Catching food

Christopher Robin seems to be rather good at catching prey.

Here are a couple of videos of him landing on the nesting platform with something in his talons. In the first one, he is definitely not sharing and he flies away. In the second, he lets Bella have it.

Camera 3

Camera 3 can provide some nice close ups. Here is CR chatting to Bella (mostly just out of shot)

(There is no sound)

Floodlit landing

Camera 2 watching CR and then Bella landing on the nesting tray.

(There is still no sound on this camera)

Note that the camera has been pushed sideways by a pigeon. This has now been corrected.

Breakfast

CR bringing a starling for breakfast, which Bella takes off him and proceeds to eat.

An hour or so later, after Bella had eaten and left, CR briefly landed with a half eaten meal of his own. Perhaps he made sure Bella had eaten first, allowing him to have his own breakfast undisturbed.

(This is the first time I have seen prey being eaten in front of the camera.)

scraping

Both birds are still around, especially early in the morning and late at night. The rest of the day, the pigeons are the usual occupants of the nesting tray.

This video shows Bella and then Christopher Robin making a scrape in the gravel, and then unusually, CR scraping while Bella watches.

If only they had exhibited this behaviour a few months ago, we might have seen them feeding their chicks by now!

Playing?

CR seems to be having fun with this stone.

(I've no idea what the background noise which sounds like Morse Code is. It doesn't seem to be there when the camera is in its low light, B&W, mode.)

A close up of Bella

Bella investigating the camera....

Quackers!

There has been very little activity on the tower over the last week or more, until the last few days.

One highlight was the visit of a female Anas platyrhynchos

There has been a bit more peregrine activity recently with both birds on the tray several times, chatting to each other, and occasionally scraping at the gravel.

Unfortunately, they are too late to breed again, so we will have to cross our fingers for next year.

Antiques Roadshow

Sadly, no peregrines at all on the nesting tray over the last few days.

 

There was plenty of activity down below, since the BBC were recording the Antiques Roadshow!

A clever pigeon?

Seen on the Abbey tower today.

Do pigeons know that peregrines take prey on the wing?

Bella's Breakfast

Camera 3 caught CR with some early morning prey for Bella.

(there is no sound from camera 3 at the moment)

Mobbing

No eggs yet, so they've probably left it too late again.

The camera has seen quite a bit of peregrine activity, including this interesting video.

You can see that Bella is being mobbed by another bird. It all happens too fast to see what kind would be bold enough to do this.

Hasty retreat.

A pigeon makes a hasty retreat as CR lands on the nesting tray with some prey (a starling). Bella then lands, and CR lets her have it, possibly to prove his capability of providing food.

It's quite unusual for the camera to see any prey on the nesting tray. If they do successfully breed, then this will be commonplace, but they are leaving it a bit late again...

Scraping activity

Both birds have been seen making a scrape on the nesting tray.

Here is CR scraping

A close up of Bella.

A pair of peregrines!

It looks like something might be happening at last!

Don't count your chicks though....!

CR and Bella together

Recently I installed Camera 3, a miniature camera which is positioned much closer to the corner of the nesting tray. This has proved useful already as we had a visit from Christopher Robin.

"CR" is clearly visible on his leg.

As you can see at the end of this clip, he was followed onto the nesting tray by the female Bella. CR didn't hang around though, as you can see from camera 1 (complete with audio).

Let's hope they haven't left it too late in the season to breed again.

Christopher Robin (aka CR) fledged from Christchurch Cheltenham in 2010 and has been a regular visitor to the Abbey tower over the last few years. Bella is unringed.

Feathers flying

Apologies for the lack of updates recently. The problem is that there has been precious little going on. The cameras have only recorded pigeon visits to the nesting tray. All rather disappointing after all that has happened over the last few years.

I have had reports of a pair of peregrines being seen over the Tewkesbury Nature Reserve recently, and there have been lots of prey remains around the Abbey churchyard. A woodcock carcass was a recent finding, showing that the peregrines hunt at night with the assistance of the artificial lights in the town.

It wasn't until today that I caught a glimpse of one of the birds.

 

I think this is Bella eating her prey in the water chute on the east side of the tower, sending feathers flying in the breeze.

Apparently it's not too late in the season yet, so fingers crossed.

Blink and you will miss it!

CR made another very brief visit to the nesting tray.

If there is going to be any breeding this year, then it should have been well under way by now.

Maybe next year?

Mind you, there is still one peregrine, the female Bella, who is often seen on the tower. She is often on the east side of the tower just above the nesting tray. At night she seems to prefer roosting on the top of the buttresses on the west side of the tower.

Fleeting glimpses

The camera caught a brief glimpse of the male the other day.

It was rather too fleeting to be able to be clearly read the letters on the ring, but I am pretty sure it is CR.

(in case you are new to this story, then CR, aka Christopher Robin, fledged from Christchurch Cheltenham in 2010)

Another brief visit from CR, this time from camera 2...

Looking promising

After many months, the video camera on the nesting tray has finally seen some promising peregrine action!

Both birds briefly visited the tray on Saturday, first the female and then the male, squawking excitedly to each other.

It's not easy to read the ring on the male, but it could well be CR (aka Christopher Robin). After a few seconds, Bella seems to chase him off though...
(If you can't see the video, it is also available here)

Camera 2 wasn't much help in reading the ring...

I will see if I can move it to a more useful position.

Disappointingly quiet

It really is disappointingly quiet at the moment.

One bird is definitely around, and I think it might be the female, Bella.

 

Here she is on her usual night time perch on the north side of the tower, lit up by the floodlights.

I am just wondering if there is going to be any breeding this year after all.

Christopher Robin - where are you?

Bella is often seen on the Abbey tower, however CR has been somewhat elusive.

Even Bella is looking out for him.

Don't forget that National Nest Box week runs from 14th - 21st February.  Here is a suitable picture taken on September 6th last year to mark the occasion.

Exciting news!

Our birds are back!

Dave Pearce saw them putting on a spectacular courtship display today!

 They were observed flying and stooping around the tower and over the ham for several minutes.

 

Eventually the female came to land on the tower calling to the male.

Here she is flying off again. Note the lack of a ring, so this has got to be Bella.

Thanks to Dave for this exciting news!

A waiting game

Apologies for the lack of updates recently.

The reason is that there has been nothing to report. I've not seen any peregrines, and neither have the video cameras.

Everything is in place for them. The nesting tray has been serviced with new gravel, and there are plenty of pigeons to eat....

 

The Kestrel is back.

The new camera 1 not only has a higher resolution, but it has a better night-time performance.

The Kestrel who visited a few weeks ago has been back. It looks like a female or a young bird during its first winter. (Thanks to Dave Pearce)