Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch diary

End of the season and closing

2011-09-06T09:46:00.002+01:00

With anticipation and much patience visitors and staff/volunteers were rewarded with magical close up views of a young pine martin as he fed from the hide window feeder, His triangular face and stubby nose was repeatedly pressed against the window. What a bonnie but cheeky beastie. He used his nose to lift the lid and helped himself to peanuts. We all sat for 30 mins (everyone holding their breath) watching. He wasnt long gone when 2 Red squirrels appeared followed by a jay then 2 young Great spotted woodpeckers.

Closing...

We are closing for the season on Sunday 11th of Sept with a wee party to thank all who have volunteered and supported the Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch. Barbecue, games, face painting, story telling and drinks. All public are welcome to join us and celebrate an exciting season.

The seasons are a-changing

2011-08-26T15:31:00.000+01:00

A feel of Autumn about the site again this morning. A wee nip in the air, a heavy dew adorning all the cobwebs in the grass highlighting their presence and that distinctly Autumn smell.

Here and there the first few golden coloured leaves are starting to appear among the profusion of shades of green and the beautiful patches of purple and pink heather and knapweed.

Adding to the rich tapestry of colours are the fungi, beginning to pop up- bright scarlet and white, russet brown, and subtle fawn. Some having been nibbled at by creatures have indented edges or holes have the appearance of modern sculptures.

The nature is so beautiful and varied. Add to this our brilliantly entertaining wildlife and it’s just too good to miss. Pop in soon and see it for yourself.

Wildlife glorious wildlife

2011-08-23T09:51:00.000+01:00

Angie writes:

The more I watch the more I see. No matter how many times I sit in the hide I am still enthralled and captured by the antics of our wildlife. The wee but determined siskens...the fiery blue tit as he runs along upside down on a branch...the noisy Jays ...'laid back'peregrines as they preen and roost in their favoured spots at the top of the quarry...a scurrying bank vole collecting the seeds fallen from the bird tables.

Then watching the Pine Martin as he parachutes off the hide roof. The cunning fox peeking through the long grass in the quarry floor...Wow!!!! Why not come and see for yourself?

Master of all he surveys

2011-08-15T11:40:00.001+01:00

Friday 12th August

Our male peregrine has been perched up in the quarry all afternoon looking well fed and chilled as he surveys his territory. He really is a handsome bird and it always makes my day to see him.
It has almost been a shift system up there today. The female was in the quarry almost all of the morning and in the early afternoon she watched as the male arrived overhead and flew into the quarry then she took to the air and after a brief exchange of recognition calls she flew out of sight.

After a very noisy start to the day the jays have quietened down and have been flitting about and the wee birds have as usual been raiding the feeders constantly. Red squirrels too have been appearing throughout the day and a young visitor this afternoon was determined to get an action shot of one walking along the rope from the feeder. He had to be patient as the squirrel had settled to feast on the peanuts for some time, but he was eventually rewarded and got his photo.

I’m off to lock up now and get a last look for today at that handsome bird who is still just sitting there!

Bye and thanks

2011-08-15T11:38:00.000+01:00

A very big thank you to all those who came along to take part in Junior Peregrine Investigators and Nature Detectives this year. It was great to see many familiar faces back again and also to meet new investigators and detectives. We hope you all had fun. We certainly enjoyed having you here and hope that you will be along to see us again sometime soon.

Also a big thank you again to the volunteers who helped out. We hope you enjoyed it too!

Angie, Neil and Karen.

Where has the summer gone?

2011-08-08T11:21:00.002+01:00

Rain, rain and still more rain. However it has not stopped the wildlife. We had a visitor today who watched the male peregrine stooping in the quarry, the female peregrine preening by the eyrie, three Great spotted woodpeckers chasing each other around a tree, two red squirrels playing on the roof, and a noisy visit from the Jays. All within a 30 minute visit to the hide. Wow!

Our monthly ranger club practised shelter building in readiness for their yearly camp. Everyone got soaked but good fun was had by us all. Even a game of hide and seek in the rain was fun.

Where has the summer gone?

An ode to our volunteers

2011-08-05T15:18:00.000+01:00

What would we do without them? Young and old. Meeting and greeting visitors with such enthusiasm and sharing their wealth of knowledge. Supporting us rangers in delivering educational activities...pond dipping, pretending to fly like peregrines and even a buzzard, making bug dials, leading groups of children along sensory trails...even blindfolded, raking under stones etc for mini-beasts. Supporting visitors in the hide,filling bird feeders, thinning out wee trees, wildlife surveys ...and on it goes.

Invaluable. Heartful thanks to you all.

Angie.

Three young visitors write...

2011-08-05T15:07:00.002+01:00

"Our experience at Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch has been a lot of fun and I would definitely come back here to get away from the town.

"At Wildwatch we have been doing bushcraft, wildlife surveys and conserving nature. During our time here we have dipped in the pond, watched the peregrines, did small woodland bird surveys, spotted pine martins and built a storytelling area for some of the rangers to take young school children to.

"We also went on a trip to sign branch to learn about how to make signs. Then we went to Culbin forest and we got a history lesson from the ranger. We went to the watch tower to see how big the forest was".

Michael o'Neill, Duncan Garden, Mathew Buist

Wet, wet, wet

2011-08-04T16:58:00.001+01:00

No not the band, the weather and our Junior Peregrine Investigators and Nature Detectives on Tuesday. Despite the pouring rain we had fun learning about senses in a variety of ways including using feely bags to guess items by touch and sniffing, following a trail blindfolded and playing games such as bear cub and keeper of the keys.

While the Junior Peregrine Investigators tried to avoid the worst of the rain, most of the Nature Detectives were keen to get as wet as possible, standing under trees and shaking them to shower themselves and anyone else nearby- usually me!

It’s hard to believe that it was our fifth session and that next week will be the last for this year. If you haven’t been along yet there is just one more session to go, so come along and see what we are up to next week!

The peregrines too were trying to avoid the rain that day. The male was perched in the quarry from first thing, whereas the female was out when the rain came on and arrived back some time later looking very wet and very unimpressed!

The squirrels and wee birds never seem to be put off by the weather and are out on the feeders come rain or shine and it’s always lovely to see them.

Pop along soon to see what is out and about.

Belated post from mid-July

2011-08-04T12:13:00.001+01:00

Sunshine and showers…

After the fine bonny days through the week the weekend has arrived and so has the cooler, showery weather. Not that our wee birds seem to mind. They are still around the feeders in abundance both here at the cabin and at the top hide. There are finches of one kind or another everywhere you look- siskins hanging acrobatically from feeders, chaffinches flitting to and fro and goldfinches squabbling noisily over who will get to perch on which side of the feeder.

There are still many young birds about too- young robins just starting to change from spotted to orange breast feathers, coal and great tits with their pale lemony-yellow cheek patches and great spotted woodpeckers with their red caps becoming slightly less scarlet.

The cooler weather seems to be suiting our peregrines better too as they are perched up in full view with their feathers being ruffled in the breeze. The warm, sunny weather may have brought out beautiful Speckled Wood butterflies and Large Red Damselflies but it sometimes saw our peregrines seeking shade for a spell behind shrubbery and young trees on the quarry face.

I am sure that visitors one day thought I had totally lost the plot as I tried to convince them that the motionless shape I was directing them to look at really was the female peregrine and not just a piece of rock. Luckily she did eventually stand up so they could see her and knew that I was not mad after all!

Whatever the weather there is always wildlife out there to be seen so pop in and see us and see what you can spot.

Watching you...watching us

2011-07-12T09:38:00.003+01:00

When opening the hide, I could hear the Pine martens, but they were always just out of sight. On return to the cabin I was able to watch them closely (via the cameras) as they playfully chased each other over and under the hide. Running in circles chasing tails....then they ventured into the hide and cheekily popped their heads onto the window sill and looked out. Appears we have 2 young pine martens.
The Red squirrels are always munching on the peanuts or delicately splitting the sunflower seed at both the hide and visitor centre. Jays regularly visit the feeders, swinging on the squirrel rope.

The explosion of woodland birds continues as more and more siskins, coal tits etc. are appearing. We even had a visit from a female common crossbill.What a bonnie bird!.

Our pair of peregrines are always around in the quarry, although not very active. They are often perched on favoured sites like the bleached tree stump, the cubby hole or the camera on the eyrie (favoured at the moment by the male).

Visitors local and from all over the world have been enthralled by the wildlife and views. Also enjoying the conversation with others in the hide. Stories and experiences shared. Never a dull moment at the wild watch.

Summer's here

2011-07-07T09:33:00.000+01:00

Well the school summer holidays are finally here and yesterday was the first of our Junior Peregrine Investigators and Nature Detectives sessions.

The theme was tracks and trails and activities included matching the animal to its paw, hoof or foot print, and orienteering identifying prints along the route. Also the groups set trails for each other to follow making marker symbols from sticks, stones and flour. Some very novel flour imprints were made by one group using a hair band, hands and even their faces! There were some very white- faced girls being collected by Mums at the end of the session.

The sessions run each Tuesday up to and including 9th August with a different theme and activities each week. Future themes include Camouflage- can you become invisible and how different animals camouflage themselves, Nature’s Art Attack – make green wood men, dreamcatchers and head dresses, Minibeasts- featuring everyone’s favourite- pond dipping and lots, lots more.

So- why not come along and join the fun. Sessions are from 10am to 11am for Junior Peregrine Investigators, cost £5 for the series and from 12 noon to 2pm for Nature Detectives, cost £10 for the series.

Hope to see you soon.

