Peregrine Diary

See live images from the peregrine site at Falls of Clyde!

Please note that sometimes in the early mornings and evenings, a mist rises from the River Clyde, which gushes through the gorge below the eyrie. This causes the visibility to become poor - it is not the camera, or a problem with the internet, it is a natural occurrance.

2nd July 2010

We are very pleased to announce that the final chick has now fledged! She was not present on the eyrie when we opened up the site this morning and was not hiding in the vegetation to the right of the nest site, where she has been spending a lot of time. Viewing of the overnight recording confirmed that she took the plunge at 6.37am. This is really excellent news as it means that the decision to foster three chicks this year has paid off and has been totally successful. We still need to confirm that the smaller Falls of Clyde chick that was relocated to another nest site has fledged, but at last check he was doing fine so we have every hope that the 2010 season will have seen 5 new peregrine chicks boost the Scottish population. The fledglings are still all to be seen near the eyrie, but we would expect them to start spending less time here now that the final chick has fledged, as the adults will start to feed them away from the eyrie and encourage them to learn to hunt for themselves. They should spend about another month with the adults and then have to leave and find territories of their own. We will keep the peregrine site open until Thursday 8th July, to give the final fledgling time to get used to flying and landing accurately, and then will reopen the lower paths and shut down the site for another year.

1st July 2010

The final female chick is still to fledge. We have been waiting with baited breath but she seems reluctant to follow her siblings, and still spends much of her day asleep on the eyrie. The three fledglings are all doing well. We haven't seen much of one of the females, but the other female and the male are all spending a lot of time around the site, flying on and off the eyrie whenever the final chick gets fed by one of the adults. We've had some wonderful views the last few days, with both chicks landing on the oak tree branch just outside the peregrine shed, literally metres away. After a few dodgy flights they now seem much more comfortable in the air and are landing much more gracefully than on initial attempts! We hope to see the final female go in the next couple of days, and would expect the adults to stop feeding her in an attempt to encourage her to take the leap.

28th June 2010

Three chicks have now fledged! The first female went during the night yesterday, and overnight recording showed it to have happened at 5.37am. There was no big build up to the event with lots of wing exercising beforehand, she merely just hopped off as if she'd done it a million times before! The second female fledged this morning at approximately 11.30am, although we didn't see her leave. After fledging on Friday evening, the male chick was not seen all day Saturday, so we were starting to get a little worried, however he appeared yesterday and has since been on and off the eyrie, coming in to join the remaining chicks whenever they get fed. This morning one of the fledged female chicks landed on the oak tree right in front of the peregrine shed, a mere few metres from the telescopes! She remained there for about 2 hours before building up the confidence to fly again, giving us an amazing up-close view. There is now only one chick left to fly, but we don't expect her to go for another couple of days, as she seems to be a little bit behind the others in terms of development. She also spends a lot of time sleeping and not showing much interest in exercsing her wings. It may be that the adults stop feeding her on the eyrie and start leaving prey on nearby branches to encourage her to leave the nest. This is now probably the best time of the season for viewing the peregrines, with a flurry of activity throughout the day with fledglings landing on and off the eyrie and surrounding ledges, so we would encourage you all to come and visit for the last time this season before they leave us for good to find new territories of their own!

26th June 2010

Last night, at 19.30, the young male peregrine fledged! This male juvenile is the original Falls of Clyde chick so it was a momentous occasion! The three females are still preening and wing-stretching in preparation for their first flight. Watchers of the webcam will notice that one of the females spends a great deal of time dozing in the shade. We have been observing her closely to make sure the lack of energy is nothing to be concerned about and as she is feeding regularly, all would appear to be well. The webcam has been focussed to give a wider angle to cover the whole eyrie. This is to give a better view should any of the three remaining juveniles take their first flight.

25th June 2010

We are now getting very close to fledging. All 4 chicks have lost nearly all their downy feathers and are spending a lot of time exercising their wings. One of the females has now joined the adenturous male in climbing up on the rock under the vegetation. The tiercel is now depositing all his prey items (always juvenile starlings) on the eyrie, which get fought over by the chicks, with one usually running off with it and covering it with his or her wings, a behaviour known as mantling. However the falcon still feeds all the eyasses, and was observed yesterday giving a lot more to the least developed chick than the others. Last year's chick fledged on the 28th, and we look to be on course to see a similar date this year, so this weekend should be a great time to come and visit! We expect the male chick to go first and the 3 females to follow over the next few days.

17th June 2010

The chicks are now very active. There is a clear difference in stage of development between the 4 of them, with our original male being the most developed. He now has juvenile plumage over most of his body, with downy feathers only left on his legs. One of the females is at a similar stage of development, and the other two look to be 2 or 3 days behind them. The falcon is now spending very little time on the nest, and doing most of the hunting, regularly bringing back pigeons. We had a first this week, with the tiercel bringing back a juvenile starling and just leaving it on the nest ledge for the chicks, rather than actually feeding it to them. This morning 3 of the chicks have been climbing up onto the big rock behind the dog rose bush, the first time we have seen them do that this year. All chicks still look very healthy, and if all continues to go well we would expect to see the first chick (most likely to be the male) fledge in about 10 days time.

