The St James Peregrines 2022 – Another successful year!

For the 8th consecutive year, the resident pair of peregrines falcons have nested on the tower walkway of St James Church, Louth. We installed the nest tray on 3 February along with two cameras giving views of the north and east walkways. There’s no internet connection in the church, so when the cameras were first set up in 2021, a pair of antennae were placed on the south walkway and the wall of our house opposite, establishing a wi-fi bridge, with the camera images being beamed to a recording device and monitor in a spare room of our house. This was funded by the LBC, and installation was by Wildlife Windows, who continue to provide support.

Within a few days, courtship was seen to take place on the nest tray and on 13 March, the camera caught the pair mating. Such intimate moments including the first egg being laid and the chicks hatching were a joy to watch.

Four eggs were produced between 26 March and 2 April, with the chicks emerging between the 4th and 6th May. The timings closely followed those of previous years, so we were able to predict their arrival. The adults provided 7-8 feeds per day – mostly starling and some feral pigeon, although the remains of a ringed black-tailed godwit was also recovered.

All four juveniles successfully fledged between 14th and 21st June, although a couple are returning to the nest tray to sleep during the day or to roost at night. Louth has now seen 16 healthy juveniles fledge.

The live-streaming was switched off on 17th June, but the cameras continue to record activity on the tower walkway and anything of interest will be uploaded to the websites.

Geoff Mullett 23 June 2022 -Photograph courtesy of Steve Plant.

3rd June 2022

Noisy feeding time away from the nest tray.

31st May 2022

Three wet chicks after a downpour....

29th May 2022

The juveniles have left the nest tray, almost 2 weeks earlier than previous years

27th May 2022

Close call for the camera

26th May 2022

The chick's were ringed today (all four are females)

21st May 2022

All quite in the nest tray today... (after the 5th feed)!

16th May 2022

Less than 2 weeks old and already quite lively!

10th May 2022

One of eight feeds from yesterday (9th May)

7th May 2022

Afternoon feed - (9 minute video)

5th May 2022

Peregrine birth and first feed. St James, Louth May 2022

And, the third chick today at 13.50hrs.

4th May 2022

The long wait is over... the first glimpse of one of two chicks hatched within 30 minutes of each other from 16.20 today..

And, a short video

3rd April 2022

Changeover time...

2nd April 2022

Fourth egg arrives

30th March 2022

Third egg in the snow!

28th March 2022

2nd egg at 09.15am this morning

26th March 2022

First egg of 2022

23rd March 2022

Brave.....

20th March 2022

Live images now available at https://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/site/index.php/information/lbc-articlebloglist/638-peregrine-project-2

13th March 2022

Mating. Watch carefully at the bottom right of the screen. The female is on a gargoyle and the male flies in.

9th March 2022

Male bringing in Woodcock? 2.25pm

5th March 2022

Brief encounter. 06.40 this morning. First visit for a couple of days….

16th Feb 2022

More courtship from the nest tray today including nest-scraping activity at 03.20 on the video below;

11th Feb 2022

The camera are up and running and the first visit to the nest tray was recorded on 11th Feb...

6th Feb 2022

The nest tray was put back on the walkway on 2nd February 2022. We are monitoring the local feed, but there will be no live feed until things start to happen!