The young ones

2011-06-27T09:57:00.000+01:00

Karen writes:

Last week I was really privileged to be at the ringing of Red Kite chicks from a nest site situated in an Aberdeenshire Forestry Commission Scotland woodland which is monitored by the RSPB. Seeing the chicks up close was a brilliant opportunity to see the rich colours of their feathers. Also fascinating was the way in which they “play dead”, not merely becoming limp and motionless but for added effect they loll their head and let their tongue droop! We also had some magnificent views of the adult birds as they circled overhead and kept a watch on all the proceedings below.

Not only have we had lots of young birds of several different species around our site here this week, but we have also had 162 schoolchildren from 5 different schools, 59 assorted Rainbows, Cubs and Brownies and a group of Gordon School students with their exchange student guests from Namibia. Don’t think I have ever played the peregrine game and “flown” so many times in one week! A great time has been had by all as they have learned about our peregrine falcons, pond dipped, got muddy in the ditch, created natural art masterpieces and hunted for bears and fairies. Many thanks to all of you for coming along. It has been great fun.

There are still many young birds on the go here and young squirrels too, getting to grips with the peanut feeders so pop in soon and see some of them for yourself.

Face to Face

2011-06-27T09:54:00.000+01:00

Angie writes:

Wow! What a weekend this has been. As we were walking up toward the hide a young red squirrel was racing down towards us. He kept coming and coming....totally unaware of us humans....suddenly he skidded to a halt, faced us then frantically skidded into the ditch and away. What a speed they can run! Do you know how fast a Red Squirrel can run?

Then today (Sunday) visitors eagerly told us about the young pine martin at the feeders. Their photos showed the pine martin's head poking up through the grass, eagerly looking for peanuts. Another wow! Then the jay has been dashing from feeder to feeder sharing the bird food with the explosion of young siskins and chaffinches.

Throughout all this excitement the Peregrines have casually observed all, relaxed as they looked down from their roosts in the quarry.

What a weekend! It's times like this, with wonderful and eager groups of children and exciting local wildlife that I really appreciate my job as a Forestry Commission Scotland Ranger.

Iona writes...

2011-06-20T14:00:00.001+01:00

My name is Iona. I am a Junior Volunteer at the Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch. I only started volunteering this year but I have been visiting the centre for about 3 years. I am also a senior member of the ranger club and I am working towards my John Muir Award.

Today I went pond dipping with Cara. Together we caught 6 or 7 newts and a baby newt, a stonefly, mayfly, cadis fly, damselfly, dragonfly larvae, Great diving beetle larva and also lots of other beetle larvae, snail eggs, lots of other bugs and beetles.

When I first came in this morning (aprox 10:20) there was a baby red squirrel and in the afternoon a greater spotted woodpecker both outside the bottom hide. There are also lots of small birds including blue tits, robins, siskin's, greenfinches, chaffinches, great tits, coal tits and loads more.

Also the peregrines have been sighted in and around the quarry most of the day.

Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch is a great place to visit with all the family!!

The view from the other side

2011-06-17T12:09:00.001+01:00

We have had a recent spate of visits to the cabin and hide by various birds keen to see what we have on offer and the view from our side of the glass.

One morning two swallows came in the front door of the cabin and flew around the area by the monitors, settled briefly on top of one of the interpretation panels and had another wee aerial tour before departing again via the front door (without stopping to sign the visitors' book!)

A juvenile robin however decided to take the back door approach, flying in and over my head while I was busy on the computer. Having checked out our notice boards and wild flower photographs on display he or she left again and headed for the bird seed on the path.

Probably the best encounter though was that experienced by visitors in the top hide late one afternoon when a sparrowhawk decided to fly in through the door and tried to exit by a window…a closed one! Fortunately it was a low impact collision and it quickly regained its composure and flew back out again leaving the visitors thrilled with their close encounter.

So come along and see us soon. You never know what wildlife encounters you might have while you are here!

Waterproofing kids and plenty of birds

2011-06-10T09:51:00.000+01:00

Angie writes:
We had a great bunch of children today from Kennethmont primary school who helped us clear some birch trees whilst making shelters. We tested their shelters with a bucket of water and only 2 were almost waterproof...so a few soggy kids.

The peregrines really do not like the wet weather, spending most of the day hiding in wee cubby holes in the quarry face. Jays were photographed at the feeders outside the top hide, as were young squirrels. The site is alive with woodland birds, especially siskins and young great tits.

It’s hot out there…

2011-06-06T09:33:00.000+01:00

Last Friday was a gloriously sunny day here in Aberdeenshire affording spectacular views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the hill near the hide entrance. It has been so warm that the peregrines have alternated between basking in the sun and seeking a bit of shade and respite.
All across the site there are beautiful wild flowers in bloom with a profusion of bugle on the go at the moment and a really good number of foxgloves just starting to open.

There are lots of juvenile birds calling pleadingly to parents for food. A family of five great tit fledglings have been clamouring all afternoon out behind the cabin to be fed while a young siskin sat more quietly but with wings all a flutter and a juvenile robin hopped about the path not too far from me as I walked along.

Not sure we can guarantee continuing bright sunshine but there is always plenty to see so come along and have a look.

Caring and sharing

2011-05-31T09:43:00.000+01:00

Karen writes...

Going up late to clean the hide one day recently proved to be a really rewarding experience. Perched up in the quarry side by side were the peregrines. The male had a kill under his foot and was busily plucking it then began feeding, watched avidly by the female. It soon all got too much and she leaned forward to try and grab a bite only for him to move it a few inches away from her. Undeterred she went around to the other side so she was closer again to the food. After a few seconds watching again she stretched out a foot, grabbed hold with her talons and tried to pull the food away. The male was having none of it and kept a good grip pulling it back towards him. She reluctantly let go and resumed just watching again.

Eventually after a few minutes he left the food and her and moved to a tree stump elsewhere in the quarry and the female, happy at last, got to feed on the remains. It was absolutely brilliant to see the interaction between the birds and I did eventually get round to the cleaning up!

Huntly Rainbows

2011-05-20T16:47:00.000+01:00

Thank you to Huntly Rainbows for a great night on Monday and Tuesday...from playing the Peregrine game to sliding down the slag heap and playing in the mud, chasing fairies and pond dipping. Good fun was had by all. It's great to see kids running through the woods, having fun and enjoying the outdoors.

Another thank you to the group from RAF Lossiemouth. I think the adults enjoyed themselves as much as the kids....sliding down the same slag heap, blindfolded in amongst the trees and dipping for the pond beasties.

Everyone made it to the hide and were rewarded with a view of the female showing a full crop, even though she was trying to hide.

Great weather and a busy May Day weekend

2011-05-10T16:00:00.001+01:00

We have been having some of the best spring weather on record here in the North East, and the May weekend was no exception, with a lot of people visiting us at the centre.

Sunday especially had a large amount of kids turning out for Ranger Club and they had a super time enjoying a number of activities led by Angie and some of our junior volunteers. Volunteers Margaret and Ian looked after the visitors who had excellent views of our peregrines and the other wildlife on site.

Last Monday we a had a good turnout of families for our event 'find out about red squirrels & build a feeder'. The quiz, orienteering and working with tools was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone and we're sure that those squirrels lucky enough to have a new feeder in their territory will be most impressed by the quality of workmanship involved. It was really nice to see families working so well together. Volunteers Gus and Alistair did an excellent job of overseeing the feeder building (thanks guys) and were really impressed with how well everyone did.

We rely heavily on volunteers here at the centre and we are always looking for new people to come on board, so if you think that this is something that may interest you, get in touch, it may be a life-changing experience.

We will be running a series of events throughout the season - keep an eye out in all the usual places, so you don’t miss out on anything - and of course we are open every day 10am to 5 pm (top hide closes 4.30pm).

A-courting we will go...

2011-05-05T15:24:00.001+01:00

No eggs yet, but our peregrines are still very busy courting and we are having some brilliant views of the tiercel bowing to the falcon at the eyrie. She seems to be taking a serious amount of wooing before committing herself to any egg laying. She is still spending lots of time in and around the scrape adjusting it, and we are still seeing mating taking place, so we are keeping our fingers (and toes and eyes) crossed that she will lay soon.

Red squirrel activity is increasing and they are out and about the hide for spells at the feeders most days. Also increasing are numbers of siskins, resulting in an increased consumption of nijer seed!

The views from the top of the hill outside the hide across to Dunbennan have been pretty spectacular on these bright sunny days. Hope they last a while longer!

Spring is here and we're open!

2011-04-13T11:06:00.000+01:00

There’s no accounting for the Scottish weather. Last year’s opening day was a miserable day with the threat of snow, whereas this year’s was a lovely spring day. A good crowd of families and visitors old and new turned out to join in the toast to the birds and a successful season given by John Thomson, Moray and Aberdeenshire Forest District Manager.

There are no eggs yet, but the peregrines are here and it appears that we may have a new falcon paired with our existing tiercel. He is putting on some pretty dazzling flying displays to impress her and they are both spending time at the eyrie moulding the scrape and making it just right by moving around any wee pebbles not just in quite the right place!

The red squirrels are around, the wee birds are all busy too and there are primroses and violets blooming and trees bursting into leaf so come along and enjoy the signs of spring.

Centre Re-opens 9th April

2011-03-24T14:08:00.002Z

The WildWatch centre re-opens on Saturday 9th April 2011 at 2pm. More details soon - hope to see you there!

Closing day celebrations

2010-10-07T16:36:00.001+01:00

Sunday 26th September was the last day of our 2010 season and we brought it to a close with our annual event, which this year included giant jigsaws and hoopla as well as giant jenga, face painting, and a Fungi Fun and Autumn Fruits display.

