Peregrine chicks

[David Morison]

Went back today to the site I spotted 4 weeks ago and there are four chicks which are now quite big, a good record and I think they will now all fledge:



I like the two littl'uns peering over the rock



Taken with E-M5 and Canon 400mm f5.6 plus Kenko 1.4x from the roadside around 200 metres away.

David

[IainMacD]

Re: Peregrine chicks

Wow! Great shots David. 4 chicks seems a lot?

[Tordan58]

Re: Peregrine chicks

Very fine pictures. I suppose the site location is a well preserved secret.

[David M]

Re: Peregrine chicks

4.young was the typical number for the nest I was involved in protecting in the 90's. A BTO ringer came and ringed them shortly before they fledged each year.

[tomphotofx]

Re: Peregrine chicks

Well spotted you have a great setup for pulling in the subject.

Tom

[David Morison]

Re: Peregrine chicks

4.young was the typical number for the nest I was involved in protecting in the 90's. A BTO ringer came and ringed them shortly before they fledged each year.

I was asked to look into the possibility of abseiling down to the nest by a Natural England licensed ringer friend of mine (I'm a fully qualified climbing instructor) but I judged that the cliff top was too vegetated and loose and would involve considerable risk to both myself and the birds.

David

[David Morison]

Re: Peregrine chicks

Very fine pictures. I suppose the site location is a well preserved secret.

Not sure how many people know but I have never mentioned it to anyone other than Bird Club members who already knew. Never seen anybody else near there.

David

[Jim Ford]

Re: Peregrine chicks

You can watch a live camera feed of a peregrine nest site on the building of Notts. Uni. here:

http://www.ntu.ac.uk/ecoweb/biodiversity/falcons/index.html

There are other web cam sites, but the Notts. one is one of the best.

Jim

[David M]

Re: Peregrine chicks

We had someone climb down and put the chicks in bags so they could be rung on the top of the cliff.

We also had a BBC film crew there one year who set up a remote camera at the nest site so they could film for a TV show.

[Imageryone]

Re: Peregrine chicks

Not sure how many people know but I have never mentioned it to anyone other than Bird Club members who already knew. Never seen anybody else near there.

David

Good to know, too many untrustworthy people about, following your thread with great pleasue.

[Tordan58]

Re: Peregrine chicks

Not sure how many people know but I have never mentioned it to anyone other than Bird Club members who already knew. Never seen anybody else near there.

David

Hi David,
Good to hear. Sadly, disclosing Peregrine falcon nests may end up like this.
(Google translate will produce a reasonably accurate translation).

Later on a lab in the US confirmed the Peregrine Falcons were poisoned with Carbuforan.

[David M]

Re: Peregrine chicks

We set up a 24/7 watch after the nest failed 2 (or 3) successive years. We didn't know if it was egg collectors, falconers, pigeon racers or gamekeepers.

After the watch started an egg collector was caught scouting the site and was 'warned off' but there was also a lot of harassment of birders by gamekeepers. We were liasing with the local plod but when I was doing the midnight shift one year I let it be known I wouldn't call the police until the person had 'fallen' over the cliff.