Hi there Peregrine watchers! Happy Monday to you all.
Let’s start off the week with a nice photo of TRF showing a rare glimpse of his leg ring. It’s much harder to catch sight of it on the webcams this year compared to last. Regular watchers will have noticed how his appearance has changed subtley since the 2023 breeding season and his winter moult has shed any last vestiges of his juvenile plumage. It would appear that his latest set of feathers cover his legs much more than was the case previously and the colour ring stays out of sight much of the time. Fortunately, this year’s plumage also seems to have provided us with a handy white spot on his crown which helps us to continue to be able to identify him quickly on camera.
Anyway on to the main event: Tucked away underneath the warming body of an adult bird the four eggs are nearing the end of their incubation. Inside each should hopefully be and almost fully formed chick. Our Peregrine eggs generally take around 31 or 32 days to hatch, when measuring from the date the clutch was completed. This would make the likely hatch date to be Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Exciting!
However, this is not set in stone. We’ve had years in recent times where eggs have taken 33 days and even 36 days before the 1st hatching, these were years where there was either some disturbance around the site or a bit of cold snap. Hopefully not significant coinsiderations this year.*
Occasionally UK Peregrine eggs elsewhere have been recorded to hatch after a shorter incubation of 29/30 days, if we take this into account and add in the observations mentioned in our previous blog [this clutch has been well incubated since Egg 2 was laid] it’s probably worth watching the webcams very closely from now onwards. One way or another we should see some activity this week.
Lookout for the adult birds shuffling about when the eggs are underneath them or watch for them staring at, or listening to, the clutch, particularly on a changeover. Once the birds appear a bit more interested in the eggs rather than nibbling at gravel (!) it’s worth assuming that they sense something may be about to happen.
With typical bad luck, I myself will be out of town and away from a computer on Wednesday and Thursday when the first egg is anticpated to hatch so more than ever we need you all to keep watching the webcams! Please share any notable sightings with the Sheffield peregrines Twitter account or the SBSG Facebook page.
*Disclaimer: While the excitement surrounding the hatching is palpable, it’s essential to remember that the natural process may not adhere precisely to our predicted schedule!
Sheffield Peregrines 