31 March – The female is incubating on what is a horribly windy evening with heavy rain. She remains on the eggs until the male arrives at 4:50 with just two short breaks on the ledge at 2:10 and 4:20. At the handover, the male is supervised by the female who remains on the ledge watching until replacing him at 6:15 when he flies off. There is another changeover at 7:30. She feeds on the remnants of some previous prey. He flies off for a few minutes at 7:35 followed by the female. The male returning to incubate at 7:40 sitting on the ledge for a few moments at 7:55 before returning to his duties and being replaced by the female at 8:00. The male returns at 8:35 with prey which he then takes away and is followed by the female. He takes over incubation at 8:50 with a tell-tale feather in his beak. The female returns with a full crop at 9:35 and replaces the male who flies off. There is another changeover at 11:30 and she flies off. He continues incubating until 15:35 to be replaced by the female. He returns with prey (pigeon) at 16:00 and the female snatches it from his talons. He flies off whilst she plucks and eats the catch. After having her fill, she returns to incubating 30 minutes later. At 16:40 she sits on the ledge before continuing incubation duties at 17:00. She sits on the ledge at 17:55 until 18:30 when she flies off to be replaced by the male on the eggs 5 minutes later. At 18:45 she returns and replaces him on incubation, he flies off. She remains on the eggs until 23:50 when she goes to sit on the ledge returning to the eggs just after midnight.
29 March – The second egg was laid today at 15:15. This is 69h 15m after the first. The third egg could arrive on Easter Sunday.
26 March – The first egg was laid today at 17:30. Two days later than in 2017. The scrape being used is exactly the same as in 2017.
24 March – The female remained sleeping in the back of the box until 5:15 when the male arrived with breakfast. He left the female plucking and eating moving to the ledge when she has finished. The male returns at 5:50 and goes into the box at which time she leaves. He picks at the remains of the prey, moves to the ledge and leaves at 6:35. He returns at 7:25 for a few minutes. The female is back at 7:40 with another prey item which she plucks and eats, returning to the ledge and leaves at 8:30 just as the male arrives and leaves again. He returns with a blackbird at 9:00, plucking and eating it. He leaves with his prey at 9:15 only to return 10 minutes later with it, followed by the female. He leaves her to finish the prey and is back at 11:05 when the female leaves only to follow a few minutes later. He is back after 5 minutes plucking and eating what little remains of the prey, then goes into the box, scraping and moving a few stones before leaving at 11:15. He returns at 12:50 staying until 15:30 when he leaves only to be back with the female at 16:00 leaving her after 10 minutes. At 16:30 she is in the box scraping and moving stones before lying down flat. The male is back at 17:25 and goes into the box whilst the female sits on the ledge. He leaves 5 minutes later and also at 18:25 and 18:50 but leaves after a few moments of posturing. At 18:50 she moves to the back of the box and remains there sleeping until at least midnight.
23 March – The female was on again the ledge from the previous evening and was joined by the male at 1:35. He went into the box where he remained sleeping until 5:15 when woken by the female calling. He left at 5:30 whilst she returned to the ledge before leaving at 7:00. The male arrived with a small prey item at 7:05 and goes to the back of the box calling and scarping. After 5 minutes he sits on the ledge until the female returns at 7:30 when after a few minutes of posturing he leaves. She scrapes and moves a few stones but soon moves to the ledge. At 7:50 she is seen lying flat in the box for 15 minutes – a change in her behaviour. She returns to the ledge until he arrives at 8:25 leaving after a few minutes returning with prey at 8:50. He leaves and she takes the prey into the box and hides it beside one of the columns. The male returns at 9:55, the female leaves followed by the male 30 minutes later. They both return at 10:40 but the male leaves after a few minutes, the female snacking on the hidden prey. After scraping for about 30 minutes she returns to the ledge before leaving at 11:35.The male returns at 11:45 for 5 minutes and again at 12:05. The female returns at 14:25 and after a brief bout of posturing he leaves. He is back at 15:15 and after she produces a pellet, they are engaged in copulation after which he leaves, the female also 10 minutes later. He is back at 15:30 and remains until 16:35 when the female arrives and sits on the ledge. He brings in an item of prey at 17:05 and both go into the box calling and posturing. He leaves her scraping for 15 minutes before she goes on to the ledge and falls asleep. He is back for a few moments at 18:22 before returning at 18:45 with prey which he leaves with the female who proceeds to pluck and eat it. The female leaves with the prey item but returns after 5 minutes with a full crop and sits on the ledge where she remains until at least midnight. He does not return in that time but may be close by on the spire.