The saw horse which gave visitors the chance to make and decorate their own wooden disc badges proved very popular.

The BBQ’d burgers went down as well as ever and once again Bertha and Miriam proved absolutely invaluable dispensing teas, coffee and soft drinks.

The assembled company joined a toast to the peregrines who have proved to be excellent parents and providers, successfully raising three offspring again this year.

A very big thank you to everyone who came along on the day and also to all those who have visited us throughout the season. Thank you too to all our volunteers this year. We could not operate the centre without you.

So the season is now officially brought to a close but the centre will be open again in Spring 2011 and we hope to see many of you back again next year. In the meantime keep an eye on the website for news of next season and to enjoy again some of the brilliant moments from this season.

Peace and quiet!

2010-09-13T09:57:00.000+01:00

After all the hectic activity and noise of the early and mid season, the quarry is now a haven of peace and quiet - well, most of the time anyway.

With the juvenile peregrines now well away, the adult falcon and tiercel can please themselves when they come and go, and can relax and enjoy the tranquil surroundings.

Their behaviour around each other at this time of year is very different. Instead of the loud, scolding or nagging tone from the falcon there are now mainly gentle recognition calls when she sees the tiercel, although occasional intruders are still treated to an ear bashing.

The season is truly winding down now and our closing day is Sunday 26th September, about which more details will follow soon, so watch this space!

LOST PHONE

2010-09-01T16:05:00.002+01:00

We recently had a family from Cumbria, who were staying in their 2nd house in Portknockie.

They visited the centre on Tue 31 Aug 2010.

We have recently found a mobile phone which i believe belongs to a member of the family.

If you contact us on 01466 760 790 or 07880 780 431 or email huntly.peregrines@forestry.gsi.gov.uk & ID the phone correctly I will post it to you

Gibby

Fungi fun

2010-08-23T14:20:00.005+01:00

This time of the year our woods become host to some of the most fascinating life forms that live in our forests. They are of course fungi.

I've recently attended a fungi course where i was amazed by the number of different ways in which people feel fungi should be pronounced. There's almost as many ways to say fungi as there are fungi themselves.

Some say "foo-n-gee", emphasising the oo & ee while others the "j" as in fun-jii, but im afraid i, like many others will stick with fungi, emphasising the "ung".... does that all make sense?

Once upon a time fungi were regarded as plants but now they have their own Kingdom.

They vary enourmously from microscopic filaments known as hyphae which form a network called mycelium.

What we think of as fungi (mushrooms & toadstools) are actually the fruit bodies that result from the mycelium network.

The purpose of this fruit body isn't to make your diner taste good, although some of them are very good at doing this, but to spread the spores of the plant & help increase its range, a bit like broom seeds popping on a hot summers day.

The fruit body might only last a few days but the mycelium network that produces it can be hundreds of years old.

This is why it is very important as a mushroom hunter (or forager) I like the idea of sneaking up on a wild mushroom... it is important that you know whats going on.

There are many fantastic edible mushrooms in the forest & some that are not edible by humans but others things do eat them.

Sadly some people have been destroying some of the non edible mushrooms & toadstools in the forest here because they are not edible.

If you are going to collect mushrooms please follow the "Scottish Wild Mushroom Code". You can find it at

www.snh.org.uk/scottish/species/fungi/fungicode.asp#code

Please enjoy them but do so responsibly

So long, farewell...

2010-08-16T14:46:00.001+01:00

Tuesday saw the last of our Junior Peregrine Investigator and Nature Detective activities for this season. The final sessions drew to a close with cake, juice and the presentation of certificates to all the attendees. Those unable to make the last day will receive their certificates soon. A very big thank-you to all the children who came along and took part each week. We hope you enjoyed your time with us and that we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible again next year. Huge thanks also to the volunteers who organised and ran the activities each week.

There were lots of other goodbyes this week at the centre. Tuesday was the last day this season for Marie, one of our volunteers, who did such a brilliant job leading the Junior Peregrine Investigators and Nature Detectives.

Wednesday was the last day on duty this season for our warden Denise. Thank you for all your hard work. We’ll miss you and wish you all the very best.

Also leaving us on Wednesday were volunteers Karen and Olivia. We wish them both every success. Hopefully we will see all of you again at our end of season closing day.

Love them or loath them, Sparrowhawks are amazing!

2010-08-13T15:00:00.003+01:00

Love them or loath them Sparrowhawks are an amazing bird of prey!

At the centre we have a few pairs of Sparrowhawks nesting in the nearby woods.

Every so often the feeders will empty in a flourish of feathers & silence while a Sparrowhawk makes a dash through.

Sitting at my computer today I've been fascinated by a male sparrowhawks attempts at catching something to eat. The male sparrowhawk, like the male peregrine is considerably smaller than the female. He can be as much as half her size & has a reddish brown barred chest & blue grey underparts unlike the female who is white & barred on the front.

His first attempt ending in him sitting on the bird table empty footed while his second attempt almost ended in him hitting our windows but the third attempt resulted in a clean grab of a juvenile siskin from off a feeder.

These birds are not always successful but they will keep returning to a site time & time again until they are. Of course as soon as you hang up bird feeders you are increasing the sparrowhawks chances of success by drawing in more potential meals.

Love them or loath them i think sparrowhawks are amazing!

To top of the day i now have a fantastic view of a pine marten (all be it on camera) feeding on peanuts in the window of our top hide - could it get any better - well it could stop raining!

Rain Rain Rain Rain

2010-08-12T17:27:00.004+01:00

Well what can i say except ITS RAINING AGAIN!!!

The last few days have been a real challenge for us at the Centre.

The volume of rain that's fallen & the short time period its fallen in has had a toll on our drainage systems, our pond is full to bursting & to top it all off there's a bloke with a big beard (no not Gibby) building an ark thingy across the road - should i be worried?

Although we complain about it a lot the rain is actually what makes Scotland, Scotland. Today we've had the pleasure of a visit from some visitors from Catalan, Spain who haven't seen rain for a while & they are in awe of how green & fresh everything looks around us.

Now that its drying out there seems to be a new lease of life in all the plants, birds & other animals on site. Maybe they're celebrating the fact it has rained instead of moaning about it?

Next time its raining (shouldn't be too far away) why not go out & enjoy it, go for a walk in the forest or a ride on your bike & see how rain changes things.

Well done Karen!

2010-08-06T15:26:00.003+01:00

Congratulations go to Karen Patterson for gaining a First Class Honours Degree in Environment and Heritage Studies from the University of the Highlands and Islands.

Karen worked very hard for her degree and is now the 2010 Moray College UHI Student of the Year. Before becoming a warden at the Peregrine Wildwatch in March, Karen was a volunteer here for two years and she is involved in the photograph and art clubs at the site as well as lots of other extra events.

Well done from all the Wardens and Volunteers.

Arrivals and Departures

2010-08-02T10:30:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to our warden Gibby and his wife, Susanne, who became the proud parents of twin girls on Thursday 29th July 2010. Mum and babies are doing well and Gibby seems to be holding up well too!

Our three juvenile peregrines are pretty much independent now and we are seeing less and less of them each day. The adults are still around, appearing a lot less harassed now that they are constantly being pursued and screamed at for food. Even the Tiercel is perching up in the quarry in full view some days.

The squirrels are as entertaining as ever and on occasions there have been four and five out at one time.

There are still a good number of juveniles among the smaller bird species with Blue Tits, Great Tits and Robins all gradually moulting in their adult plumage.

Busy busy busy

2010-07-13T15:17:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since our last blog as things have been very busy here at Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch. Our three chicks are now fully fledged juveniles and are learning the skills needed to survive when they leave the site in the autumn.

The falcon and tiercel are still bringing food for the juveniles, who skillfully fly under the adults, plucking the prey from their talons. The next step will be learning to catch their own prey which won't be long now judging by how long one of them stays away from the quarry. These three juveniles now make it 9 chicks successfully fledged by this pair of adults here which is a tremendous achievement for them.

As well as all the peregrine aerobatics there are lots to other things to see; our pine marten family is still around, delighting our visitors; fortunately the red squirrels haven't been scared off and are still regular visitors to the feeders around the site. The pond is full of newts, and on sunny days, damselflies such as the Large Red Damselfly can be seen emerging on to pond weed before pumping up their wings and flying off.

This morning we were treated to a visit by a family of weasels as they were crossing the main path up to the hide, they scampered off pretty quickly but it was a lovely surprise to see them.

The wild flowers are at their best at the moment with beautiful displays of foxgloves, oxeye daisies, northern marsh orchids, common twayblade, monkey flower, even the common dandelion is providing a wonderful splash of colour. If, like us, you enjoy seeing wild flowers during your trips to the countryside please resist the temptation to pick them so that everyone can see these magnificent flowers and the amazing insects that need them as a food source.

Thanks, more soon.

PINE MARTEN TASTIC

2010-06-18T12:45:00.003+01:00

Wow wow wow....

For the last few days we have been getting reports of an adult pine marten & some kitts (young pine marten) at the top hide & today I have been privileged enough to watch them playing for the last 90 minutes as you can see from the photos.

Joined by some visitors from Australia, who were desperate to see Red squirrels, we were entertained by the kitts climbing up the front of the hide to access the peanut feeder & chasing each other around in front of the hide.

One of the rarest mammals in Britain & certainly one of the most difficult to see in the wild, the pine marten is a controversial mammal that divides opinion.

We are delighted to be able to watch this special mammal in its natural environment & think that the kitts are certainly one of the most endearing animals we've ever had the pleasure of seeing.

all photos (c) of Gibby Kirwan 2010

Red Squirrel strikes again.....

