Early Birds

March


Well 2 pairs have again laid early as I write this, this year Charring X were first over the weekend followed by last year’s early layers confirmed today.
With the mild winter I am expecting other pairs to follow suit and it would not surprise me if one or two other pairs have laid by the weekend.

A couple from the Archives - juvenile peregrine practicing

As you may know from previous posts I am now watching 2 sites on CCTV, one is for added security being a bit of a delicate site, this is the flooded site and will be known as that hereafter, makes things easier.
The 2nd site, both unfortunately can’t be named, (in an ideal world) will be known as New Cam Site, the title is obviously the giveaway and has only been up and running for not that long.

Flooded Site
Flooded site camera covers the whole of the ledge where they breed but unfortunately I cannot see the nest tray, although it is great for seeing arriving adults or as per last year, 3 juveniles. As you can imagine I am 2nd guessing them most of the time but at the moment I am sure they have not laid. At one point I did not think they were going to come back, I was checking that camera a lot and only got occasional snatches of the Tiercel coming or going, I thought they had another site. I even found them on their 2nd site but for the last week or so they have been back on territory I am glad to say.

New Cam Site
This is an internal nest cam placed on the roof of the box and gives the images which the other cam does not, very similar to Charring X ,in short I have the best of both worlds. This pair, possibly due to their location seemingly hunt more at night, a private site, I have watched them in the dark slipping away. Recently having 2 cameras to play with I have been checking both in the nocturnal hours and can confirm that they are slipping away.

Its early days yet, only just got online, all being well I expect it to happen more as the juveniles grow but you can get a rough idea from below by the times they are slipping away.


Flooded Site
March 8th – Tiercel at roost on ledge 8.40pm – checked occasionally through to 12.05am still present – checked again at 1.30am – gone. Sky clear, wind very light - little reason to move / hunting?

March 9th – Tiercel present at 5.20am onwards – crop full.


New Cam Site
March 8th – As above Tiercel roosting inside the nest box and present at 8.40pm – checked again at 1.35am – Tiercel gone – weather as above and both sites within 6 miles of each other – coincidence that both Tiercel's gone at the same time?

March 9th – Tiercel present – crop not that full at 6.14am

March 9th/10th – Tiercel roosting in box, checked at 22.16pm and 23.46pm still present. Checked again at 1.09am – gone, still gone at 2.21am but back at 7.18am the following morning, crop half full.

As I said it is early days but both Tiercel's leaving around the same time is perhaps too much of a coincidence especially as it was a clear night.
It is easy to jump to conclusions and there could well be other factors coming into play but must admit it is very interesting finding out, as long as I can keep getting up to check in the early hours, the wife says I am nuts, she has a point.


Injured Tiercel

Below are some photos of an adult Tiercel, unfortunately it has been injured and sustained a damaged right wing, the good thing is that it is not broken.
Hopefully it will make a full recovery although the wound looks quite nasty.
Sue is looking after it at

www.southessexwildlife.org

If you remember she did a marvellous job last year of caring for the 3 juvenile peregrines which I later released, one of which was the fostered bird. The Hospital does a brilliant job of looking after, caring, nursing back to health injured wildlife, it is a charity so if you ever want to help, feel free to donate as it is a great cause.
The Hospital is also under threat from a new crossing and has a petition up and running, they need your signature so please click on the link above if you would like to help, thanks.