Weekend March 17th/18th

I started the weekend with a visit to Parliament, after February’s visit I have resigned myself to the fact that they will use last year’s nest site up river. It would have been good if they had stayed at Parliament but the lure of a successful nest site was always going to be a massive carrot. All being well they will return to Government around the start of July, again this is flexible and depends on how confident the juveniles are in there flying ability, it could be earlier, it could be later.
On arrival at Parliament I followed my usual routine covering all faces out of the wind in dawns light, I decided pretty early they were not present and headed off to the nest site.
The Falcon was seen briefly and the Tiercel was a statue on the top most section of the building, this confirmed what I had suspected, the main thing now is that they succeed.
There will be no camera this year unfortunately, this means there will be no dates of eggs/hatching/juveniles etc……. I will cover as much as possible from the outside. As mentioned before it is not an ideal area and there are a few unsavoury characters strolling around in the early hours, it pays to be a bit discreet when you have a Telescope, Bin’s and a Camera on show.
Elsewhere on the sites that I cover it is business as usual, the Tiercels are getting very aggressive towards the local Crows and all are in full breeding behaviour, including the pair at Fulham Palace Road.

Female Kestrel seen on my travels

After last year’s 3 downed juveniles it was decided and discussed to publicise the site with the backing of NaturalEngland, the pair are already known locally and the Hospital is as secure as you can get. Getting more local people involved will also mean added security – see Parliament Feb 28th.
There is now a web cam so that the pair can be viewed by the general public, a decent web cam is long overdue in London and I must say that the images and behaviour observed have been first class. Additionally the site is now being linked to Barnes Wetland Centre with Simon King broadcasting live as part of the London Wild Bird Watch 2012.

Website for Peregrine cam 

http://www.wildlifewhisperer.tv/live-cams/1326

 The pair caught everyone out by laying there 1st egg on March 14th, more or less 2 weeks early, as of yesterday (Wednesday 21st) they had laid 4 eggs.

Falcon at another site, going by Charring X, already incubating?

The same Falcon

Another Falcon, 1st egg  is usualy around the 28th.