11th June 2010

All 4 chicks are still doing very well. The juvenile feathers are now very pronounced on their wings and tails and are starting to poke through on their bodies as well. It is now possible to distinguish the male eyass from the females facially, as his face is more angular and his beak more hooked. All the chicks are starting to flap their wings and one in particular is very adventurous, regularly waddling along the ledge to explore. The falcon moved the nest site again this morning, probably as the old one is now splattered with faeces! The chicks are now further to the left, in front of last year's site. The falcon is now spending less and less time on the nest and is helping the tiercel with hunting duties. Although the tiercel is still bringing back juvenile starlings as the main source of prey, the falcon's bigger size means that she is able to catch bigger birds, and so has brought back 3 pigeons over the last week. These sustain the eyasses for longer which means that the pressure on the male to hunt so frequently is reduced. We are now entering the period when it is best to see the chicks, as over the next week or so they will become increasingly energetic, moving along the nest ledge and exercising their wings more and more frequently and vigorously. They have also started preening themselves and can be heard vocalising quite loudly.

7th June 2010

We are pleased to announce that the chicks were sucecssfully ringed on Saturday afternoon. All the chicks now have a standard BTO ring on one leg, and a PIT tag on the other. We were also able to determine the gender of the eyasses, and can report that the 3 foster chicks are all female, and the original Falls of Clyde chick is a male. The smaller Falls of Clyde chick that was moved to another site was also male, and is doing fine in his new nest. The current male is significantly smaller than his foster siblings (it is at about this age that the size difference between males and females starts to become noticeable) and has also has much brighter yellow feet. All 4 are still doing well and are starting to flap their wings a little and bob their heads in the manner that the adults do before they take flight. The falcon is now leaving the chicks alone for up to an hour, and helping the male with hunting duties.

4th June 2010

Everything has been going well at the peregrine site over the last week. After initial concerns that the falcons' own chick wasn't getting as much food as the 3 introduced eyasses, all 4 are now faring well and getting regular feeds. Starlings are the preferred choice of prey at the moment, with 37 having been brought in since the season began, and most of these over the last 2 weeks! The chicks are all growing very fast, with a change in size able to be observed almost daily. Their wing and tail feathers are just starting to emerge, and all 4 are moving along the ledge and so are clear for all to see! This last week was quite an important time after the introduction of the 3 foster chicks, so the fact that all 4 are strong and healthy makes us very optimistic that we will see 4 fledge in about 3 weeks time!

29th May 2010

We are pleased to announce that we now, very unexpectedly, have 4 chicks!! The last week has been very hectic up at the site, as we have been planning for the arrival of 3 chicks that needed re-homing. Due to our 24-hour watch we were able to offer a secure nest site for the chicks, so were very pleased to welcome them to our eyrie yesterday! Wildlife professionals abseiled down the cliff yesterday morning, and placed the 3 new eyasses in the eyrie and removed our smallest chick. Although the chick has survived until now, due to the size difference between him and his older sibling, he was struggling to get enough food, so the decision was made to re-locate him to another nest site where he would be with eyasses of his own age, thereby giving him a much better chance of survival. The new chicks seem to have settled in fine, although the parents suddenly have their workload doubled! Placing new chicks on a nest is a tried and tested method of raising orphaned peregrine falcons, with the adult birds automatically treating the orphans as their own. Both adults were very busy yesterday, feeding the new arrivals at least once an hour, so we have every hope that the 4 chicks will make it through the season and fledge in about 6 weeks time. We will keep you posted!

24th May 2010

WE HAVE ANOTHER CHICK!! After being sure it was now too late for another egg to hatch, we were proved wrong when a second eyass hatched yesterday morning! Even more surprising was that it was the pale egg, which we thought was probably infertile. We now have a very unusual situation, whereby there is a 6 day age gap between the chicks. The most there has been in past years has been 3 days. As such, there is a very noticable size difference between the eyasses. This is a worry, as the older chick is obviously much stronger, and so likely to get more food than its sibling. However the adults are both very experienced parents, so we have our fingers crossed that the little one will make it. We were extremely happy this morning to see that it was still alive, as in the last feed of the day yesterday it had not managed to get any food, with the older chick taking all of it. However this morning it was quite lively and managed to get a few mouthfuls. The next couple of days will be crucial, and we will be anxiously keeping watch at feed times in the hope that it is able to get enough food and become stronger. We will keep you posted!

22nd May 2010

It now appears that we are only going to have one hatchling again this year. One egg is still visible, but is a lot paler than it should be (the eggs are normally a deep red/brown colour), so is likely to be infertile. We haven't caught sight of the third egg again, so assume that it is either infertile or has perhaps hatched but the chick died, in which case the falcon would likely have eaten it. However, given the late hatching date, we are very happy to have even one chick!! The tiercel has been very busy, bringing back a regular supply of starlings which the falcon has been feeding to the eyass, approximately every three hours. The falcon herself has not been doing much hunting, as she has been on the nest, protecting the chick most of the time. However she managed to catch a mallard a few days ago, something that has only been recorded here twice before. The chick's eyes are now open, and we hope to see it grow stronger over the next week and start to show a little more movement.