2010-06-11T09:45:00.004+01:00

The red squirrel has struck again!

This time it was tree creeper chicks.

This time the squirrel was viewed using its long front legs & feet to reach in to one of our tree creeper boxes & ate the 5 chicks that were inside.

What next?

All around the centre there are lots of fledgling birds taking to the air but there are still some birds nesting. It might be their first brood or it may be their second. We recently discovered a willow warbler nest with 8 eggs inside.

Some willow warblers nested on the site last year, but nesting on the ground like they do is not such a good idea at the centre, as there are a number of predators in the area including pine marten that sniff them out. Last years chicks were eaten by crows shortly after hatching.

The feeders are ringing with the calls of fledgelings demanding to be fed by their parents but all this noise is also attracting attention from the sparrowhawks who also have young to feed.

Thankfully there are more little birds than these predators can eat so some survive for us to enjoy.

Pine Marten feet

2010-06-08T15:32:00.004+01:00

This Pine Marten filled its sizeable boots from a feeder which is usually visited by squirrels. In the clip, the marten occasionally ducks down to eat and you can get a proper look at it. Eventually it disappears almost in a flash. Note the clip has no sound.

Red Squirrel eats Blue Tits

2010-06-03T16:48:00.004+01:00

Wow.......

No its not a headline from a tabloid newspaper its a sight that has shocked several people to the centre today.

Outside the viewing hide we have a bird box (number 29) that has housed several broods of Blue Tit chicks over the years.

Today under the horrified gaze of some visitors a red squirrel has lifted the lid of the box & one by one eaten 3 Blue Tit chicks that were inside.

While we might find this a horrible & criminal act, it is in fact something that occurs quite regularly. Food is food.

Maybe there is still time for them to have another go.

3 times a lady!

2010-06-03T14:52:00.003+01:00

We were finaly able to ring our 3 chicks on Monday evening.

Despite all our best efforts it was just too dangerous to ring the chicks on Sunday due to the bad weather, so we re scheduled for Monday evening & were rewarded with a fabulous evening.

Under the watchful eyes of Jon Hardy from the North East Raptor Study Group, Alistair Young from Forestry Commission Scotland abseiled the short distance down to the eyrie before placing the chicks safely into their transport to the top of the quarry where they were greeted by waiting wardens, volunteers & paparazi.

They were fitted with their unique numbered ID rings & PIT tags (small microchips) & returned to the security of their eyrie.

During all of this both the Tiercel & Falcon were calling loudly whilst circling over head keeping a watchful eye on all of us with their precious youngsters.

We are delighted to announce that we are now the guardians of 3 very fit & healthy female peregrine falcons.

The three wanderers

2010-05-28T12:38:00.002+01:00

Our three chicks are growing quickly and have been venturing out of the scrape and going for a wee wander and a bit of a wings stretching, checking out the rest of their ledge. The Falcon is still doing most of the feeding although the Tiercel has had a few go’s the other day. Today though the poor chap arrived at the ledge with food while the Falcon was already feeding the eyas and he lingered expectantly waiting to show the Falcon what he had brought. She totally ignored him and carried on feeding the chicks and then turned and sent him off with a flea in his ear. Ever a trier though he came back a few minutes later and sidled up to her again with the food but again she rebuffed him. You do have to feel sorry for him sometimes as he can’t seem to do right at all.

Friday rocks! thunder blast at the quarry,

2010-05-21T17:10:00.005+01:00

All was peaceful at the quarry, siskins, greenfinch, chaffinches twitter about as usual. The falcon fed the chicks at 9.30 then 2pm and again at 5.20pm. The chicks are now partially mobile and have scrambled to the back of the scrape behind the web-cam for protection from the sun.
Delighted visitors had a great view of the falcon who was perched on the birch stump in front of the scrape all day. As the afternoon progressed the sky grew darker and the intensity of forbidding storm grew. The falcon spent the next half hour looking up at the sky and as the first bolt of lightening flashed above her she leapt off her perch with fright. As the torrential rain began to lashed down she returned to huddle with the chicks, an hour later the rain subsided and she flew off and within 10mins returned with her supper, which was defined by white and black feathers: magpie or oyster catcher! The tiercel was nowhere to be seen all day.

Sad News

2010-05-12T17:13:00.004+01:00

I'm sad to say that the fourth egg has failed to hatch.

In some of the hardest footage I've ever had to watch the falcon broke the remaining egg open late this afternoon & pulled at the remains of the dead eyas inside. The chick had clearly stopped developing some time ago.

What made it even harder to watch was the falcon then tucked the egg back in under her wing to continue incubating it.

She has now flown off the scrape carrying the egg & the remains of the eyas. This will help to reduce the risk of predators being attracted to the site by the smell.

The remaining three are continuing to do well & the latest eyas that hatched today has been feeding well

(Over)feeding time!

2010-05-12T12:54:00.004+01:00

This footage from 10th May shows two of the peregrine chicks being fed. After a while, it clearly gets a bit too much...

3 chicks - Yeah

2010-05-12T12:22:00.004+01:00

I'm delighted to say that our third eyas has hatched this morning.

After switching on the monitor I noticed a large piece of egg shell lying on the scrape this morning. But because its been snowing over night again & the falcon was sitting very tight there was no way to tell if it was one or both of the remaining eggs that had hatched.

Then the tiercel came in with some food & as the falcon stood up I could clearly see three eyas & 1 egg left.

There's still time for the last one to hatch so I'm crossing my fingers for a full house

Another arrival.

2010-05-09T16:34:00.004+01:00

A second chick has hatched and the Falcon has been seen feeding them twice already. The Tiercel has been to the scrape a couple of times to brood the chicks and cover the remaining eggs but only briefly as the Falcon has returned quickly and evicted him before he had a chance to get too settled.

Breaking News!!!

2010-05-09T11:15:00.003+01:00

At last our first chick has arrived. We have just had our first glimpse of the first chick to hatch as the Falcon finally stood up for long enough for us to see what was hiding underneath her. We are still waiting anxiously for the next arrival. One down three to go!!

Expectant parents

2010-05-06T13:50:00.000+01:00

It's another cold wet day at Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch, but that’s not enough to dampen our spirits.

The peregrine family are now on the 31st day of their incubation. Normally the incubation period lasts between 32-33 days so we are ALL behaving like expectant parents at the moment. I wonder if the peregrines are?

Normally the eyas piping to the parents from inside the egg signals the start of hatching. We can even hear this sound on our microphone at the centre, so volunteers & wardens have been eagerly listening for the first sounds of life.

The unofficial book is running high, with some of the volunteers betting on the first eyas hatching on Saturday or Sunday - but my bet is for Friday. (The stakes for this unofficial book? Nothing other than the humble biscuit, so high stakes indeed.)

Lots of birdlife

All around the site there are signs that spring is in full motion. The site has come alive in the last 10 days with the calls of willow warblers, chiff chaff & blackcaps. Many of these wee brown birds look very similar but by listening you can tell the difference.

There are several very good books with CD’s on the market that you can use to learn the different calls but it definitely requires lots of practice.

Another way is to go along to an organised dawn chorus like the one we’re holding at the centre on Saturday May 15th. The event is free & although it doesn’t actually start at dawn (I know some of you will be disappointed by this) it will run from 0730-0930.

Everyone is welcome (except dogs I’m afraid) & there’s no charge, but there is a donations box & all donations will be graciously received. If you’ve never attended one of these events before why not give it a go?

I look forward to seeing some of you next week.

Gibby

More wild weather

2010-04-22T17:17:00.000+01:00

20th April 2010

As I sit typing this hailstones are raining down on the head of the female falcon as she sits patiently on her 4 eggs. Neither of the birds seem disturbed by all the wild weather they experience, snow one minute, rain the next and welcome bouts of sunshine in-between.

There was a visitor to the scape last week, which certainly did cause a disturbance - a spare female looking for a territory with a built-in mate! She chipped at the eggs before being chased off but she came back a couple of days later and tried to chase our falcon off the eggs. Our bird refused to move and although the spare bird has been seen again she has not caused any more upset and peace has been restored.

We are already almost halfway through the incubation period and expect the hatching to take place somewhere around the 3rd of May so we will keep you posted.

Top hide open again - and four eggs on the scrape!

2010-04-12T10:12:00.000+01:00

If you've been on the main website for the huntly peregrines you'll see that the top hide is open again. Apologies for the delay in updating the blog with this information.

Since our last post, the birds have now got four eggs incubating. We'll keep you posted on progress.

Top hide currently closed

2010-04-06T13:52:00.000+01:00

Due to weather damage the top hide is currently closed.

The visitor centre is open though, and the birds can be viewed on the scrape incubating through our CCTV system.

Apologies for any inconvenience this is causing in the meantime, but we are doing our utmost to get back to normal as soon as possible.

We have our first egg!

2010-03-31T14:19:00.000+01:00

In light of the current weather I couldn’t think of a worse time for our falcon to lay an egg & guess what - she’s gone & done it this morning!

Switching on the monitors I was happy to see her sitting tight on the scrape until I realised that what she was actually doing was covering a precious egg.

Peregrines will incubate their eggs in two stages, a soft incubation & a hard incubation. The first, like we see today, is more 'covering' them than incubating them, & then comes the real incubation normally when the penultimate or final eggs are laid. This helps to ensure that the chicks or eyas hatch at roughly the same time, giving them all a better chance to survive as they are about the same size.

Every so often a big flurry of snow falls on her but she keeps the snow back by pushing it away with her beak. As the wall of snow builds up though she is gaining some shelter from the elements.

