Chichester Cathedral Peregrines 2012

I'm starting this Topic to cover both the webcam, which is now up and running, and the Date with Nature, which opens on Friday 13th April this year.  

The story so far this year - the clutch of four eggs was complete on Saturday 24th March, so if all goes well we could expect hatching from about 24th April.  

For progress reports, see the Facebook Page and also this blog by a local photographer, David Shaw.  I will be doing some volunteering days, and will report on those.

Please feel free to post your questions, observations and screen shots.  

Sue C 

Thanks Sue,  I have been watching her for a couple of days now.  When does she eat? I watched her all day today and she hasn't moved (only to clean herself).  I saw a shadow a few minutes ago which I presume was the male but he didn't bring her anything to eat!

P.S I am taking it for granted that it is the female...I may be wrong :-)

Hi Maria 

Thanks for mentioning the cam was online - I hadn't checked for a couple of days.

The pair do take turns incubating, though the female always seems to be the one on the eggs overnight. When the male brings food, he takes over incubation and the female will leave the nest turret to eat. This is a link to last year's thread - I put photos of the pair towards the bottom of page 1 which hopefully show the differences. I haven't heard anything to suggest that either of the pair has changed, though we don't have the volunteers' briefing till next week.       

Thanks again Sue, it does look like Mrs P, I haven't seen her mate only his shadow to compare.  I have just read last years thread, some lovely pictures.

Do you ever see any of the offspring?

Not personally, but the nest has been a very successful one, raising 38 chicks in 10 years. The young have all been ringed, and some have been seen elsewhere. One nests on a block of flats in Hove, Sussex Heights, which has its own webcam; others have been seen around Sussex and as far away as East Anglia.   

Just managed to catch a changeover between the pair. This is the female returning to take over from the male; you can see the difference in size here.

and she settles down again on the eggs

Thanks Sue, I'm still watching her and him of course. Such attentive parents, not like those scanderlous Osprey :-)

Fantastic. This is a real interesting nest. Sadly I only been in Chichester in February when the peregrines were not around as far as I could see.

Its great that this year there is sound cant wait for the young to hatch and hear the racket as they grow larger :-)

The incubation period isn't always so peaceful. This was a favourite video last year, showing the Chichester female's reaction to a male intruder appearing in the nest turret, while her mate was away hunting. 

Intruder in the nest

Just a reminder, the Date with Nature event at Chichester launches this Friday 13th April (lucky for some!) at 10 am.

The RSPB tent will be in the garden of the Cloisters Cafe, behind the Cathedral, and we'll be there with telescopes and the big screen every day.  

If you're in town, do drop in and see the peregrines.  

That intruder footage is fantastic Sue.

Yes, the way she raises her feathers to make herself look bigger is amazing - rather like a cat or dog bristling when facing up to an enemy.

This is another "intruder" incident from Chichester in 2010 - this time a sequence of still photos taken by the photographer David Shaw.

The male sees off a green-ringed juvenile who is in fact the Chichester pair's grandson, raised in a nest box in Brighton, which also has a webcam.       

I did my first day's volunteering yesterday, on a bitterly cold day in Chichester. It wasn't a record day for visitors, but those we had were very enthusiastic. As usual, it was a mixture of peregrine fans who live locally and call in every few days, people who had seen the sandwich board outside on the pavement advertising the event, and others who had come into the Cloisters Cafe for a cuppa and wondered what was going on at the tent in the garden....... 

For the peregrines, it was a typical day in the incubation period. As we opened up at 10, we saw one, possibly two, intruder peregrines around, which the resident male chased off; the one we got in the scope was unringed. Mr P. appeared on the pinnacles a couple of times, preening or eating; we didn't see Mrs P. in person.

Maria, and anyone else who is following the webcam, can I ask you a favour? I reckon the eggs could start hatching from April 24th, but I'll be away at that time - if all goes well, could you announce the hatching and maybe post a screenshot? 

Thanks, Sue 

Great post Sue - thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see more!

Jayne