This time of year is a bit crazy for the Ranger team here at the Falls of Clyde. That’s partly because the team currently consists of one (that would be me) but next week there will be four of us! This has involved what seems like endless interviewing to get the most suitable people! This year we will have a Seasonal Ranger, Assistant Seasonal Ranger (Community Jobs Scotland) and Assistant Peregrine Ranger (voluntary internship). Whilst we have been recruiting this new team we have also had all hands on deck getting the Peregrine Watch Site set up for our launch event on the 21^st March.

Although I haven’t seen the peregrines recently, I am not too concerned, as they tend to disappear at this time of year. I like to think they are on holiday, having a break before all the real work begins. Many of you who have followed the story of our peregrines will know that we sent our unhatched egg away to be tested. I finally managed to get the results a couple of weeks ago and sadly they were rather inconclusive. Our female peregrine is perfectly healthy (we wondered if her diet of (primarily) feral pigeons might have led to her taking in some dodgy chemicals) and the egg was infertile. Peregrines tend to lay 3-4 eggs and normally the first one will be infertile. It is quite common for this to happen and as we only had one egg we cannot confirm whether our birds are fertile or not. So, the good news is that if our peregrines manage to lay more than one egg this year, we may get chicks!

If you would like to volunteer at the peregrine watch site please email me at fallsofclyde@scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk.

Laura Preston – Scottish Wildlife Trust, Falls of Clyde Ranger
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