Blogs

Visitors to the café in the Dare Valley Country Park are being wowed by live footage from the nest of a peregrine family.

Two of the eggs have hatched (the third has turned out to be infertile), and although the chicks are only a few weeks old they are growing well and keeping dad busy bringing back plenty of food - sometimes as much as five meals a day.

The chicks should fledge mid-June, where from our viewpoint you will get to watch them develop their flying skills and learn to hunt around the Dare Valley.

Viewers of our Exeter peregrine webcam will have noticed that only one chick has hatched from a clutch of three laid by Peggy in early April. It is now highly unlikely that the other two will hatch, as they are most probably infertile.

Over the last 11 years, Peggy has boosted the south-west peregrine population by producing 33 peregrine chicks. Visit us at Exeter Cathedrals northern transept and see this amazing bird for yourself. 

This weekend (Sunday 27 and Monday 28 May) celebrates the opening of a new Forestry Commission visitor and education centre at Top Lodge, Fineshade, with two fun-packed family fun days.

Between 11 am-3.30 pm experience amazing close-up views of the red kites that live and breed in the area, take part in a guided walk (11 am on Sunday and 2 pm on Monday), plus get involved in a variety of fun craft activities, including owl pellet dissection and red kite mask making.

There is a small charge per child of £3 for non-members and £1 for RSPB members to take part in the activities.

Can't make this weekend? Our red kites at Top Lodge project runs until the end of July.

It's great news for the peregrine family nesting on Chichester Cathedral as all four of their eggs hatched earlier this month. The young are now keeping dad busy bringing in pigeons for them and mum.

There is no sibling rivalry between the young as chicks feed until their crop (a sort of pouch in their throat) is full then they turn their back on mum and she feeds the next chick.

Now that the youngsters are moving around they are less frequently seen on our webcam. However, from the 9 June we'll be moving outside the Cathedral with telescopes to help you get closer to the Chichester Cathedral peregrines.

Want to know what goes on in a great tit and kestrel nest? Come to Gressenhall Farm and watch live action on TV screens of these birds rearing their recently hatched chicks.

The farm is home to an abundance of wildlife. From swallows to sparrows, kestrels to kingfisher; Gressenhall has it all.

If you've been keeping an eye on our chough webcam you may have noticed tiny beaks poking out of the nest. The great news is that three chicks have hatched, and can regularly be seen stretching to be fed by their parents.

Come and see them for yourself at Llechwedd Slate Caverns.

This sunday sees the first of the summer's Firth of Forth seabird cruises. From the comfort of the historic MV Maid of the Forth, watch the abundance of amazing bird and marine life that's right on the doorstep of Fife and the Lothians.

With a team of RSPB experts on hand to help explain what you are seeing, this is a fantastic opportunity to get close to the teeming wildlife of the Forth.

These cruises also have a serious message. The sheer weight of development in and around the Forth means that all the wildlife people will see could be under threat. The ongoing prospect of ship to ship oil transfers is terribly worrying. That's why RSPB Scotland is calling for a Marine Act for Scotland to help protect not just the Forth but all of our marine habitat from damaging developments and pollution.

Today sees the start of an exciting project showing people Manchester's peregrines.

Nesting in the heart of the city you will be able to follow the family fortunes of two of the fastest animals on earth as pictures from a nestcam are beamed to the Big Screen in Exchange Square.

Wherever these fabulous falcons nest there is always something dramatic happening...