New Web Cam

I must admit I am quite excited about this one, it’s in a purpose made nest box I designed around 4 years ago which the peregrines took to pretty quickly.
At the moment I am not hooked up but will be shortly but yesterday the owners of the Web Cam very kindly sent me through some photos as a taster. The camera has infra red and is wide angle, it shows the proposed scrape, the main entrance and also the access point to a large roof for the juveniles.
The video stills that were kindly sent are excellent, they show the Falcon in various poses completely unfazed by the camera, no doubt a star in the making.

This access point leads them out onto a 25 metre square roof and gives them the room to learn to fly and strengthen wing muscles, what is quite amusing as well is that I know the adults use it as well. As you know exercise and wing strength can be the difference between success and failure on that first flight so the roof is a god send.

This is one of the older pairs that I watch, the Tiercel is from Chichester Cathedral and carries a black leg ring, he was ringed on May 30th 2002 and was first noted at this site in 2003, this year marks him as a 12 year old Tiercel.

www.chichesterperegrines.co.uk


I have been covering this site since 1999, the early days when there were not so many about, as building‘s go they don’t come more peregrine friendly than this, it is not far off of being the perfect site. This is the foster juvenile site, Wingy from last year and before him, Stumpy with the dodgy leg, I often wonder if all made it and where they are now.
Nature can be very harsh, of them all I suspect that Stumpy would have had a hard job surviving, the milder winter this year would have undoubtedly helped Wingy and there was no reason that the Foster shouldn’t have made it. As I may have mentioned before, her release and acceptance gave me a lot of satisfaction.

Getting back to the camera, another reason I am looking forward to it is that I know this pair hunt at night, and make a habit of it on clear nights,with the Infra Red I hope to be able to identify prey as I expect much will be bought to the nest box all being well.

Also , again all being well, I can now know when the 1st egg comes, how many, hatching, when to ring and so on, it makes life a lot easier and provides so much entertainment, will keep you posted.

Flooded Site

Well I was wrong about the depth of water, 4 inches, more like 8 unfortunately, it went over the top of the nest tray and judging by the ply, some visual flaking, it’s been that way for a good few months.
This site last year produced 3 juveniles, one of which was the ‘foster’ female who came down, I placed her with another brood and she was accepted by her new brothers and sisters, and more importantly by both adults. That reintroduction gave me a lot of pleasure and satisfaction I must say.

In regard to the nest site no one could have known, the camera has been off line now for a number of months and in hind sight seeing the tray afterwards on my little digital camera, which the Abseiliers took down there with them, I would have changed the tray and the substrate.
The CCTV covers the balcony ledge so I could see the water and the flooding but I could not see the Tray so I was guessing at the depth of water and did not know if it had gone over the Tray.

Flooded out with the nest tray just about viewable in the right hand corner.

But no matter it gives them a chance and I can do that next year, I do however have to say a big thank you to the Management Company and Sonya of the structure and also Industrial Abseiling, both stepped up and acted very quickly.
The flooding has happened 3 times in the past, although it has to be said nothing as extreme as this, mind you we have never had weather like this have we, consequently I made the decision a good few years back to put the nest tray on bricks.

The flooding is down to the drainage outlet being tiny, it blocks easy so by lifting the tray and placing it against the diagonal shelf, my thinking has always been for juveniles when they go for a walk, the angled shelf allows them in and out when there big enough. The design of the balcony, split level, means that all the pigeon guano accumulates up top, as soon as a strong wind comes along down it goes towards the drain hole. There are quite a few on the building even with the Peregrines present.

If I left the tray sitting down at the level of the drain there is a risk of flooding which has happened on 2 occasions in the past 10 years albeit the earlier years, on both occasions’ eggs were chilled and failure occurred. Although a good nest site otherwise, especially exercise space for the juveniles, it is a very inaccessible nest site and can only be reached by Abseiliers.

The chaps from Industrial Abseiling

The question is now, knowing that pairs are already on territory and I have not seen either bird here for 2 weeks now, have they already found themselves another nest site for the year being this close to egg laying?
I am watching the CCTV night and day now hoping that they will return, one good thing about this strong wind is that it has dried everything out quickly, it might be too late but you never know with peregrines as they never do anything straightforward.

My thinking is also that even if they have settled for another site pre egg laying, and I know which building it may be, at some time or other one or both birds will visit here, seeing it clear I think would hopefully bring them back being more imprinted on them.

