ven David Gunn-Johnson. Fr Christopher and Preb Alastair Wheeler will be in church afterwards to talk about a Parish Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in April 2018.

Fri 17 Mar at 7.30pm, Exeter College Choral Society Concert – Poulenc Gloria and Mozart Solemn Vespers. Admission £10 adults, £5 students.

Sun 19 Mar, Lent III 10.45am Sung Mass. Merbecke. Sicut Cervus – Palestrina. Fr C.
Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus. Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul after thee, O God.

Sun 26 Mar, Lent IV, 10.45am. N.B. start of BST. Laetare, Mothering Sunday and Annunciation (transferred). Missa Aeterna Christi Munera – Palestrina. The Lord bless you & keep you – Rutter. Fr C.

Sun 2 Apr, Lent V, Passion Sunday, Crosses & Statues are veiled, 10.45am Sung Mass. Dorian mode – Tallis. Song of Christ’s Glory – Grayston Ives. Ven David Gunn-Johnson.

The post March 2017 at St Michael’s appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

Three of our Choral Scholars also finish their tenure. We wish Rebecca and Vicki all the best as they graduate in Maths and move away to jobs – thank you for your commitment to St Mike’s and its music over 3 and 4 years, come back and visit, and keep singing. Marianne also stands down as a Scholar, but continues in the choir, as our @StMikes_Exeter tweeter, and in her other roles – again, thank you. We’re glad that Saffron will be returning as a Scholar in September.

The choir is delighted to have been awarded funding from the Ouseley Trust. As well as auditioning for new Choral Scholars from the University in September, Erika will also be looking to appoint 2 or 3 Junior Scholars, 16-18 year olds who might want experience before applying for University or College Choral Scholarships, or who just love singing church music – if you know of anyone who may be interested, see http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/music/scholarships/ and contact Erika.

Sung Masses continue with reduced resources over the Summer. Advanced notice that Tuesday & Thursday Plainsong Vespers will have a break for August. Check Events & twitter for updates.

So, here’s a summary of our Music List and events for July.

Thursday 2 July at 6pm, CBS Mass for the Eve of St Thomas the Apostle, with Hymns and Plainsong. Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.

Sat 4 July, in Barnstaple at St Peter & St Mary Magdalene Church, for the Guild of the Servants of the Sanctuary Anniversary Service, 12noon Mass with Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Vaughan Williams’ Old 100th. 3pm Guild Office & Benediction.

Sun 5 July, Trinity V, Mass, 10.45am. Anglican Folk Mass, Shaw. Almighty and everlasting God, Gibbons.

First Sunday Evensong on 5th July will be at 5pm in St Martin’s Church in Cathedral Close, preceded by Tea from 4pm, to celebrate the 950th Anniversary of a church on that site. Bishop Robert Atwell is the guest preacher. Tallis Responses, Weelkes Short Service, Locus iste a Deo factus est, by Bruckner. All welcome.

Sat 11 July, Glastonbury Pilgrimage, St Benedict of Nursia.

Sun 12 July, Trinity VI, Sea Sunday, Mass, 10.45am. Byrd 5-part Mass. Jesu, the very thought of Thee, Victoria. And farewell to Scholars Vicki and Rebecca.

Tues 14 July. John Keble, Priest, Tractarian, Poet, 1866. Keble College, Oxford, was founded in his memory and William Gibbs funded its polychromatic brick Chapel.

Wed 15 July. Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, c.862. Associated with weather lore.
Wed 15 July at 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture, Ash Leighton Plom will be speaking on Exeter – a Christian society for over 1,500 years- expressions of Christian charity in present day society.

Sun 19 July, Trinity VII, Mass, 10.45am. Missa L’Hora Passa, Viadana. [Tu es Petrus, Palestrina.] Rejoice in the Lord alway, Redford.
Sun 19 July. Gregory of Nyssa, Bishop, and his sister Macrina, Teachers of the Faith, c.394 and c.379.

Friday/Freitag 24th July – Concert in the Kirche in Groß Denkte at 7pm/19Uhr.

Saturday/Samstag 25th July – Service of music and reflective readings in the Hauptkirche Beatae Mariae Virginis in Wolfenbüttel at 6pm/18Uhr.

Sun 26 July, Trinity VIII, Mass, 10.45am. (Most of the Choir will be singing in Wolfenbuettel, Germany.)
Sunday/Sonntag 26th July – Service in the St Trinitatis Kirche in Wolfenbüttel at 10am.

Sunday/Sonntag 26th July – Concert in the St Katharinen Kirche in Braunschweig at 5pm/17Uhr.

Sun 2 August, Trinity IX, Mass, 10.45am. Missa O Quam Gloriosum, Victoria. Ave Verum Corpus Byrd.

Sun 2 Aug, 6pm, Choral Evensong & Benediction. Byrd Responses, Morley Fauxbourdon Canticles, Te Lucis Ante Terminum byTallis.

Richard Barnes.

The post July at St Michael’s appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

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.

The post Fledging 2015 appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.