June 2018

As there is now very little activity in the box, there will be no further updates unless something unusual happens.

10 June – Both chicks are asleep at the back of the box. They snuggle together until about 1:30 when there is a bout of preening. They are asleep again at 1:50. They are awake and alert at 4:15 and PCF ventures onto the platform. It returns to the box and there is flapping and wing stretching.  At 4:45 both chicks stand in front of the female and she flies off. They return to the box and continue with wing flapping. The male arrives with a Starling as prey and feeds both chicks. He flies off when the female arrives at 6:00 but without prey. She leaves soon after. The juveniles go into the corner of the box. At 7:00 they both sit on the platform looking out over the city. The male arrives with another Starling at 7:25 and feeds both chicks. He flies off with the prey when the female arrives at 7:35 again without food. The chicks call incessantly and she flies off again. The young go through another flapping frenzy before returning to corners of the box. They venture back onto the platform at 8:45. They move between the box and platform and continue with wing-stretching exercises. At 10:40 the juvenile lie on the platform in the sun. The female arrives with a wing from a pigeon at 11:10 and feeds it to the young. She leaves 5 minutes later. The juveniles lie down on the platform at 11:55. They become active again at 12:15, running around the box and wing flapping. They settle on the platform at 17:30 preening and looking out over the city. The male arrives with a Starling prey item at 18:30 and is followed by the female. He feeds both young and she flies off. A few minutes later she flies in and takes over from the male who flies off. The meal is finished at 18:40 and she flies off. The juveniles go into the box occasionally venturing onto the platform. There is another bout of flapping at 20:00 before returning to the box. They settle down when it starts to get dark at 21:30. The arrival of the female on the ledge at 22:05 stirs the juveniles and they run towards her, probably looking for food. She ushers them back into the box and they settle back down. She falls asleep at 22:40.

9 June – The female remained on the ledge throughout the night whilst the chicks lay in the corner. PCF was particularly restless, flapping and preening for most of the time. At 4:05, both young are awake and alert and started exercising in the box and on the platform. This wakes the female from her sleep. After 10 minutes, they go back into the box and spend the next 30 minutes preening. They are on the platform at 4:50 and calling to the female. P7D pecks at her feet and after a few moments she flies off. P7D goes into the box looking for a few scraps to eat whilst PCF stays on the platform. At 5:05, both young are wing stretching and flapping whilst running around. They settle down in the box 15 minutes later; PCF mainly preening and P7D wing stretching. At 6:05, even before the female had landed, PCF was running onto the platform. He could obviously see her from some distance. He was very vocal and loud! P7D joined after a few moments. The female flew off. The young walked around the platform until 6:15 when something caught their eye below the platform on Guildhall Lane. They walked right to the edge of the ledge and peered over. They then sat on the platform looking out over the city until the female returned at 6:30 – still without a meal. She went to the back of the box looking for scraps. PCF managed to find a small piece of prey and took it onto the platform where he was pursued by P7D. He protected it from his sister by mantling the prey, the first time I have seen either of the young do this. P7D is not happy and at 6:35 chases the female off the platform calling loudly as she does so. At 6:45, the male arrives with a Starling which is promptly taken by the arriving female. Even though PCF is standing in front of the female calling, she takes the prey into the back of the box and feeds P7D first and then PCF. By 6:55 it has all gone and the female leaves. After 30 minutes, in a role reversal, P7D goes to the back of the box whilst PCF stays on the platform. The male returns with another Starling at 7:45 and feeds both young. He leaves at 7:50 being replaced by the female 2 minutes later – again, without food. She is hounded by both young but sits tight on the ledge. At 8:10, another first! PCF joins his mother sitting on the ledge looking out. Not on the platform as before but the wooden edge of the platform. He is becoming more and more adventurous. Ten minutes later he is back on the platform in front of the female preening and stretching. Ay 8:35, he goes on another burst of wing flapping before settling back in the box. At 8:50, it is P7D’s turn to sit in front of the female but is ignored. At 10:00, both chicks are on the platform calling loudly. At 10:05, the male arrives with another Starling which the female takes from him and feeds both chicks. She flies off when it is finished at 10:15. The young do a couple of circuits of the platform before settling down in separate corners of the box. An hour later they are back on the platform looking out over the city. They remain there until 12:30 when PCF once again sits on the edge of the ledge whilst his sister goes into the box. They are both back on the platform at 12:45. The male arrives with something other than a Starling at 13:10 and is immediately joined by the female. However, he takes the prey into the box and starts feeding PCF before the female is able to relieve him of his catch. He feeds both chicks as the female watches on. After 10 minutes she loses patience and takes the food from him and feeds the chicks with larger pieces. The male makes a hasty retreat! It has all gone by 13:25 and the female leaves. They are both lying prostrate on the platform at 14:00 and remain so until 15:45 when they have a period of wing stretching and flapping followed by preening. They are quite active until 17:00 when they return to the box for 20 minutes and are then back on the platform. At 17:45 the female arrives with a Feral Pigeon which she feeds to both young. Just 10 minutes later, the male arrives with prey. The young concentrate on their mother as the male sits on the ledge – ignored. He starts to eat the meal himself but after 5 minutes P7D walks over to him having stopped being fed by the female. However, the male flies off taking his prey with him. The female finishes off the remnants of her food with the occasional interruption from P7D. She flies off at 18:10 leaving a small piece of prey behind. The young go into the box until 17:00 when they have a walkabout before settling down again. There follows a short session of mutual grooming, their new feathers obviously causing some irritation. They then huddle together in the corner until 20:25 when P7D is distracted by the piece of prey left by the female. She takes it for a walk around the platform eventually picking at it in the corner – she has learnt well. By 20:40, both young are in the box and look to be settled for the evening until the female arrives at 21:25 and enters the box. She picks up a few feathers en route and feeds them to the young. She then finds a small piece of prey and feeds it to them. At 21:30, she sits on the ledge and the chicks are settled again. The female is asleep by 22:05.