17th May 2010

THE FIRST EYASS HAS HATCHED!! There was great excitement at 11.43 this morning when we discovered that the first peregrine chick had finally hatched! The falcon had been very restless, frequently turning around on the nest and turning the eggs, and then about half an hour later we caught sight of a fluffy white chick! The tiercel has been away hunting for the last couple of hours, so we hope to see the eyass getting its first feed very soon. He had already brought a feral pigeon back for the falcon earlier this morning, and 2 starlings yesterday, and his workload will now increase with growing eyasses to feed! We hope the other 2 or 3 eggs will hatch over the next couple of days.

15th May 2010

No chicks yet! However both adults are still incubating the eggs and turning them regularly, and as last year's eyass was also late in hatching, we are not too worried yet. We have not seen either the tiercel or the falcon bring back any prey over the last week, but as they frequently return with blood on their talons we know they are hunting successfully. Fingers crossed that we see a hatchling within the next few days!

9th May 2010

There are still no chicks unfortunately. However we had some excitement yesterday afternoon when 3 peregrines were spotted circling overhead! The tiercel was away at the time, and the falcon on the eyrie incubating the eggs, but as the intruders didn't vocalise at all, the falcon appeared not to notice them. The newcomers didn't stay around long, but dived and swooped overhead a little before continuing on downstream. The tiercel had a busy afternoon yesterday, coming back with both a pigeon and another, already plucked prey item.

6th May 2010

The eggs have not hatched yet. We have been expecting the first one to hatch since the weekend, but are not too worried as hatching was two weeks late last year, and we have had some very cold spells. The falcon has been spending most of each day on the nest, only allowing the tiercel to incubate for one or two hours per day. Over the last week we have not seen any prey items brought back to the gorge - evidently the peregrines have been choosing to 'eat out'! We hope to see the first eyass hatch over the next few days.

1st May 2010

At about 7pm last night another peregrine was spotted near to the eyrie. The intruder circled overhead for about 20 minutes and caused both adults to become distressed and aggravated. First the falcon left the eyrie and chased the intruder around, swooping at it in a tree and only just missing it. She then returned to the nest, although was still calling loudly. The tiercel then chased it, eventually forcing it out of the gorge and pursuing it downstream.

29th April 2010

Excitement is buildling here at the peregrine site as we are getting very close to hatching time! Over the last 10 days or so the falcon (female) has been spending increasing lengths of time on the eyrie, frequently preventing the tiercel (male) from taking over incubation. If the eggs hatch on time we should see the first eyass hatch at some point this weekend! In addition to the peregrines, we have a pair of ravens nesting just up the gorge. The chicks have been growing very fast and look as if they are about to fledge any day now.

18th April 2010

There was great excitement this past week as a second egg was observed for the first time! Of course we hope there are three or four, but are certainly glad to have seen more than one. On several occasions over the last few days the tiercel has flown to the nest ledge and tried to take over incubation, but the falcon has been reluctant to leave the eggs and so he has flown away again, although he then tends to stay close by and try again a little bit later. Both birds are coming back with prey items, generally early in the morning and mid-evening, when the temperatures are a little cooler. In the past week the prey has been mainly fieldfares, with a couple of starlings and a woodpigeon brought back as well.

11 April 2010

The weather has finally warmed up a little, so the peregrines have been less active in the last couple of days. Saturday was especially hot, and the falcon (female) was observed standing and shading the eggs with her wings for the first time this season. This morning the falcon arrived with a starling, which she proceded to eat on the oak tree opposite the watch site. The tiercel has been spending quite long periods away from the site, although pair bonding is still occurring, with mating still being observed once or twice a day. Both birds are frequently seen picking at leaves around the nest site, and eating grit, which helps to sharpen their beaks and aids digestion.

8 April 2010

Operation Peregrine 2010 has now commenced! Due to a few technical difficulties we haven't been able to start the diary until today but we will be here from now on and are happy to say that the peregrines are back and appear to be sitting on eggs! Both peregrines had been spending increasing time around the gorge from about mid February, exhibiting pair bonding behaviour and selecting a nest site. They finally settled on the same ledge as last year, but have scraped the nest in a slightly different spot. It's hard to know when exactly the first egg was laid, but from March 22nd both birds started taking turns to sit on the nest and sitting on it for prolonged periods, indicating that they had laid an egg and were starting incubation. We have caught a glimpse of an egg on a couple of occasions, but only briefly when the falcon or tiercel turns the eggs. We hope there is a full clutch of 4 eggs, but won't know for sure until they hatch, which should be around the first week of May. The webcam is up and running, and gives a good view of the adults sitting on the nest, so feel free to view this, and please check back for regular updates from the site!