The Lincolnshire Bird Club

I called in for an hour or so today to chat with the RSPB volunteers manning the RSPB Marquee and Viewpoint on the East Green by the Tennyson Statue -......including Mike Tweedie and Eddie Chandler. There is a live webcam.

The nest is in the East Tower again this year. The first egg was laid on 21st March and the falcon is now sitting on 3 eggs.....possibly 4 (still to be confirmed).

For full details see :

http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/1 ... -cathedral

Freddy

I called in again today (Sat) at the Lincoln Cathedral Peregrine RSPB watchpoint with volunteers there including John and Kathy Farmer, Eddie Chandler and Colin Goulding. Due to the respective positions of the camera and the nesting-tray plus the poor ambient daylight quality in the Tower, the Marquee webcam does not provide pictures of anywhere near the quality of the St. Wulfram's webcam screen/on-line pictures or of the NTU webcam on-line pictures.....and it's still not possible to know for certain whether there are 3 or 4 eggs in the nest. At least, one could tell today that no chicks have arrived as yet.....late when compared to Grantham and Nottingham.
The 1st egg was laid on 21st March. 3 or 4 eggs would be laid over, say, 7 days. Incubation usually starts with the 3rd egg and the incubation period is about 30-33 days......so what is going on ?

Freddy
PS. I spent another couple of hours this afternoon (Sun 13 May) at the Lincoln RSPB Marquee/ Viewpoint. Since 10th May there has been a Lincoln Peregrine webcam on line at the above-quoted website (21 April).....on which one can see the rather poor quality of the picture.

It has now been confirmed that there are 4 eggs. In conversation with RSPB volunteer and birds of prey maestro, Dave Satterthwaite, he said that there is still a small, outside chance of the eggs still hatching even though they are now a good 10 days 'late' but........?? Some bird action occurred on the live webcam when a changeover took place.

I was luckier with sightings today (through the RSPB 'scope) - one view of the tiercel perched on the N side of the Cathedral and one of the falcon feeding on a food stash nearby; she also dived at a Jackdaw but it 'got away'.

Freddy

Only "Heaven knows" how the Lincoln Peregrines tolerate the absolute 'din' (if I can put it that way), that characterises the Lincoln Cathedral immediate area on occasions. The Cathedral has 20 Bells : there are 13 in the SW Tower, 2 in the NW Tower and 5 in the Central (E) Tower including the Cathedral's largest Bell, Great Tom of Lincoln. In addition, there is a loud, booming quarter-hour striking Clock, installed in the early 19th century.

The Peregrines' nest area is high up in the Central Tower, very close to the 'din' and just below Great Tom of Lincoln. Recently, in addition to double-clicking on the live webcam picture to achieve full-screen facility, I've been adding the available auditory experience. When the clock chimes, say, midday, even on a low volume, it's all ear-splitting. I accidentally had the volume at a higher level yesterday and when the Clock struck, I almost fell off my chair and the dog shot up about 2 feet in the air.

The sound of normal breathing is c.10 decibels, a washing machine at full pelt is c.70 and heavy traffic is 80-90 decibels. Prolonged exposure above 85 decibels will damage human hearing. I would reckon that the Peregrines half way up the Central Tower must be exposed occasionally to 100+ decibels....and yet they choose to nest there. I wonder where deaf, old Peregrines go to live out their final years ?

Falcons have 'keener' hearing than us.......and may God have mercy on their ear-holes.

Freddy
PS. Another 2 days have passed since my Sunday report and the falcon is still sitting on those 4 eggs !

I read somewhere on the BTO website that birds can regrow the hairs in their ears which are damaged by loud noise. So presumably any deafness is temporary.

Humans do not have this facility, as many of can testify!

Rob

I guess a minor miracle would be required for the Lincoln eggs to hatch now....

Although I guess they are in the most appropriate place for that to happen....

Andrew

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

You are right, Andrew.

It really is tragic.....the falcon is still sitting tight on her 4 eggs this evening (Wed) at :

http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/1 ... -cathedral

General info :...double click on the screen for a full-screen picture and there is also an audio facility....but beware of the VERY LOUD quarter-hour striking clock !!!

'Normally', the eggs should have hatched about 2 weeks ago now.

Freddy

Guy's.

Not birds of prey by any stretch!! but think out of the box.

