First Peregrine Egg of 2017

The peregrines remained on the cathedral throughout the winter, holding onto their nest site and chasing away intruders regularly. They have spent recent weeks preparing to breed by carrying out ledge displays and making a nest scrape.

First sighting of the new egg.

Last year’s first egg appeared in the early hours of the 25th March and the female has been remarkably true to this day by laying her first egg of 2017 late on 24th March, not long before midnight.

A watcher in Texas saw when the egg was fully uncovered for the first time and I wonder how many other people were watching in countries around the world.

It was daylight when the male got his first look at the egg but the female soon arrived to keep her eye on it.

We expect eggs to be laid every two and a half days, approximately, until there is a clutch of three or four. The female will start to incubate when the penultimate egg has been laid.

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5 Responses to First Peregrine Egg of 2017

  1. Elaine farrar says:

    Is it normal for the egg to be left for long lengths of time I watch often and do not see the egg been incubated

    • Francis Hickenbottom says:

      Yes, that’s totally normal. They won’t begin incubating properly until the next-to-last egg is laid. This will probably be after the third egg is produced. Until then, they will cover the eggs for periods, particularly at night or during bad weather. The time to first hatching will be about 34 days after incubation begins, give or take a day or two. Most of the chicks will hatch at almost the same time and one will hatch a couple of days later.

  2. Elaine farrar says:

    Thanx just looked looks like another egg

  3. Reece wardle says:

    How do I watch the live camera, I can’t work out how to log into it

    • Francis Hickenbottom says:

      Reece, there is a link on the WfldPeregrines Twitter profile. So, go to @WfldPeregrines, look at the profile at the top and click on the link. Alternatively, go to http://www.wakefieldnaturalists.org/webcam. You can copy and past this address into the address bar on your browser and then add it to your favourites.
      Let me know if you still have difficulty with this.

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