The peregrines are three weeks into incubation now as the last egg was laid on the 31st March and all seems well at the eyrie. They are taking turns to incubate with a typical stint being 3 hours. The falcon did a record six and a half hours last week. Pretty impressive, she must have very good patience. I know I couldn’t sit still for that long! When she is on the nest incubating she typically closes one eye and keeps the other open to watch out for predators such as a raven which might be looking for a chick as an easy meal.

The birds tend to turn the eggs throughout the day. They do this to keep an overall core temperature to the eggs and make sure they don’t get too cold on one side. The changeovers are also pretty quick, they don’t leave the eggs uncovered for more than about 10 seconds.

Tom – Species Protection Officer