7 June – The female stood over the young sheltering them through the night until 3:00, when she went and sat on the ledge. She flew off at 4:25 whilst the young still laid at the back of the box. Just 5 minutes later, they were up and about, preening and walking around the box. They did lots of wing stretches and flapping, jumping and hopping around the box and on the platform before settling down again at 4:45. Both young went to the platform at 4:55 looking out. PCF found a bit of leftovers and took it back into the box whilst P7D stayed on the platform. PCF joined his sister at 5:25. P7D has lost almost all of her downy feathers, whilst PCF still has quite a few downy white ones hanging on. At 5:40, they both return to the box. The female returns at 6:00 and PCF immediately runs to her calling loudly. She checks on P7D before returning to the ledge. At 6:10, the male arrives with food and feeds the young, P7D first and then PCF whilst the female looks on. They are not satisfied and both young look for scraps in the stash areas. At 6:30, they are back in the box with the female on the ledge. The chicks are doing a lot of preening. The female flies off at 7:20 and 20 minutes later the young go onto the platform. Within moments, the female arrives with a large fresh Feral Pigeon which she plucks and feeds first to PCF. At 8:00, she flies off with the remains. The young flap about for 10 minutes before settling down. The female is back at 9:00 and the young rush towards her calling loudly. She looks for some scraps. She flies off to be replaced by the male – without food. He too leaves. For the next 20 minutes the young wing flap and jump around the box and platform, then settle in the box. Over the last couple of days they have become adept at standing on a wooden bar at the back of the box, in effect perching properly. Unfortunately, this sometimes means that they are out of sight of the cameras! At 9:40, they are back on the platform again, exercising. P7D is much more active than her sibling who spends much of the time lying prostrate on the platform. He is joined by his sister at 10:30. They remain like this for an hour before another 30 minutes of exercise. They are lying on the platform at 12:20. More running around flapping at 13:30 before resting in the back of the box. They are looking out from the platform at 14:00 and back in the box 25 minutes later spending most of their time preening. At 15:35, the female arrives with another large Feral Pigeon. P7D is fed first with PCF watching on and waiting his turn which does come. The female finishes what little is left 20 minutes later, whilst the young snooze in the box. She flies off at 16:05. The young lie on the platform huddled together. An hour later they are up and about preening and wing flapping settling before down on the platform again until the female arrives at 19:15, leaving a few minutes later. Lots more exercise until 19:50 when they go to the back of the box and settle down for the night in a huddle. The female arrives at 22:20 and sits on the ledge where she remains until midnight at least.

