No change at our eyrie today, the birds continued to take turns incubating. I was beginning to think we may have had another egg as our pair were constantly sat on the eggs all morning. Come the afternoon and early evening, however and there were long gaps again where neither of our peregrines were on the nest. The higher intensity of incubation this morning was likely to increase the temperature of the eggs after a cool clear night.

The tiercel and the falcon seemed to be doing their own hunting today, apart from when the male brought a starling to the plucking post. He then flew off down the gorge with the prey, chased by the female. I am not sure what the outcome was of this, but she returned back to the nest just a couple of minutes later. It seems that for once he may have managed to keep all his food from her!

As is common with most peregrine eyries, our nests gets direct sunlight in the morning as it is east facing. This means that after the cold of the night the eggs (and chicks when they hatch) can gain heat in the morning sun. It also means that at the hottest time of the day the developing falcons do not get too hot. Usually this wouldn’t be a problem in march, but today you could really feel the heat at the falls of clyde!

Tom Wells – Peregrine Protection Officer