I have seen my first Lapwing chicks today about 3 weeks late, Curlew still trying to get something going - 2 clutches with only 1 egg a piece and one with 2, Grey partridge not seen for 6wks or so.

We have 9 Curlew around the airfield this year and we normally average 4 eggs per nest, not a lot of pairing with the adults seen, I am seeing more singles with the attitude to lay but not pairs. I am wondering with the variabilities we have had in the weather in recent weeks that the birds know something more than we do9climate change) and are adjusting to those variables and we are not? I saw my first Yellow wagtail on the airfield on monday this week(about a fortnight late) and still have steady numbers of Wheatears going through - 20ish on a first count of the day but a steady movement northwards throughout the day in groups, roughly 90/10 split M to f.

I am wondering, what the professionals (plus us amateurs), who are out in the field all the time have observed, have they noticed any major changes or variations in the species they see every year(as regular as clockwork doing there best) on the patch. In fledged young(if any), abandoned eggs with nest and adults still around or just gave up trying!! or just other reasons??

So far this has been a strange year!, I normally find my first Spotted Flycatchers of the year just after the airshow at Waddo and they are my normal barometer on the "wild world" around the airfield but will be having a look for the next couple of nights.

So what is the considered and "observed" verdict so far???

All the best

Brian.

Ps. Moderators move this to where you will but please let the thread grow.

Brian,
Your interesting post concentrates on the variability of the seasons from year to year.....and there are indeed variables and variables. However, thinking inside the box again, there are also invariables and invariables....and I always thought that one invariable was the bracket incubation period for Peregrine eggs : some 30-35 days, with the falcon starting incubation from the 3rd egg usually.

The 1st Lincoln Peregrine egg (so we are emphatically told by the RSPB supervising staff) was laid on 21st March : the clutch of 4 eggs would have invariably been laid , say, by 31st March if not a day or so earlier. April with its 30 days and now May with another 17 days to date, brings us up to a minimum of 47 days ( and possibly a figure of 50 if we include a few days from the end part of March).... well outside the (understood) invariable bracket of the 30-35 days incubation period. 'Locally', the Nottingham, Grantham and Derby urban Peregrines have all adhered to the invariable incubation pattern this year and the chicks have hatched accordingly :

1. Nottingham :1st egg laid 14th March ; 1st chick hatched 21st April

2. Grantham...:1st egg laid 27th March ; 1st chick hatched 6th May

3. Derby........:1st egg laid 29th March ; 1st chick hatched 5th May

4. Lincoln.......:1st egg laid 21st March ;......????

The apparent 57 day period since the laying of the 1st egg in Lincoln (and today on the live webcam I could only see eggs underneath when the falcon stood up and moved position) is the problem, hence the recent 'prayers' for the Lincoln birds...... and as Andrew has said, a miracle would be needed for the eggs to hatch now.

One final point......when I recently questioned (again) the date of laying of the first egg, the supervising RSPB staff at the Lincoln Cathedral Peregrine Watchpoint insisted that it was 21st March. I couldn't establish the 100% accuracy of this date....how it was verified and who established it. The live webcam on East Green did not begin publicly until 20th April when the nest came under regular, closer scrutiny and 3 ("possibly 4") eggs were seen in the nest by many observers on that date. The live webcam on line did not begin until 10th May.

The only 'miracle' left is that the 21st March date for the 1st egg could have been a human error and that, for whatever reason, the 1st egg wasn't laid until well into April. So as "to put us out of our misery", does any LBC member know the (verifying) circumstances of the 21st March date ?

Freddy

Amid the good news/welcome success of the 'local' urban Peregrines in Grantham (3 healthy chicks), Nottingham (1 healthy and 'wandering' chick) and Derby (4 healthy chicks), spare a thought for the Lincoln birds. The incubation period is c.30-33 days; the Lincoln falcon has now been 'incubating' her 4 eggs for well over double that period.....some 70 days now....she is still there - sat like Patience on a monument, (smiling)/staring at grief : when will she give up ?

It's interesting to note that the Derby team have received a c.£50,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help run and develop the Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project over the next 3 years......see blog at

http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com

Freddy

It looks as if the Lincoln Cathedral Peregrine has finally given up 'incubating'. She was there on the eggs on Monday (11th June) but was absent yesterday (12th); and today it looks as if the camera is turned off.

She had sat on the 4 eggs for some 77 days......the usual incubation period being 30-33 days.

Freddy