The first two of the four peregrine eggs in the nest on Derby Cathedral have now hatched, to the delight of thousands of watchers around the world.
The pair of peregrine falcons have been nesting on the specially erected platform on the cathedral's tower since 2006 and have successfully reared young each year.
Nick Brown, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Education Manager, has been watching the bi
rds. He said: "After incubating the eggs for 30 days, our peregrine pair have successfully hatched out two of their four eggs. The first hatched at about 7.30pm on Wednesday 29th April and the second around midnight.
"We are now eagerly waiting to see if the others hatch – this should happen over the next two days. In 2007 only two of the four eggs hatched, the other two probably being infertile. Last year, all four hatched successfully."
Nick Moyes, Keeper of Natural History at Derby Museum, who set up the web cameras in 2007 said: "Interest in our birds has been double what it was last year when we had over 400,000 hits by the end of the season.
This year we had over 170,000 even before any eggs hatched - double last year's total at the same stage. These peregrines, nesting on such an iconic building right in the heart of Derby city, really have captured the imagination of people all over the planet, from Australia to France and from Turkey to Canada!"
Tony Grantham, Head Verger at the Cathedral, added: "The chicks will grow very quickly and they should be flying before the end of June if all goes well. Once they get bigger they can be seen from Cathedral Green at the back of the cathedral by anyone bring binoculars or a telescope to watch them".
The peregrine project is a partnership between Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Derby Museum and Art Gallery and Derby Cathedral.
To visit the webcameras,
click here.
The blogspot is at
http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/.
The Derby Peregrines homepage can be found at
www.derby.gov.uk/peregrines.