Sifting through the prey afterwards that had been cleared showed yet another Woodcock, a wing again and also an Arctic Tern, the smaller bill standing out as was the complete redness, these were on the upper level. The Arctic Tern was only the 3rd I have recorded in London.

Flooded Out

 

As mentioned in earlier posts, most London pairs are now on territory, or at least the ones that I monitor are with most having already fashioned scrapes and totally bonded to their respective sites, if they ever left.
There is one site, the one that suffered and failed due to the Pirate Radio a few year back, that I have been checking recently and have only seen the Tiercel, and even then only briefly as he never stayed long.
At the time I thought it slightly odd behaviour as in the past, he usually hops down to the nest tray, sometimes I can hear him unseen chirruping away to himself most definitely inspecting the nest tray and getting all excited with Spring approaching.

He is not staying and I was wondering why, until Thursday when the CCTV camera which is focused on the nest site came back on line. Unfortunately the small balcony has flooded, the drain is blocked and 4 or more inches of water have filled it up over the nest tray.
As it stands they have no chance of successfully breeding so with the co operation of the management, at very short notice and Industrial Abseiling again, also at very short notice an Abseiler is going down to unblock the drain on Tuesday with myself present.

I have to say a massive thanks to both these Companies, I wish I could name the Company who manage the structure but it is a very sensitive site that not only I monitor, but also a Metropolitan Police Wildlife Officer keeps an eye on it also.

As I have said before in an ideal world I could name sites, it would make it 10 times easier for me to write this blog, and probably easier for people who read this blog to connect with if they knew the site and where it was located…one day hopefully.
As it is I have to be very careful what I say, where I reference it to and make sure photos don’t show land marks etc..., such is the world we live in with Raptor Persecution sadly.

I have not seen the Tiercel for this site now for a week, or the Falcon for that matter, my worry is now, due to the flooding are they off looking for pastures new and a new nest site and will not return?

Will they check again - with 4-6 weeks left for egg laying I am counting on it, watch this space.

Ready for another year

Blimey it comes round so quick, in the last week or so with all boxes now done and dusted, I have had at least 4 pairs copulating, with a laying date last year around March 10th, here we are again with barely 5 weeks possibly to the 1st egg.
They all came under licence on February 1st and this will now remain under licence until mid July, sometimes longer, much depends on the laying date and obviously successful breeding.
Since the clean outs I have had time to check all the Boxes/Trays and very satisfying to see one or more birds re- entering their respective nest sites since the clean ups.

Below are some photos which Nathalie kindly sent me showing the Balcony and Nest Box at Charring X,although it took them a little while to go back in as you can see its looking good.

Pair copulating on a lot drier Balcony

One thing which I did notice from the photos is that the Balcony appears to be drying out (see Charring X Nest Box January 27th) whether or not this is down to less rain, which I simply can’t believe, or the drain modifications I don’t know. I am hoping that it is the adjustments the chaps from Industrial Abseiling did have cured the standing water problem.

 All photos are copyright of Nathalie Mahieu, thanks for there use.

Charring X Nest Box

January 27th

As many of you know this is a publicised site that until recently was covered by Simon King with HD video, it gave some stunning footage and also gave Nathalie and myself the opportunity to study the birds at any time of day, Nathalie more so as she put in a lot more hours watching them.

Sadly Simon has opted not to continue and coverage is no more although there may well be something in the pipeline with the Hospital, we will see.

The Hospital have done marvels in accommodating the pair of peregrines, sometimes in difficult circumstance it has to be said, especially considering the threats that the Hospital faces for the future.

This was to be the last clean up and we had enlisted the help again of Industrial Abseiling, www.industrialabseiling.com  they did a stellar job last time and so it proved again.

One of the big problems with the balcony is that the falls are wrong to the drain, consequently any rainfall, and we have had record wet stuff, means that the balcony constantly holds standing water sometimes up to  an inch deep. The nest box is at one end and the drain at the other, theoretically it should run down to the drain, it does not, it stays. As you can imagine this does not do the base of the nest box any good, the bottom is slowly rotting away, if my memory serves it is now 4 years old, being constantly under water means that it rarely has a chance to dry out in the winter.

The lads getting ready to go down

Water everywhere

Drain at the end, unfortunately it just sits as you can see

Grass!

2 years ago I lifted it slightly to try and give it a chance, the trouble being is that I can’t go too high as the juveniles, who are pretty active from 10 days old, may well go out and not be able to get back in again, it’s a compromise.

