Well ok maybe it wasn’t the whole day – but certainly this afternoon she was relaxing and sunning herself whilst Dad was in charge of the eggs! a few stretching exercises, inspection of the talons and a quick wash and brush up before a fly around and then everything is back to normal and she is moaning at him to go get supper. I wonder how long it will be before his famous ready-meals appear on the menu again.
Until Sunday things had been very relaxed in the nest turret, but when the weekend’s nestcam footage was reviewed an amazing episode came to light.The female Chichester bird had been panting in the hot sun whilst brooding. She suddenly began bristling the feathers on her back and spread her tail feathers, pressing them down onto the pebbles in the nestbox. This continued for several minutes until a male bird appeared in shot, standing around a foot from the female, as she remained on the eggs.Within seconds, she dragged herself into a standing position, feathers bristling as she made herself as large and intimidating as possible. The male bird is glimpsed moving away to the other side of the turret. She then rapidly moves to confront him whilst apparently shielding her eggs, and then seems to swipe at out-of-shot the male with a wing tip. He then burst across the front of the camera in a dark blur as he evidently decided to escape before getting hurt!
It seems the birds have been struggling with the sudden heatwave. For the first couple of days they were sitting on the north side of the cathedral in the shade, although yesterday I did see dad preening in the sun after mum took over incubation duty from him. I’ve just been watching the live footage, and mum is panting hard while sitting on the eggs in the sun, obviously very hot. I think they’ll be pleased when the temperature drops a bit.
Great news – the webcam connection has been fixed and is now working nicely. Even more exciting is that the camera’s faulty night-vision has been sorted-out. It was a matter of changing to a more powerful battery and no approach to the nest turret was made.
We can now watch the birds at night for what is thought to be the first time!
Having reported last night that it is now available, I notice this morning it is not working. Sorry about this, the fault unfortunately is with the connection to the server. Let you know as soon as I can that it is fixed.
The live webcam is now available via a link on the home page of www.chichesterperegrines.co.uk. Please note it is only available between 7 am and 7 pm (don’t ask!). The live picture is really good quality. Well done Carnyx and the RSPB.
There was consternation amongst the bird life around Chichester Cathedral this morning as a large raptor flew past the building. This time it wasn’t a Red kite or Common buzzard causing the fuss, but an Osprey, right over the middle of the City. The local gulls began the chase, followed swiftly by both Peregrines as the migrant bird passed. The falcons and gulls soon returned to their normal activities as the Osprey flew off in a northerly direction.
I am sorry to say that the planned link with the webcam is still not available, however we are able to see some of the short clips of action on the nest thanks to the generosity of the RSPB and Pete H in particular. The video clips will be available from the Video Gallery page.Here is a picture of the eggs left unattended for 10 minutes. This is not unusual and not a cause for concern.
Here is the first picture taken from the camera on the nest.More in the March gallery of this website.Hopefully the camera will be live on the web soon – will keep you updated.