22 March – The female was sleeping on the ledge from the previous night until wakened by the arrival of the male at 00:45. He went to the back of the box calling. At 1:10 he flies out and returns immediately to land on the female and they copulate. after which he leaves whilst she returns to sleeping on the ledge. At 5:05 he returns with prey, possibly another Coot but leaves with the item coming back at 5:45 without it. He goes into the box and is joined by the female and they are posturing.He leaves after a few minutes and she scrapes and moves a few stones around. She leaves at 6:15 to be replaced by the male who makes a few scrapes before settling on the ledge.He flies off at 6:30 returning 10 minutes later with a Starling which he begins to pluck and eat. With the arrival of the female at 7:30 he takes what remains of it into the box where she relieves him of it. The male leaves and is followed by the female 15 minutes later. He returns after an hour and during the next seven hours flies off a number of times but is never away for very long. He is joined by the female at 14:25 when she picks at what remains of the Starling. They leaves within a few minutes of each other at 14:40. At 15:20 they are both back and five minutes later there is copulation on the ledge after which the male leaves. At 17:00 he returns and they are posturing in the box but he leaves after a few minutes. She remains on the ledge until he returns at 18:45 and they both go to the back of the box calling. He leaves at 18:50 to return a few minutes later with what looks to be the Coot from earlier which she takes from him and proceeds to pluck and eat it. He then leaves. Over the next 40 minutes she devours the prey and sits on the ledge with a very full crop. He arrives at 21:15 and removes what is left of the prey item whilst she settles down to sleep on the ledge until at least midnight.
21 March – Another day with lots of activity. The female remained asleep on the ledge from the previous night until 4:50 when the male arrives. The pair begin posturing and the male moves to the back of the box calling whilst the female remains on the ledge. At 5:05, the male is still in the box whilst the female is sleeping. She wakes at 5:20 with the male calling. He leaves at 5:35. The female moves to the back of the box at 5:55 announcing the arrival of the male with prey – a large Woodcock! [Can I count this for my county list – it was still moving?]. The female takes the prey and leaves with it whilst the male goes to the back of the box and moves a few stones around. He leaves at 6:00 but returns immediately going to the back of the box before settling back on the ledge. There is a repeat performance at 6:45. He remains until 10:35 occasionally visiting the back of the box and having a brief fly around. The female arrives at 11:05 and leaves 20 minutes later only to return within a few minutes closely followed by the male. She sits on the ledge whilst he is in the back of the box calling and turning a few stones. At 11:35 she goes to the back of the box and the pair begin posturing, the male soon leaving followed by the female. The male returns at 13:40, leaves after 15 minutes to return again at 14:10 followed by the female. The pair go to the back of the box posturing. the male leaves after a few minutes leaving the female scraping before sitting on the ledge. She leaves at 15:05 to be replaced by the male who flies off at 15:20. The pair return at 15:45, the male scraping and picking stones whilst the female sits on the ledge. The female leaves at 15:55 followed closely by the male. The pair return at 17:05 and the female sits on the ledge whilst the male scrapes and turns stones in the box. She joins him at 17:15, the pair posturing before he leaves at 17:25. After a few minutes turning stones she returns to the ledge falling asleep at 18:20 being disturbed by the male’s entrance at 19:10. He goes to the back of the box calling whilst she sleeps on the ledge. He eventually leaves at 22:00 with the female remaining on the ledge until at least midnight.
20 March – The male arrived at 5:10 (in the dark) calling and sitting on the ledge. He leaves at 5:25 but returns 30 minutes later and goes to the back of the box calling for a few minutes before returning to the ledge where he stays until 6:10. At 7:00, the male is in the back of the box calling and scraping leaving at 7:05. At 7:30 he arrives with food but leaves almost immediately before returning without the prey 10 minutes later, then leaving at 7:45. The female arrives at 10:20, goes to the back of the box and is followed closely by the male who has a small piece of prey. Both birds are in the box bonding and posturing. The male leaves at 10:25 with the female making a few scrapes before sitting on the ledge and leaving a few minutes later. She returns at 11:15 calling and the male can be heard but is not seen. She makes some scrapes, sits on the ledge and then leaves at 11:20. The male returns at 12:15 for 10 minutes before returning at 14:00 with prey (Mistle Thrush – is this the same as yesterday’s item?), but leaves after just 2 minutes. He is back at 15:50, without the prey, and remains until 16:20 occasionally making scrapes in the box. He visits again at 16:45, scraping and turning stones for 10 minutes. Both birds arrive at 17:35 and are posturing in the box until the male leaves at 17:40. The female makes a few scrapes and turns some stones before sitting on the ledge where she remains preening and sleeping until at least midnight.
