Peregrines, SE Scotland

[Neil Grubb]

Hi again all,

Just another update on the peregrines near my home in SE Scotland. Three young on nest, approx 5 weeks old now.  I hope you enjoy it. I have done a minor edit on the '4 weeks' video originally posted before this edit. Here they are, including some close up footage of one of the birds through a gap in the foliage:

Peregrines 28th May 2011

A link to the birds at week 5 to follow.

Take care,

Neil

[Donna]

Welcome back Neil, was wondering what happened to you and how your falcons are doing. Thanks so much for posting this. Do try to stay in touch, I like hearing about your falcons and watching your videos.

[Wing Goose]

Nice Video.  I like their nest.  It looks like the adults
added branches and stuff to their nest.  The babies look really
great.  Thanks so much for sharing this from Scotland!
               
                    Lola

[Neil Grubb]

Hi Lola, the nest build is interesting. As is often the case, these peregrines share habitat with ravens, and alternate their nest site. They will typically nest in the previous year's raven nest, hence the twigs compacted into the base of the nest.

You can see some of this nest behaviour in my movie, Oasis: The Birds of the Esk Valley. (It's 26 minutes long and includes a section on peregrines and ravens.)

Oasis: Birds of the Esk Valley

Cheers,

Neil

[Wing Goose]

Hi Neil,
I just watched your excellent movie, Oasis: The Birds of the Esk Valley.
It was done very well.  The different birds and their nesting was great.
I liked your showing how the peregrines and the ravens "shared"  or
alternated nests each season.  I came away learning more about your
birds.  The flights of the starlings was excellent.  They are incredible.
Thank you so much for sharing your movie with us.

I highly recommend it to all!
     
        Lola

[Kris G.]

So glad to hear from you again, Neil!  I've always loved your videos showing Peregrines in a natural setting-just beautiful!  Thanks for posting another one for us!

[Neil Grubb]

Hi again,

Here are some stills (frame grabs from HD video) from recent footage of the Scottish peregrines.They work quite well as still photos!

Neil

[Donna]

I watched your video 2 times, it was that fascinating. Well narrated too. Can't wait for more. Thank you Neil.

[Annette]

Here are some stills (frame grabs from HD video) from recent footage of the Scottish peregrines.They work quite well as still photos!

This is the cam link
http://www.swt.org.uk/wildlife/webcams/falls-of-clyde/

[Neil Grubb]

Hi Annette,

Thanks for the link The video and stills I have posted are not from the Falls of Clyde but from an undisclosed site in Lothian. I discovered the site five years ago; when photographing buzzards I accidentally captured a peregrine overhead and the following spring with some effort found the nest ledge. It's very well hidden and there are only a couple of vantage points to the nest.

Cheers,

Neil

[Neil Grubb]

Here is the video for week 5 (this weekend):

Peregrines 4th June 2011 (v2)

Cheers,

Neil

[Donna]

Now that was fascinating Neil. Love the nest, love how they just GLOM the food when it's brought in and how they sleep after a big meal. Good job and how do you get such close shots?? Excellent video!

[Neil Grubb]

Hi Donna,

The close shots are a combination of positioning, natural cover and using a video camera which can take a long lens. I use a Canon XL-H1A camera, which is a HD camera, with an adapter and a Canon 100-400 f4.0-5.6 lens. This camera has a small chip so a large magnification factor (of 7.0) compared with my SLR camera (1.7). For the real close shots I used a 1.4x teleconverter. The nest itself is approximately 100 metres away when the shots are taken, and although it's not obvious from the video, the shots are taken through a gap in the branches of a large pine!

Here is a photo of the set-up (apologies for the poor quality, it was taken using my phone camera!)

[Donna]

Hi Donna,

The close shots are a combination of positioning, natural cover and using a video camera which can take a long lens. I use a Canon XL-H1A camera, which is a HD camera, with an adapter and a Canon 100-400 f4.0-5.6 lens. This camera has a small chip so a large magnification factor (of 7.0) compared with my SLR camera (1.7). For the real close shots I used a 1.4x teleconverter. The nest itself is approximately 100 metres away when the shots are taken, and although it's not obvious from the video, the shots are taken through a gap in the branches of a large pine!

Here is a photo of the set-up (apologies for the poor quality, it was taken using my phone camera!)

Well, whatever you were talking about.....it WORKS!! Now that's a set-up!  I love it and would NEVER know how to use it....or hook it up! Great job and I think we'd like more please! They will be fledging soon and you probably have a contraption that auto-follows falcons too! 

[Kris G.]

Beautiful videos!  The male has the white feathered head like Quest.  A new look?