Last night when the camera was changed Dad was in charge. Here is a picture of him looking very worried and wondering what he is supposed to do as he flew round and round the spire. Once the camera was fixed in place (done very efficiently by Carnyx) Mum came in as though nothing had happened and took over on the eggs.
A very worried Dad
This evening a new camera has been installed on the nest turret. This was done by Carnyx and the RSPB under license from English Nature. We stood below and could not believe our luck as Mum left the nest leaving Dad to sit on the eggs just before the camera was due to be installed. Dad left the nest giving little resistance to the invasion of the nest turret. Mum returned soon after the camera was installed and took up position on the eggs none the wiser. All is well and the camera works!
Later on we will post a picture of Dad in flight taken with my new lens!!!
Just had a phone call from Lauren at the RSPB – they have done all they can to see if they can get the camera working again but it looks like the wet weather has really got to it. Carnyx have been asked to come and see if they can do anything but the outcome doesn’t look good. If Carnyx can’t fix it then there will be no pictures until the chicks are ringed as we cannot disturb the birds before then. At that point hopefully a new camera can be put in place.
In the meantime we will bring you any news we can. Our new male is not very fond of herring gulls and when one ventures too close he likes to see them off.
We are very sorry to report that the camera is not working again. The RSPB have tried to get it to work without success so we think we have to wait for Carnyx to have a look but are not very hopeful that it will be fixed very quickly.
On a lighter note Lauren at the RSPB has promised to keep us informed of events at the cathedral but, of course, they cannot tell us what is going on in the nest – so it will only be activity away from the nest which we can report on.
We have 4 eggs and are hopeful that all 4 will hatch in due course as the birds are not expected to sit on the eggs until all 4 have been laid. We understand that there was a long time between laying of the first and second egg but are not sure whether this means the first one will not be viable.
Good luck to our Mum and Dad and we hope to see the nest again before the eggs hatch.
We are back in the Uk and will be in Chichester today. We will be finding out from the RSPB why the camera is not working and hopefully it will be rectified quickly. It could be the heavy rain yesterday which caused the problem.
The fourth egg was laid this morning, great news for us and the new female. Also a intruding juvenile female has been about the cathedral the last two days, even landing on the building at one point.
The third egg was laid during the night, it was first spotted at 5am. Below shows a picture of all three.
The female with all three eggs.
The second egg was laid around 7pm this evening. Please look at our website for the webcam.
We still only have one egg lets hope we have another one by tomorrow morning .Normally one is laid every 24/48 hours until a full clutch of 4 and then the incubation can begin .So here’s to a little success tonight.