19 March – The male arrives act 6:55 followed closely by the female. both birds go to the back of the box calling and posturing. The male leaves after a few minutes and the female does a bit of scraping before she too leaves. at 7:40 there was a quick visit by a Stock Dove – no-one was at home! At 10:10 the pair arrive together and proceed to the back of the box calling and posturing. The male leaves after 5 minutes whilst the female does some scraping before she also leaves. The male returns at 11:35, does some scraping and calling but leaves after a few minutes repeating the actions at 13:45 and 16:55. At 18:05 the female arrives with the male calling and posturing for a few minutes before the male leaves only to return almost immediately with prey – a Mistle Thrush. Rather than feed it to the female, he leaves with it. She departs some 5 minutes later.
18 March – Both birds arrive at 17:30 and go to the back of the box where there are calling and posturing. The female was then seen scraping whilst the male left at 17:35. The female 5 minutes later.
9 March – The female was asleep on the ledge at 7:10. At 9:00, the male was at the back of the box shuffling stones around whilst the female was on the ledge. He left after five minutes followed by the female a little while later. The male returned calling at 12:45 but the female could not be seen. At 16:50, one arrived with a full crop but had gone by 17:20.
8 March – The male arrived with a small prey item at 7:05 and flew off at 7:30 after consuming it all. He returned almost immediately but flew off again after a few minutes. Both birds arrived at 8:20, this time the female had prey. The male left after 5 minutes only to return and leave within a few minutes. At 8:55 he returned once more and started eating the prey remains whilst the female was on the left hand corner of the ledge. He left after a few minutes but returned at 9:10 where he went to the back of the box and shuffled a few stones around. The female remained but the male had left by 9:40. When he returned at 10:20 the female had gone but she joined him at 10:50 and they were both calling making a lot of noise. An unsuspecting Chaffinch landed on the ledge and the female started to approach but the Chaffinch flew off in time. The female remained on the platform for over 2 hours before leaving at 13:30. One was on the ledge again at 15:30 but had gone by 18:00.
7 March – The male was in place by 6:30 and the female arrived at 7:30. He left to return with prey at 7:45. Both had gone by 8:00. At 10:35 both were at the back of the box calling. The male flew off leaving the female on the ledge. At 13:50, both birds were at the back of the box pair bonding. The male left followed soon after by the female. Both birds were there at 18:00 with one still on the ledge at 21:15 at least.
6 March – there was much more action today. The male was in position by 6:30. At 7:15 the male arrived with prey followed soon after by the female. He moved to the back of the box but left after a few minutes. By 7:55 both had gone but the male returned at 8:15 running the the back of the box calling the female at 9:20 but she did not land and he went to the ledge. She arrived at 10:15 and both went to the back of the box, calling and posturing. The male flew off a few minutes later. He arrived back at 11:15 calling but the female remained on the ledge ‘ignoring’ the male. Both had gone by 12:35. The male returned at 14:25 and again at 15:10 remaining until 17:55. He returned rather late in the evening with a short visit at 21:00 calling for a few minutes.
5 March – The male was on the left hand corner by 7:25 but had gone by 7:45. At 10:00, one was sitting on the ledge with a full crop. Both birds flew in calling at 11:00. The male went to the back of the box calling but flew off after a few minutes. At 13:00 one was preening and one was still present at 17:35 but had left by 18:20.
4 March – At 6:55, the male was already on the platform, most of which was covered by snow. He had gone by 7:30.
3 March – Both birds arrived at 9:05 and went to the back of the box, posturing and pair bonding. The male flew off followed shortly after by the female. By 10:30, heavy snow was on the platform.
2 March – with the platform covered in snow, the gales and frost all day today, it is little wonder that activity was not reported.
1 March – The male made two short visits during the day at 8:25 and 10:20. Probably put off by the snow, freezing temperatures and gale force winds.