大象传媒

Update: Wednesday 17th June 2009

Sad news for the peregrine family - one of the female chicks has died. She was found dead after an accident near the city centre.

Nick Moyes from Derby Museum, who is part of the peregrine project, said the young bird flew into a glass barrier around the roof of Rivermead House, a block of flats and one of Derby's tallest buildings.

Update: Tuesday 5th May

It's four out of four! Derby cathedral is now home to four new peregrine chicks after all the eggs hatched successfully.

Update: Thursday 30th April 2009

It appears we have two new additions to the Derbyshire peregrine family!

The first egg is thought to have hatched on Wednesday evening - with a second hatching taking place overnight.

Both chicks have been seen to be fed by the mother and followers have been posting images of the chicks on the photo-sharing website, Flickr.

Update: Thursday 16th April 2009

Derby's peregrines have produced four eggs again this year - and it's a relatively quiet time for them now is the pair take it in turns to incubate the clutch. Apart from keeping the eggs warm and safe and keeping themselves fed, there's little left for the adults to do for the next couple of weeks.

The first egg of 2009 is revealed

It is expected that the eggs will be hatched by the end of April - and then the busy job of feeding the young gets underway in earnest.

Nick Moyes from Derby Museum, who's closely involved with the peregrine project, said: "There's a lot going on but it's quiet. It's when they hatch and when the parents start feeding the developing young that we'll see most of the activity.

"The standard size for a clutch is three-to-four eggs - it takes about a month to incubate them... and then all hell breaks loose as we all come to watch the day-to-day changes as these tiny, white, fluffy chicks grow and develop!"

Update: Tuesday 24th March 2009

Fans of the peregrine webcams were glued to their computers through Monday as signs grew stronger the female peregrine was about to lay her first egg of the year.

In the morning, many were convinced she was about to lay but after standing in the scrape for more than an hour, she moved away to reveal no egg.

But that night, the female returned to the scrape and it looked like she might be about to lay. Then at 2127, she finally moved away to reveal a brand new egg.

It's the fourth consecutive year the peregrines have laid eggs at the cathedral and you can follow live webcams and find out more using the links on the right.

Fans of the birds are now hoping more eggs will appear over the coming weeks - then of course we've got the hatching babies to look forward to.

In brief:

The Peregrine Falcons first nested on Derby Cathedral in 2006. They raised three chicks in that first year, with two more following in 2007. In 2008 four chicks hatched - but it's thought only three survived.

Now, each year, thousands watch their progress via the internet and visit the cathedral in the hope of catching a glimpse of the new family.

The nesting platform is about half way down the tower and the falcons regularly take local, wild birds for food.

They have a magnificent view from the top of the tower - enabling them to see prey all over the city centre.

It's known that peregrines have roosted and hunted from the tower over the centuries until, in the mid-1900s, their numbers suddenly declined.

The pesticide DDT was found to be the cause of the problem as its use resulted in a thinning and subsequent cracking of their egg shells.

The pesticide was banned and the birds' numbers began to increase again as they became a protected species.