Earlier she called out to the Tiercel who wasn’t far away in the Cubby Hole. He quickly flew in to relieve the falcon & immediately began to cover the egg. She’s back on now using her larger body size to give the egg the best feather duvet it could have.

My fingers are firmly crossed for them as I hope are yours.

Gibby

Peregrine Wildwatch Centre Opening Day

2010-03-31T14:13:00.000+01:00

Sunday 28th March 2010
John Thompson welcomed the 80 brave souls who turned out in pretty damp weather conditions to the opening day of the 2010 season. We toasted the peregrines who obliged us by being resident and visible in the quarry most of the day - but that was possibly more to do with the weather conditions making hunting less appealing.

We hope to have eggs soon as the scrape is ready and waiting and there have been plenty of ‘courting’ behaviours with the tiercel displaying his flying skills, and bringing food to the noisy falcon who is letting him know that she is hungry.

Although Spring hasn’t quite sprung yet, there’s still lots to see. Siskins, robins, dunnocks, coal tits, great tits amongst other birds, and everybody’s favourite - the red squirrels!

New for this year we have the ‘Squirrel Cam’ which gives great close up views of the squirrels at the feeder.

As we write this, the falcon is sunning herself on the microphone stand, digesting her breakfast and the tiercel is off hunting.

Remember we are open seven days a week so get off your computer and come and visit us!

Spring has sprung, the lambs are flying low & the snow is finally melting!

2010-03-26T11:53:00.000Z

It’s been a long winter at the Peregrine Centre with the first snow fall on 17th December 2009. Little did we suspect that 3 months later it’d still be here!
While some of us have made the most of it & had some extended winter fun skiing in the forest, others have had a hard time, struggling to find food under the metre or so of snow that’s covered most of the north east.

We’ve had lots of winter visitors to the area including Snow Bunting, Brambling, Goldcrest, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, Pink-footed geese & Greylags. Some of these birds of course will not be making the spring journey home, staying in Britain to breed over the coming months & some unfortunately have not made it through the winter & have helped others to survive.

Our peregrines have faired better than most, with both birds remaining in the area over the winter, picking off those passing birds whose low energy levels worked in the peregrines' favour, making them easier to catch.

As I write this the peregrines' courtship rituals of aerial displays & bowing to each other have begun, and there are signs that they have been making a scrape on their chosen ledge already, all triggered by the lengthening days.

Doing our bit!

Helping others to keep moving, we agreed to “store” the snow from Huntly in our car park at the centre, and last month, when we began to prepare for the re-opening & it was still there, it was suggested that maybe we should open it as a nursery slope for anyone wanting to learn to ski or snowboard.

With the help of some of our colleagues at the Forestry Commission & some very big machinery we have finally managed to move it all, clearing the way for us to re-open this weekend on Sunday 28th March.

Why not come along & join us in a toast to the birds & their future success from 1pm onwards? We’d love to see you there.

Welcome to another season

2010-03-17T14:51:00.001Z

Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch centre reopens on Sunday 28th March. Why not come and join us to toast the birds in their future success, from 1.00pm onwards.

Our opening hours will be 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, 7 days a week. The top hide closes at 5.00pm.

This season, we've installed new CCTV cameras, including a dedicated red squirrel camera. We're also looking at setting up live online footage of the peregrines (as opposed to our regularly refreshing stills) but we're not likely to have that until later in the season.

We hope you can join us in the Bin Forest at some point - you'll find full details of the WildWatch centre on our main web pages at www.forestry.gov.uk/huntlyperegrines.

Our influence stretches far and wide...

2009-10-19T16:12:00.004+01:00

Visitors Evan & Patricia from New Zealand got in touch just at the end of season to let us know that they are spreading the word about Huntly Peregrines on the other side of the world! Their note said:

We very much enjoyed calling into see the Peregrines and other wildlife on August 23rd and to talk with all the staff about the Scottish & New Zealand wildlife and vintage cars & motorcycles, and to be allowed to view the most out standing photos you showed us on your computer, so as promised I have managed to get your car stickers as far south as Otaki N.Z. as these photos show, and as time goes by I will get them even further south. Good luck, and keep up the good work.

Cheers, Evan & Patricia
New Zealand

And here's the evidence:

If anyone else has got pictures of their Huntly Peregrines sticker (or other mementos) in unusual places, do let us know through huntly.peregrines@forestry.gsi.gov.uk.

Peregrines close with a bang

2009-10-01T14:03:00.008+01:00

Sunday 27th of September was our closing day for 2009 at the Peregrine Centre & as you can see, it did as we promised “go with a bang”.
Attended by over 100 people & animals, including giraffes, rabbits, giant frogs & er, rather unusual big purple things, the day's fun included giant games of Jenga & dominoes, a scavenger hunt, tree orienteering, pond dipping & some badge making – until the machine mysteriously broke down.

For gastronomes there was a flaming BBQ with home made salads, cakes & brownies all served with a warm cup of tea or coffee, by two of our diamonds Bertha & Miriam.

If that wasn’t enough there was also face painting in our newly finished Outdoor Classroom.
On behalf of all the Wardens we would like to offer a huge thank you to all of our visitors over the year & to all of our volunteers (young & old) without whom we couldn’t offer the level of service we do.
And so that’s it for another year. We’ll be back in Spring 2010 so watch this space & keep watching the skies for peri’s.

Lost Friend & Colleague

2009-09-23T17:41:00.000+01:00

Today we have learned the sad news that one of our first volunteers, Elaine, has died.

Despite illness from a young age, Elaine was a bright and vibrant person with artistic talent that most of us envied. She could “doodle” a masterpiece in no time while talking to you…. Multi-tasking at its best.

Her talents with a paintbrush didn’t only extend to paper or canvas though - as you can see from the photograph she made a fantastic job of brightening up the outside of our cabin.

As well as her artistic talents, Elaine also had a talent of making you laugh. Her laugh was infectious & could light up a room. If anything needed to be done Elaine was always one of the first to offer to help.

She will be sadly missed by all of us.

Our thoughts go out to Hodge her husband, her Mum and Dad and the rest of her family.

Closing Day

2009-09-16T10:22:00.000+01:00

Well we’re coming to a close for the season now. But we’re not going out quietly, we’ll be going out with a bang as usual.

On Sunday 27th of September we’re planning to have a big family fun day here at the Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch Centre to celebrate another fantastic season.

There will be face painting, giant games, scavenger hunts, tree orienteering, pond dipping and of course peregrine falcons to see.

If that’s not enough for you there will also be a BBQ and a chance to have a go at some bird ringing under the watchful eyes of experienced licensed ringers.

If you’ve been following the progress of our peregrines over the year then why not come along and help us celebrate their success in style.

We look forward to seeing you all

Dreich, stoorin, snell winds

2009-09-10T17:38:00.000+01:00

One of our favourite pastimes in the North East is taking about the weather, so much so that we even have our own words to describe it, e.g. dreich, stoorin, snell winds. As you can imagine after last Thursday and Friday when we had over a month of rainfall in 36 hours we had plenty to "spik aboot" (talk about).

Elgin to Aberdeen was the worst hit area, with the centre slap bang in the middle and at the bottom of a hill. We expected quite a lot of damage because as we left on Thursday night all the ditches were fit to burst, and there was a waterfall cascading down the steps between us and Bertha. It was with much trepidation that we opened at the weekend.

Fortunately the site had coped very well with the adverse conditions and the only major damage was where a pipe was blocked by debris and washed out about 50 metres of the new path. Unfortunately we will have to close this bit of path off until the contractors can get an opportunity to repair it but at the moment there are more pressing repairs to be done at other Forestry Commission sites. This of course, does not stop access into the top hide where our adult peregrines have reclaimed their home and spend most of the day quietly contemplating. Peregrines are masters at quiet contemplation!

Not everyone was so lucky - the media reported on the havoc caused by nature and our thoughts are with those who were so badly affected.

A wildlife experience

2009-09-01T10:18:00.010+01:00

Family Emmerson (Tim, Tess, Bailey and Reilly) from Hull got in touch to let us know how much they had enjoyed their trip to the WildWatch centre a couple of weeks ago:

We visited your centre near huntly a couple of weeks ago while on holiday. What a fantastic experience we had, we saw the peregrines and all the other types of bird you could see up in the big hide. We even saw the red squirrels, which was good as we only see greys down here in Hull. My two children thought the place was cool getting this close to the birds.

We were staying just down the road from Huntly and in the garden of the house we had a family of red deer which we saw in the mornings and a couple of buzzards which were nesting in a tree near the gate.

Please could you pass on our thanks to the wardens on duty as the were most helpful and answered all our questions. I have enclosed a couple of photos of our visit and of the buzzards.

Pictures below:

Buzzard

Red Squirrels

Siskins

Glad you enjoyed your trip!

Junior Peregrine Investigators and Nature Detectives

2009-08-17T09:45:00.007+01:00

Very BIG thanks to all the Junior Peregrine Investigators and Nature Detectives who joined us at Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch over the last five weeks.

We hope you enjoyed the games and investigating the birds, mammals, mini-beasts and trees and practising your survival skills. You all did brilliantly.

We all thoroughly enjoyed having you here and hope to see as many of you as possible next year.

In the meantime keep up your detecting and investigating, so you will have lots to tell us about next year.

Amy, Flora, Karen, Marie, Martin and Miriam.

Thanks from the wardens...

On behalf of the Wardens also a big thank you to all the volunteers, who gave up their time to organise, plan & run the JPI’s & Nature Detectives this year. We hope you had as much fun as all the children did to!

