2021

Exciting news! The Lincolnshire Bird Club have kindly agreed to sponsor a webcam to monitor the nest tray in 2021. The infra-red camera will be running for the 3 months of the breeding season and should capture all the nest acivity day and night.

17 January 2021

Our peregrines were seen flying together, calling to each other and performing tumbling displays, all part of pair-bonding and courtship.

21 January

A busy (and breezy) morning on the church tower walkway. Chris Marshall and I installed the nest tray and camera for the TV screen in t

30 January

A long 10-hour slog by the Wildlife Windows lads has given us our first webcam! This will supplement the video to the TV in the coffee shop. We have two cameras, a fixed focus one pointing along the east walkway (useful when the juveniles leave the nest) and a zoom camera aimed at the nest tray. There is also the ability to have a split screen, where both cameras are viewable.

We are still waiting to get the streaming up and running – there is a cost involved, but there is plenty of time, the birds didn't visit the nest tray until March last year.

Images below are photos of the two cameras, plus the split screen – all infra-red night views.

11 February

First visit to the nest by our birds. They spent 13 minutes there, creating a depression in the gravel. Watch the full video HERE

21 February

Another visit at 08.00 by the female, following visits on the 17th & 20th. Each time, the female enlarges the scrape.

22 February

Courtship – one of several visits from 06.35.

28 February

A visiting peregrine that landed on the spire this afternoon was chased off by our residents.

4 March

After a couple of quiet days, the pair were back on the nest tray this afternoon

7 March

Another (or perhaps the same) visiting peregrine was chased away from the spire by the female this morning.

8 March

Female visited the nest tray mid-morning, then the pair copulated on the spire crockets. Further brief visits this afternoon.

9 March

Four visit by the female today – one with the male.

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14 March

Another visit. There are now 3-4 visits each day, starting before dawn.

17 March

Another visit by the pair mid-afternoon. After the female departed, the male sat on the same spot for almost 2 hours.

20 March

More courtship display. See the 8-minute video on YouTube HERE. The vagrant peregrine was around the church mid-afternoon, seen off by the residents

24 March

The female slept for a couple of hours on the nest last night, and this morning the pair went through an extended courtship sequence, with over an hour on the nest from around 07.40. She then returned and spent 1 hour 20 mins on the nest from midday.

26 March

The female spent much of the time on the nest. The pair mated on the gargoyle in the afternoon and the male brought prey for the female.

27 March

First egg this afternoon at 16.15. She incubated until 19.03, then left. Expect the second in a couple of days. Keep watching and buy our book, or donate to the Lincs Bird Club who paid for the views you are now seeing!

28 March

The egg was left unattended for 4 hours this afternoon, with both birds returning at 18.40. I'm told this is normal behaviour. An egg remains viable for days provided it doesn't get warm from incubation, as it hasn't started to form. The female won't usually incubate until the penultimate egg has appeared, ensuring the eggs hatch within a day or two of each other. Until then, when she's on the nest, she isn't incubating as her 'brood patch' isn't in contact with the egg. She's just sitting over it for protection.

30 March

Second egg at 01.22

1 April

3rd egg arrived at 10.49

2 April

The male brings in prey

3 April

4th egg at 23.25

4 April

The female left the nest to join the male, chasing off a buzzard soaring over the church.

28 April

Bottoms up! The smart money is first egg to hatch on 6-7 May.

1 May

The male, 3 hours into his stint incubating the eggs, is alerted to the female's alarm call. Together, they chased off a visiting peregrine. Our female returned to the nest 5 minutes later.

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7 May

Our first chick appeared at 05.25. The second chick hatched at 10.50 and the third at 16.15. The female ate the shell to extract the calcium. She left for a 'comfort break' a few minutes later.

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First chick

Second chick

9 May

Our 4th chick appeared around 22.00 on the 8th. A compilation video of the chicks being fed is on YouTube. Nature in the raw, I'm afraid. Click the image to view the video.

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