4 June – The female remans on the ledge all of the night with the chicks huddled together in the corner. She gets the occasional nap. The chicks start wing flapping and calling quietly at 4:10. P7D approaches the ledge but is persuaded to go back into the box by the female. The chicks spend the next 30 minutes preening whilst the female has a snooze. At 4:50, the female goes into the box to check the young are OK before returning to the ledge and preening. At 5:10, the chicks become more mobile and walk around the box and P7D stays on the ledge for a few minutes before returning to the box and huddling in the corner with her brother. The female leaves at 5:35. The male arrives with food at 6:20 and P7D runs up to him but before the is able to start feeding, the female arrives. She tries to take the prey from him but he flies off! The female returns to the ledge and P7D stands in front of her calling for a few minutes before returning to the box doing a few wing flaps en route. The male returns at 6:30 and both chicks plus the female run towards him! He flies off almost immediately but not before PCF has managed to take the prey from him. The chick runs to the back of the box with his bounty and refuses to give any to his sibling. The female flies off. P7D goes on to the ledge and looks out but soon returns to the box where she harasses her brother. He moves to a different corner and each time is followed. P7D pecks at her siblings tail and tries to sneak a piece of prey but PCF refuses to give in and after 5 minutes P7D gives up and goes onto the ledge and PCF finishes his meal in peace. P7D finds a morsel that was dropped and has to make do. Despite their disagreement on sharing, when both are finished they return to the corner and huddle together from the wind. At 7:15, they become active again and walk around the box and onto the ledge looking out but are back in the box after 30 minutes. The female arrives empty-handed 7:50 and both chicks run towards her. They sit next to her calling. She flies off 5 minutes later. The male arrives with prey at 8:25 followed quickly by the female who manages to relieve him of his catch. She feeds both chicks. They are finished within 10 minutes and go into the box. The male arrives at 8:40 without prey. The chicks run towards him but P7D realises he does not have any food and retreats back into the box. However, the male manages to find a few scraps and feeds them to PCF before flying off at 8:55. The chicks retreat to the back of the box until the male arrives at 9:50 with a Great Spotted Woodpecker. The female arrives immediately and takes the prey from him and feeds the chicks. It has gone by 10:05 and the female flies off. The chicks walk around the box and ledge and do a lot of wing flapping before settling down at the back of the box. They become active again at 12:00 and walk around stretching. The female arrives at 12:35 but without food. The chicks walk up to her calling. She enters the box looking for food, finds none and returns to the ledge. She flies off at 13:00. At 13:15, the male arrives with a Goldfinch. The female arrives but before she can take the prey, P7D snatches it from the male and runs into the box – obviously has learnt from her brother! She runs between corners quickly then tucks herself in. The female approaches but she runs past her with the prey to the ledge, the female turns and starts to walk to the ledge but P7D will not be moved and runs past her mother again and into the box. She will not give up her meal. The female leaves her and sits on the ledge with PCF calling. She flies off at 13:25.  At  13:30, P7D has fed enough and goes onto the ledge to join her sibling. They sit there looking out. Ten minutes later they return to the shelter of the box with the occasional foray and wing flapping session. They are back on the ledge at 14:55 where they lie prostrate out of the breeze until the female glides in on the wind with a pigeon at 15:15. They feed for 15 minutes then go to the back of the box and the female flies off with the remains. The chicks huddle together out of the wind until 15:55 when they become mobile for a few minutes before returning to the shelter of the box. The female is back at 16:40 and finds a few scraps lying around and feeds them to the chicks, leaving 5 minutes later. She returns at 17:40 but without food and searches the box. A few minutes later, the male arrives with a pigeon and the female takes it from him and feeds the chicks. When they have had their fill, the female finishes the rest then goes and sits on the ledge. She flies off at 18:15 and the chicks are settled in the corner. The male arrives at 18:40, looks around the box as the chicks call quietly and he leaves 10 minutes later. The female arrives at 20:20 and finds a few scraps to feed the chicks but leaves after 5 minutes. She is back at 21:45 and shelters the chicks and settles down for the night. She is sleeping by 22:20.