Gibby, Denise & Neil

Badger at the top hide

2009-08-14T12:14:00.005+01:00

This short clip shows a badger at the top hide taking advantage of the food put out for the small birds in the quarry. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?

More from Miriam

2009-08-14T10:09:00.003+01:00

13 August 2009 - Another attempt at a blog from Miriam!

Just about the middle of August again, hard to think that the season is on the downward trend. Our juveniles have departed, sad to part with them but the departure of the two males and one female indicates another successful season. It also means that visitors have a good chance of seeing an adult peregrine. We have just been watching our female doing what peregrines do best: perching on a post looking very handsome

The smaller birds are still frequenting both top hide and bottom cabin to partake of whatever is on offer, maybe not quite so many as we have had earlier in the season - I suppose more natural food is available. Our red squirrels continue to delight everyone with some obvious young ones around too; long may it remain so.

The site is looking very lush and a good variety of wild flowers to enjoy. The pond inhabitants are tailing off, still many smaller creatures about, but the newts have left for a grassy habitat.

Dragonflies are flying in abundance at the present time.

Our Junior Peregrine Investigators and Nature Detectives summer clubs have just ended after what I think has been a very enjoyable, fun and informative session, though I think you have to ask the participants their opinions on that matter

We are still logging good numbers of visitors. It is good to see so many people apparently enjoying the site. Gibby, Neil, and Denise are now all back from their holidays, and the merry band of volunteers are all raring to pass on any information they can to our welcome visitors.

Speyside Rally and Peregrine Falcons

2009-08-10T10:34:00.001+01:00

By Karen Patterson (Volunteer Warden), Saturday 8th August.

I’m sitting here writing this and watching the falcon who is perched on the infra red camera post on the scrape where she has been balancing for most of the morning. She’s preening her feathers, zipping them together with her beak and making sure they all fit together properly.
We are seeing more of her and the Tiercel this last few days and there have been encouraging signs from the pair for next season such as scraping the soil on the nest ledge & removing bits of “rubbish”.

There have been fewer and fewer sightings of the juveniles this week. Maybe they have now left home and Mum and Dad are heaving a sigh of relief at getting rid of their noisy and boisterous teenagers.

There are still lots of small birds about and the squirrels are as entertaining as ever. The roe doe and her calf were clearly visible in the quarry again yesterday despite the heavy rain and increasing under growth in the Quarry floor. The calf has really grown now and has only the faintest vestiges of its white spots remaining on its hind quarters.

On the A96 outside there are lots of very fast Rally cars going past as part of the Speyside Rally which is going on in some of the surrounding forest, including Whiteashes, Rosarie, Gartly Moor, Balloch and Clashindarroch.

None of these guys though can compare with the speed of a peregrine falcon that accelerates from 0-60 mph in 0.4 seconds. Anyone care to challenge them to a race?

August events

2009-08-10T10:28:00.002+01:00

A couple of events to note for later this month:

Art Session, Saturday 22nd August, 2pm - 5pm

We are holding an art session, open to adults who would like to learn or improve their skills using watercolour. Painters should bring their own materials if possible. A small amount of materials will be available for beginners.

Monthly Photography Night, Friday Aug 28th, 6pm - 9pm.

Our next Monthly Photography night is on Friday 28th - hopefully it won't be too dark.

These are both free events but all donations are welcomed.

Macro Photography Evening

2009-08-03T10:18:00.005+01:00

A big big public thank you goes out to Alan Sinclair for his fabulous presentation on macro photography last Friday here at the Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch Centre.

For those of you wondering what that is, it’s the art of taking photographs of small things & making them bigger - not to be confused with taking a close up though! Confused? Well I certainly was, but it all became clear in the end.

As part of our monthly photography evenings, Alan gave an excellent presentation to the small number of people gathered on a rather grey evening. During the evening he offered advice on how to get the best from your camera, whether it was a small compact point & shoot digital like mine or a more sophisticated SLR, similar to those used by the paparazzi.

He explained the dark & mysterious arts of focal depth & how to use a piece of tissue paper to defuse the light from your flash.

We then put all of this into practice using some cabbage white caterpillars donated from my wife’s veg garden as test subjects, before hunting the site for more subjects. By the end of the evening caterpillars, ants & even slugs had all been “snapped”.

You should also remember that to photograph some species of plants & animals the photographer needs to be licensed & to do so without a license is a criminal offence. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) have produced a Code of Practice for nature photographers which can be viewed at www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/licences/PhotoCode.pdf

If you are interested in wildlife photography & haven’t been to one of our photography evenings, why not come along to the next one on Friday 28th August 2009. Places are limited so booking is essential. Give it a go.

Picture of the month - July 09

2009-07-29T16:16:00.002+01:00

Each month, we pick out a picture drawn by one of our younger visitors to the WildWatch centre to be our picture of the month.

This month's picture is by Emma-Jane McIntyre, aged 12

Flora's volunteer diary

2009-07-29T16:15:00.002+01:00

I started as a volunteer warden at the Peregrine WildWatch centre in April and it’s been a great experience.

This is my last week as I’m off to start a (paid!) job next week. I’m really going to miss everything about the Peregrine Watch, not least the children who’ve been coming to the Junior Peregrine Investigators and Nature Detectives groups on Tuesdays during the holidays.

I can’t remember actually volunteering to get involved with this but I’m so glad I did because it’s been such fun. It’s helped me get to know the other volunteer wardens, most of whom I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise and it’s been wonderful to see the children getting out into the forest and discovering and enjoying nature.

So far they’ve learned how to use binoculars and telescopes to watch the peregrines and they’ve played lots of different games with a nature theme, including Miriam's version of musical statues involving foxes and rabbits. They’ve got themselves well entangled in “the web of life”, a game using string and wool to illustrate how everything in nature is connected to everything else which I had to make up myself and was a bit nervous about it as I’d never done anything like that before. As you can imagine my relief when it all went to plan and the children and wardens alike enjoyed it was great.

Last week they were sifting sand and finding various animal bones and skulls and looking at the skins that went with them, then making themselves into animals body parts and the others had to guess what they were.

Yesterday the theme was mini-beasts. We spread out white sheets under the trees and shook them to see what fell out. We looked under stones and moss, we did some pond dipping and found some huge, fierce-looking beetle and dragonfly larvae. The chasing game yesterday involved insects and birds. I wouldn’t have made a very good ant I don’t think!

Sitting at the keyboard in the bottom hide I can see two red squirrels eating peanuts from the feeder, not to mention siskins coaltits, chaffinches, greenfinches, robins, dunnocks, great tits, and oh did I mention even more siskins while I type this. I could reach out and touch them if the window wasn’t in the way. It’s very hard to do any work here.

I’ve learned lots, got to know a family of peregrine falcons and met lots of interesting people since April. Volunteering is so much fun.

What a day!

2009-07-20T11:08:00.002+01:00

Gibby's blog entry - Saturday 18th July

What a day it is today.

The rain’s been pouring down all night & even woke me up at 4 this morning as it battered against my bedroom window.

As I walked into work I could see what the deluge has done. The river Devron is in full spate & all the drainage channels & streams from the forest are at full capacity. Normally during my walk to work I can see & hear several different types of birds, including lately a family of Buzzards but this morning as I pass they’re sitting quietly in an old pine tree waiting out the storm, looking very wet & unhappy.

At work the bird feeders are full of activity. All the small birds are using lots of energy to stay warm in this weather & they need to put fuel in their tanks to do so. Chaffinches are fighting over the same bit of food as usual while the Siskins move in & take over. Several Goldfinches’ are defending the Niger seed from invading Redpolls that are no match for their size or aggression.

The Great Spotted Woodpeckers have the peanuts all to themselves. Nothing compares to their beak for turning peanuts into peanut butter except maybe the red squirrels that are sitting with their tails pulled up over their backs like woolly raincoats while they dine out on sunflower seeds.

Small bank voles are scurrying around at the bottom of the feeders gleaning up the seeds & husk the birds above drop.

Our pond is full to bursting. The waters reached the top of the path we use for pond dipping & is so murky it’s impossible to see anything moving below.

The foxgloves have all lost their blooms, as have the ox-eye daisies, hammered by they raindrops into submission.

A few visitors have braved the weather to come in & have been rewarded with views of all 5 of our Peregrines. The juvenile falcon is still screaming at her parents for food, while the two Tiercel juveniles sit quietly & wait for the weather to improve.

As much as it causes us problems we mustn’t forget how important rain is to our ecosystem. It’s what helps things live, but it can be an absolute nuisance if you’re a peregrine falcon.

Congratulations to Miriam Bunyan, HNC Distinction

2009-07-10T13:16:00.002+01:00

Today is a very special day for us here at Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch Centre because we are celebrating one of our longest serving & hardest working volunteers, Miriam, graduating from the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) Aberdeen with an Higher National Certificate (HNC) with Distinction in Countryside Management.

At the tender age of 70 something (I’m sure she’ll forgive me in time for telling you that) Miriam is the matriarch of our volunteers and a very active one at that. Walking & cycling (on her pink mountain bike) she can put many of her younger colleagues to shame. “If you don’t use it you loose it” she tells us; this clearly applies to the brain also!

On duty at the centre Miriam is an active volunteer, pond dipping, speaking to visitors & keeping us all in order.

Congratulations from all of the team at Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch on your Graduation Miriam, you’re an inspiration to all of us.

More 'forest art'

2009-07-08T10:30:00.002+01:00

We thought a special mention was needed for Martin Ross for his forest art endeavours!