My main worry has always been the dampness transferring through the base of the box, through the substrate and chilling the eggs from underneath, I am hoping that this may have been rectified to a certain extent by the chaps from I A modifying the drain slightly.

Prior to the clean up, the box front ledge  looked like it had sprouted a forest of grass, as Nathalie mentioned this was very likely due to prey, a pigeons split crop, the  spilled seed then germinates and takes hold.

Ready made scrape

Cleaned and swept

I have to say the 2 lads from I A did a great job as you can see from the photos, next year though a new box may well be needed.

Cleaning the Scaffold Nest Box

January 25th


This was always going to be the hard one, I remember putting it in last year and thinking at the time due to the angle and weight, this is going to be a cow son getting it out again for cleaning.

I had enlisted the help of my good mates Paul Hawkins and Martin Blow to provide a bit of muscle, Martin also bought Jamie his son along, he became the official photographer, at 13 he’s already bigger than me, he naturally became director of operations.
First plan of action was to rope it through the eyelets to make sure secure all the time and then remove all the scaffold clips. No less than 20 clips holding the box down in position so a little time consuming before the box was eventually ready to lift out.

The all important exercise ledge showing the cut out of the nest box to allow access for juveniles.

Where the box gets it name from.

On arrival this morning at 8.00am we had noted the Falcon was already in the box, most likely roosted in there, shortly later the Tiercel flew by so both birds already on territory which was good to see.

With all the clips removed we then hauled the box out and over the parapet wall, a bit of a job, it took 3 of us to do it, it’s a dead weight and full of substrate.

Surprisingly like the others this was pretty clean as well, the storms and the constant rain appeared to have done the job of washing it out naturally but nonetheless, it was cleaned, scraped and fresh substrate placed inside.
Putting it back was definitely harder, you’re trying to keep the box on a level to stop the substrate sliding and lower it down, in the end we slid it over at an angle and I managed to go down on the ledge and level the substrate off with a harness on.

Cleaning out

Fresh Substrate

Paul, yours truly and Martin.

All in all it worked well and quite amusing to occasionally get checked out by the Tiercel overhead but for the most part, they both sat and watched on another structure about 200 metres away.

Thanks to Paul, Martin and Jamie, it would have been impossible to do it on my own, fingers crossed for another good year!

Monday 27th sees my last nest box to be cleared out, this is the one at Charring X Hospital, hopefully the weather will hold as Sunday is not looking too good.

Another Clean Up

January 17th



This box is the home of ‘wingy’ the 1st winter juvenile that was present and still interacting with the adults as recently as December, is he still with them, it appears not as he wasn’t there at dawn.

Saying that he possibly could have roosted elsewhere but on Decembers form he was pretty tied to the site.
In regard to the nest box and the replacing of the substrate, like the others, this is the 4th box/tray this week; this was again pretty clean as boxes go. Much of this is down to the horrendous storms and gale force winds we have been having, all of the boxes so far have been cleared by the wind of feathers, pellets and prey. Two of these boxes, including today’s box face west due to limited positioning, not ideal, the norm being east through to north but in these cases the structure dictates the position. Nonetheless they have both been successful for the last 4 years despite our predominately west – south westerly winds.

Purpose built nest box now 4 years old and starting to look tatty

Scrape again made

Entrance and access to roof for juveniles, very important for building wing strength

As with the other 3 this week, this Falcon has already made a scrape in preparation for egg laying, with the milder weather at the moment and London’s warmer temperatures I suspect early laying may again be likely for 2014.This I think will become the norm for the future with the usual laying dates of March 28th – April 2nd becoming irrelevant in London as pairs lay earlier in the month of March, last year showed this with a Falcon incubating on March 10th with the Charring X birds not far behind.
This year I have 2 under CCTV so will be able to get precise dates hopefully.

Cleaning out

Roof access hole

New Substrate - new scrape

Entrance

It could be that for the 2015 breeding season I may well consider clearing them out earlier, say December if the early laying becomes regular, all adults this week have reacted in the usual way, no hostility, a brief circuit to have a look and see what you are up to, they then retire to a comfortable distance away to watch you.

Getting checked out - bad light

The remaining Boxes/Trays will be cleaned next week before the licensing period begins again on February 1st, it comes round so fast, it makes you realise what a big commitment every pair makes to breeding with the time involved.