3 June – The chicks were huddled together during the night as the female sat on the ledge. It was a warm evening. She remained alert for most of the time with the occasional nap. She ventured in to see the chicks at 4:50 and was immediately greeted by P7D. She returned to the ledge and the chicks started wing flapping. P7D was the more active of the 2 young and ventured onto the ledge whilst PCF stayed in the box. The female flies off at 5:15 with the chicks huddled in the box. At 5:50, they become more active with P7D preening on the ledge whilst looking out. At 6:15, first the female and then the male arrive on the ledge both without prey. The male steps onto the ledge and is met by PCF. in a rather strange manoeuvre, he does not one but two 360 degree turns and walks past the chick into the box. He is quickly followed by the female who chases him out of the box and he sits on the ledge. In another strange action, the female makes three attempts at producing a scrape in the box. Possibly reinforcing the area where the chicks spend the night. The male flies off and the female returns to the ledge ensuring that both chicks are back in the box. They start wing flapping and P7D eventually makes her way to the ledge and is joined by PCF at 6:30. Both are mobile and very active but by 7:10 are lying prostrate on the ledge – the wind has increased. A new lease of life is found at 8:10 and the female leaves. A few minutes later the male arrives without found and sits on the ledge. both chicks approach him and are calling but PCF becomes disinterested realising there is nothing to eat. He flies off. By 8:40, both young are at the back of the box, spending the next 20 minutes wing flapping and preening. The female arrives at 9:20 without prey and sits on the ledge. The chicks run up to her calling. She continually picks up a feather and drops it, trying to get the chicks to do the same. P7D takes a feather from her and ‘plays’ with it, her brother trying to take it from her. This is obviously part of the education process from the female. The female flies off at 9:30 and is back by 9:40 but without any food. Again, she get them to pick up a large feather and ‘play’ with it. She returns to the ledge and the chicks preen and wing flap before the female flies off at 9:55. Five minutes later, the male arrives with the first meal of the day but before he has time to pluck it and feed the chicks, the female relieves him of it. it has gone within 10 minutes and she flies off. The chicks become dozy and by 10:30 are huddled at the back of the box where the remain until the arrival of the female at 11:15. They walk around looking for food but there is none. The male arrives at 11:40 and walks into the box. although he doesn’t have any food, he is followed by PCF until the female forces him out of the box again. He sits on the ledge. The female joins him for a few minutes before flying off. The male goes at 12:00 and the chicks lie prostrate until the arrival of the female at 12:30. She flies off at 13:55 watched by the chicks. They then become very mobil and do a lot of wing flapping until 14:20 when they settle on the ledge. The female is back at 15:10 leaving a few moments later replaced by the male, neither with food. He too flies off. The chicks continue to walk around and do wing flapping but keep calling to be fed. The male returns at 17:15 but still no food and leaves after a few moments. The chicks stand on the ledge looking out. Neither adult is back by 17:30 and they do their exercises until 18:30 when they lie prostrate on the ledge. The female arrives just a few seconds later but still without food and flies off. She is back at 19:05, still empty handed and goes off again. The male arrives with only the second meal of the day and is soon joined by the female. She relieves him of the prey and he sits on the ledge whilst she plucks and feeds his offering to the young. The male flies off and by 19:15, the food is gone and the female is on the ledge. The chicks have been left with a large piece of prey which they take to the back of the box and have a tug-of-war over, building their strength and feeding technique. The obvious winner is P7D. However, PCF does not give up and tries to steal a few pieces every now and then. At 19:25, the female intervenes and feeds both young. When it is finished, she returns to the ledge and the chicks huddle in the box. The male arrives with more food at 21:00 and the female takes it from him to feed the chicks. When it his finished, the female returns to the ledge, the chicks eventually settling down in the box for the evening. The female stays on the ledge as the chicks huddle in to the night.