Picture of the month - June 09

2009-07-07T11:44:00.004+01:00

Each month, we pick out a picture drawn by one of our younger visitors to the Wild Watch centre to be our picture of the month.

Our picture for June 09 is by Grace Carter aged 9 and a half.

Monthly photography evening

2009-07-07T10:08:00.002+01:00

This month's photography evening is on Friday 31st July. The event will take place from 6.00pm to 9.00pm and is open to any photographers wishing to use the site, but spaces are limited to 20 so booking is essential.

You can book by calling 01466 760790 or emailing us at: huntly.peregrines@forestry.gsi.gov.uk.

There will also be a workshop being held on macro photography on the evening.

Hope to see you there.

Peregrine in motion

2009-07-01T11:48:00.007+01:00

This shot was taken by Allan Finch on 24th June and shows one of the falcons coming in to land. You can see a bigger version of the image in our huntly peregrines album.

Growing fast

2009-07-01T11:42:00.000+01:00

Our Peregrine chicks are all fully fledged and periodically putting on wonderful flying displays. They are also practising that other important part of peregrine behaviour- perching motionless on a rock or tree stump and just being difficult to spot!

The excitement amongst the juveniles when an adult appears with food [or not] is just a superb experience which really needs to be seen and heard live to do it justice.

Our three youngsters are teenagers now and like most 'teens' are very demanding, so much so that the Tiercel is showing less and less, though our Falcon still braves the "I want" brigade at times.

Our two male Eyasses are definitely more agile than their sister but then they have have had four extra days practising their flying. Big Sis is noticeably larger when you see them together, whether in the air or perched on a rock.

The Bin Quarry is probably one of the best sites (if not the best site) in the country to view fledged Peregrine Falcons. Come and see for yourself and make your own mind up.

Squabbling over elevenses

2009-06-29T16:46:00.003+01:00

Last Thursday (25th June) was a beautiful day in Aberdeenshire. Up in the quarry, the small woodland birds were getting their fill of the Niger seed from the feeders besdie the hide. As ever, the siskins were there in numbers.

Around 11 o'clock, there was suddenly a lot of noise from the peregrines, but they couldn't immediately be seen from the hide. Then several of them appeared at once, flying very close to each other, and three of them tussled in mid-air. Through the binoculars it became clear that one of them had something tasty in its clause - a mid-morning snack - and the others were suffering from serious food envy!

The peregrine with the food first landed close to the scrape, but soon took off again when the others came after it. Eventually though, it managed to lose the others, and settled down on a small ledge at the back of the quarry. For a long time it didn't start to eat - rather, it kept its wings protectively round the kill. After a while though, it relaxed. The other peregrines continued to make a lot of noise for a while but finally settled in different parts of the quarry.

Meanwhile the birds at the hide happily chomped their way through the feeder supplies, which Miriam reliably informs me need topped up daily.

Still plenty to see in the quarry! Hope to get some more pictures up here shortly.

First flight

2009-06-17T17:10:00.001+01:00

Constant heavy rain this morning and no peregrine action but by early afternoon it had eased a wee bit.

Two of the youngsters starting exercising their wings and made a couple of very short hop/flights. Later on, independently, both youngsters flew. One landed successfully on a tree stump with short branch to the left of the quarry. The other one landed a little painfully on a stump near the top right. They returned to the eyrie where Mum dropped a meal in for them.

Lots of woodland bird action on the feeders around the hide to keep the visitors happy, and the squirrel feeder I put up last week outside the cabin was visited this afternoon several times by one of our little red friends. So altogether a pretty good day - despite the rain.

Paul.

Chick Ringing - Miriam's report

2009-06-10T17:37:00.003+01:00

Already the 10th June - Miriam Volunteer here with another attempt at a blog posting.

Life at the Peregrine Centre is going ahead at a great pace. It is now 10 days since our chicks were ringed; I am still marvelling at the amazing experience that I had the privilege to be involved in.

It was a hot, yes hot, Monday evening when the small crowd of people gathered - Wardens, Licenced Ringers, licenced handlers - who were to abseil down to the scrape to hoist the chicks up to the top of the quarry to the awaiting handlers, photographers, reporter and volunteers.

The tension as we stood there with bated breath while the chicks were gently lifted out of the bag was obvious. For my part I couldn't believe my eyes: the tiny white fluffy chicks were much smaller than I had expected; after the three weeks of observing on the monitor I was expecting to see something twice the size.

The official part was very quickly over, with very little stress to the chicks. I then had the great privilege to hold one gently in my hands- what an experience, second only to holding a tiny baby.

Although still clothed in white fluffy down the feathers were becoming obvious, and now, 10 days later, it's amazing that the fluff is almost completely gone. They are well feathered and trying their wings and legs to gain expertise for the life ahead as a magnificent bird of prey that the peregrine is.

Needless to say my admiration of these birds of prey just grows. I hope all you admirers and followers of the Huntly Peregrines continue to do so.

Miriam, Volunteer.

Up Close and Personal

2009-06-05T09:09:00.002+01:00

Our eyasses are doing really well. They are now roughly four weeks old and their white down is quickly disappearing to reveal feathers. On Monday evening our licensed peregrine expert, John, oversaw the ringing of our chicks.

Alistair, assisted by Jim (both Forestry Commission accreditated climbers) abseiled on to the ledge. Alistair also has an SNH (Scottish Natural Heritage) license which permits him to do this as it is an offence to knowingly disturb protected birds. After a short struggle during which Alistair obtained a thick lip and a battering to his pride, the three youngesters were put into a bag and were hauled up to the top of the quarry. As this was happening the adult birds circled round the quarry, closely watching the proceedings and regularly "skirling" their displeasure.

At the top of the quarry eagerly awaiting the the three chicks was a small band of wardens, volunteers and journalists. John got the eyasses out, rung them, pit-tagged them (a small ring that sends out an electronic signal that can be read as a number if it goes past the right equipment), took a DNA sample (a feather) and informed us that we had one female and two male chicks, all of which were extremely healthy.

Once all the checks were done and photos had been taken, the chicks were once again placed into the holdall then lowered down to Alistair, who had been busy tidying the ledge, checking the cameras and trimming the grass. The eyasses then were released back onto the ledge. Within five minutes of everyone leaving our falcon mum was back on the ledge admiring her youngsters' new jewellery and her house makeover. The whole process had taken just over 20 minutes.

Although it is extremely important scientifically that we monitor these birds, from a totally selfish point of view it is a wonderful experience and privilege to be involved in this procedure and it gives us an attachment to these guys that professionally we probably shouldn't have, but hey, wow can you feel that smile and holier than thou attitude!

Please remember it is an offence carrying a maximum £3000 fine and six months in knowingly to disturb the nest sites of protected birds.

Blown over!

2009-05-29T12:41:00.007+01:00

This clip, taken at the start of May on a very windy day, sees our poor peregrine battling to stay on the nest. Unfortunately a particularly large gust sends it head over heels in a rather undignified manner...

A second clip on the main website at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-72df9t shows the same thing happening - but this time, a wee, white chick head is revealed. Both that clip and a higher reolution version of the one above are on the page.

Hanging around

2009-05-29T10:46:00.000+01:00

It is really quite suprising this late in the season how many spare peregrines of different ages are still knocking about.

A week past Sunday, once again we had another peregrine in the quarry, a young, mature, unrung female, much to the concern of our falcon. Surprise Surprise, our Tiercel kept a low profile - in fact, no profile because he was nowhere to be seen!

The interloping falcon was really on a wind-up, flying low and acrobatically round the quarry. Twice our female came off the eyrie to chase it away and both times the spare came back first, non-plussed. The second time, 20 minutes elapsed before our Falcon mum reappeared, long enough for us to get a little concerned!

Reading the blogs at other raptor sites round the country many seem to be experiencing the same scenario, which would give the impression that the bird of prey population is doing quite well.

Poem: The Peregrines of Huntly

2009-05-26T17:18:00.001+01:00

The poem below was written for us by Hamish Mackintosh Taylor from Coupar Angus following a visit to the centre this month. In his own words, Hamish is an "artist, writer & sometimes poet". Enjoy.

The Peregrines of Huntly
By Hamish Mackintosh Taylor, May 2009

Tam Tiercel stands proud, high up at his post,
Chest puffed out white as the stains on the rock.
Lord of the skies is on guard.

Faith sits tight on a scrape nearby
Her downy chicks asleep, safe warm and dry.
All-stars are on camera.

(Huntly birds do more than hunt)

From woods many eyes see the scene play out,
Squirrel, peckers and a mouse dance round about
Nuts and seeds hanging like beads.

Faith cries “Hek-Hek” she’s crying for food;
Tam flies off to hunt for the brood,
Some innocent prey to kill.

High he flies in a cloudless sky, lining
Up the jack the bowler plans to attack.
Stoop and smack, it is over.

Jack Daw is dead meat held tight in hook’d feet,
Carried to the nest for family to eat,
Eat well at home this day.

Picture of the month - May 09

2009-05-18T10:56:00.005+01:00

Each month, we pick out a picture drawn by one of our younger visitors to the Wild Watch centre to be our picture of the month.

Our picture for May 09 was drawn by Claire, aged 9.

Photography evening

2009-05-15T18:04:00.001+01:00

We are holding a photography evening at the centre on Friday 29th May from 1800-2100. It is a free event & open to anyone interested in digital or film photography.

There are limited spaces (20) so if you are interested, please contact the centre to book. Call 01466 760790 or email: huntly.peregrines@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

Egg update

2009-05-13T08:46:00.001+01:00

We have none! - But that's OK, because our third egg hatched on Friday and none of them got blown away on Thursday which was a real concern.

