In reply to Dave - CH:
In reply to ellis187:
In reply to Seaman:
You're kidding Pete. Some of you lot know more about birds in your sleep than I will ever know.
I'm like Ellis. A bloke with bins. Only I bought the bins a few years before Ellis bought his. And I was very fortunate to have advice and, above all, patience and encouragement from certain posters (those no longer on here, seymouraves, Tony, yourself, and pretty much every one of the knowledgeable, patient, helpful lady Community members (why are all the women on here so nice?)) when I first posted on here.
This spring has, though, involved many, many hours of observations, of our local breeders, the odd interloper, returned offspring from previous years, and other sites (we spent a few days at sites farther afield, for an acquaintance who is off down south vulture watching).
Based on observations, we were invited (a few years ago) to be members of the regional monitoring group (three species, Peregrines being one of them). And this year we've tried to contribute a bit more. Do what we can, you know?
Still trying to get to the bottom of some of the things we've seen. Maybe I should write to Ed? :-)
I wish "your" falcons the best of luck. I find it very sad when they fail, having arrived with so much promise and so full of life. Fingers crossed.
It's a funny thing to spend half a day watching a nest, always hoping that the male comes back with prey. And then you think, well, I'm hoping that he kills something. The Peregrine falcon approach to Action Philosophy. ;-)
All the best -
Dave
I am a follower of Peregrines here in UK Dave & we are so lucky be inundated with very many successful Peregrine nests on our cathedrals, churches, highrise buildings & cliffs! Many of these have live streaming cameras fitted so that we can follow progress each season, some even broadcast all year round! Currently able to watch many chicks progress to fledging plus postings of vids & pics on Twitter every day! Also watchpoints set up by some sites with bins & spotting scopes available for folk to watch live action!
Must increase chances of birdwatchers spotting one flying anywhere in our skies? I think Ellis's pic is a Peregrine!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
In reply to WendyBartter:
Morning Wendy; nice to hear from you. Didn't know you were a Peregrine follower.
Yes, I've kind of become aware of that pretty much from the various dedicated threads in this Community. To be honest with you, I've almost never looked at the webcam footage because (i) my work involves enough screen time already, and (ii) I know that I'd just sit and watch it until I developed malnutrition and Mrs. CH would have to scrape me off the chair with a spatula and drive me to A+E.
I agree though that great work is being done. Here, we're a little more... secretive about it all. Although I do know of a local site with fixed bins available.
Last year, we were up north of here and came across two previously unrecorded nesting pairs, which was a find. I talked to a young lad who was staying in the same farm (the birds were active close to the farm) as us, and gave him a few Peregrine facts, just to get him curious. Who knows, one day he might be a Peregrine follower too. I hope so.
Re Ellis's pics and film, I would describe the flight action as stiff, and the single, strong, almost mechanical beats would, in my experience, rule out some other smaller falcons. The beats appear, to me (old eyes, I know), to come from the shoulder, which all---in my limited experience---say Peregrine to me.
Spotting scopes available for folk to watch? Where I come from, they'd be gone overnight. ;-)
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Pete, I agree. And it can even be... "carelessness".
Here, cliffs are closed to climbers when nests are IDed.
This year, I chatted with a young couple who had just climbed a closed cliff, their route almost certainly taking them right through the occupied nest.
To commence the climb, they attached their kit to the first fixing point, to which is padlocked a foot-long plaque that tells them, in two languages, the dangers to the birds and the fact that they, in theory, risk a fine of around £16k if they ignore the restriction.
But basically, this couple just didn't care.
Sad, I think.
Our leisure trumping the birds' survival.
My co-rant over.