Sunday 18 August 2019

A brief visit

Bella made a brief visit to the nesting tray, but another peregrine was nearby as you can hear in the background of this video clip. Whether this was CR or Matilda, it's not possible to tell.


Apart from this, there has not been any peregrines seen by the camera for weeks.

The nesting tray itself was originally put up (temporarily) in 2012 in order to manage the single bird (CR) who was regularly seen on the Abbey tower. The idea was that if he ever attracted a mate, then this was the place they might choose to lay eggs. If they had chosen the tower roof, then this would mean that it would be legally out of bounds for 3 months or so. We now know that the tray was successful and that two chicks have successfully fledged.

However, the tray is now showing signs of deterioration, and needs replacing this winter. Plans are being put together to make a new tray which will be better constructed and slightly larger. As our birds get more experienced at breeding, they are likely to produce more eggs, maybe up to four. If four eggs do hatch and they are all females then the old tray is going to be far too small!

This new tray is going to cost a few hundred pounds, and although some funds have already been promised, we will shortly have to pass the (virtual) cap around.

So please watch this space for ways to contribute to the continuation of the story of Tewkesbury Abbey's Peregrines. It's amazing what crowd funding can achieve!