The chicks are much more alert already, recognising the parents as providers of food. The male is still doing most of the hunting and the female does most/all of the feeding, eight feeds a day, so there is a lot more action. Dad still comes on to check on his offspring and the female is quite accepting of this, unlike many female peregrines who can be big, bossy and aggressive. Just a normal mother really!

The chicks are easily seen on the screen now when the adults leave giving that "Ahhh" factor. We are open every day 9.30am - 5.30pm so come along and "Ahh" for yourself.

Apologies for short delay in updates

2009-05-11T10:37:00.001+01:00

Sorry for keeping you waiting for the latest update folks - see below for the good news on chicks!

New arrivals

2009-05-11T10:35:00.001+01:00

From 7th May

As I came into work today it was blowing a real hooligan (gale) but even over the wind and despite my poor hearing I still thought I could hear heard the sound of cheeping chicks over the scrape microphone. We eagerly watched the monitor but we got distracted by a new bird outside the cabin. A redpoll had discovered fallen niger seed from the feeder and we were engrossed.

We were drawn back to the monitor by what we thought was a change over of the adults; fortunately the wonders of modern technology allowed us to replay our falcon being completely upended by the wind. With her head in the sand and her backside and legs flailing in the air we could make out two little white balls of fluff. A superb piece of footage which we hope to be able to share with you all somehow or other (please Bill!). Later our tiercel came in with a pigeon which the falcon took and fed to the chicks, caching the remains.

This afternoon the adults changed over and we got a really good view of two chicks and an egg! This is just under a fortnight earlier than last year. Definitely a red(poll) letter day!!!

Why don't you come along and see the new arrivals.

Last week...

2009-05-11T10:33:00.001+01:00

From 6th May.

Here at Huntly Peregrine wildwatch we are pacing up and down the cabin in anticipation of the hatching of our 3 eggs (well I would be if Auchterless pre-school would leave!) I think they will hatch on Thursday, Gibby thinks it will be Friday and Denise is saying nothing - very diplomatic. (Paul and I were hoping it would be today when we were here but it doesn't look like it's going to happen now).

We had a very busy May Holiday weekend with lots of visitors. Unfortunately our tiercel decided to have an away-day on the Monday, but has been showing well since. Maybe he got stuck behind one of the vast number of caravans on the A96! Our osprey is still single and still eating trout.

An osprey at Huntly Peregrine WildWatch!

2009-05-01T09:29:00.002+01:00

We have an osprey at Huntly Peregrine WildWatch!

In one of the woods nearby there is platform on an old Scots Pine tree. Ospreys were filmed on it two years ago but unfortunately both the chicks that hatched failed to fledge. Last year a bird came for only one day and wasn’t seen again. This year however, a single osprey has appeared at the site and although this is late compared to all the other ospreys, it seems to be quite settled. It has been making itself comfortable on the remnants of the old nest and bringing home fish and chips! Well ok, just fish - trout to be exact. We are all hoping that the lonely hearts advert is a success and it is soon joined by a companion.

Yesterday we had a visit from a group of self-employed tour guides on a fact finding mission. It was very informal and a lot fun. One of the group even managed to catch a newt during a quick pond dipping exercise. Unfortunately our male peregrine was not in the quarry but volunteers Flora and Paul did a sterling job, aided and abetted by our gang of woodland birds, keeping everyone entertained. The appearance of the red squirrels was the icing on the cake. Miriam sent them happily on their way with a goodie bag – (it was only a poster, a sticker and pencil, honestly Ewan!) They were all making rash promises to return with coach parties. We will see!

Sad News

2009-04-20T09:29:00.002+01:00

Sandy Bowie (83), our neighbour at Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch, passed away last week.

Sandy spent most of his working life at the Bin quarry and he was the manager when it closed in 1975. He had a wealth of knowledge and many stories about the quarry. Sandy was a great supporter of the Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch.

Sandy is survived by his wife Bertha ; an excellent gardener, a brilliant baker and good friend to all at Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch. Bertha is often to be found in the cabin drinking a cup of tea and sharing her wonderful home bakes with one and all.

Sandy and Bertha have been our eyes and ears when everyone has gone home. They kept our bird and squirrel feeders full in the winter.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to Bertha and this difficult time.

A wonderful Easter week

2009-04-17T09:26:00.002+01:00

What a wonderful Easter week we have had here at Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch, with glorious sunny weather and many visitors.

Lots of folk enjoyed the fun at Easter egg hunts held in both the Bin Forest and at Bennachie and we were delighted that so many people came to visit us at Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch afterwards.

Our peregrines have settled down on the three eggs - quality not quantity again this year! The birds are taking turns sitting on the eyrie and going off to hunt for food; the male is doing most of the hunting. Estimated date of hatching is 6th or 7th of May but we will need a scan to be sure!

Our birdfeeders are getting a lot of visitors too. We are regularly seeing siskins, chaffinches, tits and dunnocks but we are also attracting many other species.

The red squirrels are putting on quite a show outside both the hide and the cabin and cheeky little bank voles have taken residence under the feeders up at the hide.

Why don’t you come along and see what you can spot?

Larger web cam images

2009-04-17T09:24:00.001+01:00

A larger version of the web cam has now been added to the main Huntly Peregrines pages on the Forestry Commission Scotland website. You can see it at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-72uk2p.

Webcam now on the blog

2009-04-16T09:18:00.002+01:00

If you cast your eyes to the right of the page you'll see our web cam is now in place, bringing you 'live' images from the peregrines' scrape.

At present, the images only update every two minutes, but we're working to improve this. It'll still give you a flavour of what the birds are up to though, especially if you are unable to come and visit us at the WildWatch centre.

A miserable, wet day...

2009-04-08T15:47:00.004+01:00

Miriam writes: Wednesday - a miserable, wet day with very few visitors calling in. Neil has just taken Harris, a new young volunteer, for a tour of the site and up to the top hide, while my instructions are to write a 'bit' for the Blog!

So far...

Last Sunday the grand opening ceremony was really well attended with the car park full to capacity - of course we were favoured with the weather; it was really good. We're now into our second week already. Monday and Tuesday were reasonably well patronised, with the weather fine. Today's not been so good - wet most of the time, but with a few hardy souls keen to see the treasures on offer!

Easter approaches

The weekend sees Easter upon us, so we are hoping for lots of you out there to come and see the upgraded Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch centre and the stars of the show incubating the three beautifully coloured eggs. If you are lucky you may even see them on the new monitors.

So if you are planning on going to The Bin to roll eggs, why not take a trip up the road afterwards? Dress up suitably to face any weather and a warm welcome awaits you. That's it from one and all here. Cheers, Miriam.

More eggs!

2009-04-08T09:35:00.001+01:00

Time, tide and female falcons wait for no one - we now have 3 eggs - faster than a warden can write a blog!

Our second egg was laid on Thursday night /Friday morning last week and our third egg arrived on Sunday past. Historically our falcons lay incubate and fledge 3 eggs/chicks but there is a record of 4 chicks hatching in one of the years previous to Huntly Peregrine Wild Watch being established, so perhaps we may yet get another egg.

Our Tiercel [dad peregrine] is providing the food and is also taking a turn incubating while the Falcon [mum] is feeding. We are regularly seeing spare peregrines which are probably scouting around looking for suitable nest sites, but don't take my word for it - come and see for yourself! We are open every day.

Images from our opening day

2009-04-07T16:47:00.003+01:00

We've posted a few images from our opening day - see the slideshow on the right. Eighty people were in attendance on what was a beautiful sunny day. The day before we had been preparing the site in sleet & snow.

A special mention goes to Neil Ross, age 7 and his father, age unknown, for constructing and donating the barn owl, tawny owl and kestrel boxes.

The images, along with some from last season, are in our Picasa album.

Stop press!

2009-04-03T13:40:00.003+01:00

Great news - we have our first egg.

To be honest, we've actually had our first egg for two days, but in our defence we couldn''t see the scrape clearly from the hide as the cameras weren't working and the infrared security camera was just not clear enough.

But that all changed when in came Saint Bill from radio branch. Miraculously, that shape (it's a rock - oh no it isn't) changed into precious peregrine eggs.

We're now up & running - well, some of us brooding - and fingers crossed there should be another one shortly.

Live images at the centre

We now have live images in our new hide of our falcon sitting on the scrape . What are you waiting for? Come and see for yourselves.

We're open!

2009-04-03T13:30:00.003+01:00

Sunday brought glorious Spring weather and John Thomson, Forest District Manager joined a large crowd of about 80 wellwishers to toast the success of the peregrines.

John also offically opened the extended hide and the new path, which is almost finished!

The peregrines pair is the same as last year and they were on view for most of the day. It was good to welcome so many new and old faces. Gibby and Neil are back again - will no-one give this pair a full time job (hint, hint!)? Angie Smith - "Ms Huntly Peregrines" since 2003 - is taking a well deserved break this year and we welcome Denise Ronald to the fold.

Remember we are open seven days a week so get off your computer and come and see us!

Join us for the centre opening this Sunday

2009-03-27T10:07:00.003Z

Come and help us celebrate our re-opening this Sunday (29th). There's tea, coffee and shortbread, as well as a whisky toast to the success of the birds this season.

We'll also have the naming of last year's chicks, with names suggested by local school children and brownies.

The opening ceremony is at 2pm.

New for this year

The hide has been extended and there's also a new path to see. Hope to see you there!

Centre re-opens Sunday 29th March

2009-02-23T10:26:00.001Z

The 2009 season kicks off when the centre reopens on Sunday 29th March. More details soon!