2 June – The cameras came back on-line at 00:40 and the chicks are huddled together at the back of the box on their own until 3:05 when the female lands on the ledge where she remains, sleeping occasionally. At 5:20, P7D walks to the ledge calling to the female – doing a bit of wing flapping en route. She is followed by her brother a few minutes later. Twenty minutes later they are back in the corner having a preen every now and then. After 10 minutes they are back on the ledge calling. The female flies off at 6:05. At 6:30, the female arrives with a pigeon and feeds the chicks. After the chicks have had their fill, the female feeds and then flies of f with the remains at 6:45. The chicks walk around the back of the box. At 7:05, the male arrives with the pigeon remnants but the chicks are not hungry so he feeds himself. He tries again at 7:20 and they reluctantly take small pieces, mostly P7D. The male takes the rest to the ledge at 7:30 and eats it before sitting on the ledge. The chicks return to the back of the box. The male flies off at 9:10 and the chicks remain at the back of the box until 10:|30 when P7F decides to walk to the ledge and look out. It then does some vigorous wing flapping and jumping for a few minutes. It is soon joined by PCF. The male arrives with food at 10:40 and PCF runs towards him and is first to be fed but it’s not long before P7D uses her way in. There is not much and it is gone in a few minutes and the male flies off. PCF goes to the back of the box whilst P7D remains on the ledge. The male is back with another meal at 11:00 and despite being furthest away, it is PCF who runs to him to get fed first again. PCF goes to the back of the box when full and P7D then feeds. It has all gone within 15 minutes and the male flies off and P7D joins her sibling. However, no sooner has he gone than the female arrives. Although she does not have any food, she finds a few scraps that she feeds the chicks. She sits on the ledge at 11:30 with the young in the box. She flies off at 12:10. P7D starts exploring the ledge again at 12:25 and finds a piece of wing that she picks at. She does a bit of wing flapping and then joins her brother at 13:05. The female is back 5 minutes later picks up a small scrap of food and gives it to the chicks before flying off. Within minutes, she is back with a fresh Feral Pigeon which she plucks and feeds to PCF. She flies off at 13:30 without P7D having had anything although she did not seem too interested. The male arrives at 13:35 and searches the box but there is nothing. The chicks are doing wing flapping and the male flies off. At 13:45, they settle down on the ledge and look out over the city before lying down prostrate. They remain on the ledge unit the arrival of the female an hour later. Again she has no food and searches the box. She sits on the ledge until 16:00 when the male arrives with food then flies off. The female feeds the chicks. It is gone within 5 minutes and she flies off, the chicks watching as she goes. They do a little bit more wing stretching, then sit on the ledge looking out. The female is back at 16:55 but no food – she leaves a few minutes later, then returns with a partially eaten pigeon from a stash. The chicks are noisy and feed hungrily. They are finished 15 minutes later and settle at the back of the box. The female stashes the remains by a column and sits on the ledge. At 18:00, the male arrives with a fresh pigeon which the female takes from him. She plucks it and feeds P7D but leaves after a few minutes, P7D returning to the back of the box. Both adults return at 18:40 but without food. The female finds the stashed pigeon and the male flies off. She plucks the pigeon and feeds it to PCF with P7D waiting patiently and is fed when PCF has finished and returns to the back of the box. Five minutes later, he is joined by his sister and the female finishes what is left of the meal. The female sits on the ledge and is joined by P7D who sits a few feet away looking at her, occasionally calling. At 19:05, P7D lies by the central columns where it stays until 19:45 when the breezes forces her to the back of the box with just the occasional trip to the ledge where the female remained until 21:30 when she went into the box for a few minutes before returning to the ledge where she remained until the following morning, the chicks huddling together in the box.

1 June – The chicks are restless and the female does not get much sleep, standing over them most of the night. At 4:25, the female leaves the chicks and sits on the ledge. She flies off at 4:30 returning a fe minutes later – the weather is misty and damp. She finds a small piece of food lying on the ledge and feeds it to the chicks. When they have finished, they go for a short walk around the box, do some wing flapping before settling down in their usual corner with there female standing over them. At 5:20, the male arrives and finds a bit of pigeon stashed by one of the columns. The female rushes over to retrieve it but the male flies off with it! She continues to feed the morsel she found earlier to the chicks before sitting on the ledge. The chicks become quite mobile for 15 minutes then settle in the corner again. They huddle together until 6:55 when P7D ventures onto the ledge, returning soon after. The female flies off at 7:10. She returns with a pigeon at 7:55 and the chicks walk towards her calling. P7D tries to grab the prey but the female picks pieces off and feeds the chicks, mainly P7D. PCF decides enough is enough and snatches a piece of food from the female and walks away with it to feed himself. He then returns to the female to be fed after P7D has had her fill.They retreat into the box after 10 minutes and the female feeds herself before going back to the box and feeding the last remaining morsels to the young. She goes onto the ledge at 8:20 and they huddle back down in the corner. They remain there until 10:20 when P7D starts wing flapping, calling and walks to the ledge. The female finds a piece of stashed pigeon and feeds it to the chicks. Unusually, PCF is being fed first as P7D does not look interested. Both chicks eventually get something to keep them going. At 10:30, it is finished and the female returns to the ledge where P7D is wing flapping and preening whilst PCF decides the corner of the box is the best place to be. At 11:45, the male arrives and goes to the back of the box. He does not have any food with him. He walks around the box looking in all the stash points but there is nothing so he flies off. At 12:05, P7D joins her brother in the corner where they huddle to gather until 12:45 when they decide to go on a walkabout and do some wing flapping. The female is still sitting on the ledge. At 13:15, they are both on the ledge calling to the female who flies off 5 minutes later. The male arrives with prey at 13:30 and almost immediately the female arrives and tries to take it from him, so he leaves with it! The female goes off in pursuit. Just a few minutes later she arrives back with prey and feeds the chicks. It has gone by 13:40 and the female sits on the ledge whilst the chicks have a walkabout and look for some scraps whilst doing a bit of wing flapping. Unfortunately, there is a technical issue with the broadband and both cameras are off-line until early the following morning.

Daily Commentary Archive Link