One peregrine circling the town square at 10.30 this morning (13/05/10)
Dean Macdonald said
Mon May 10 9:53 PM, 2010
2 Peregrines putting on quiet a noisy display on the church tower today. I've seen 2 birds pretty regularly this last few weeks but it doesn't look like a breeding attempt has been made. The female should be sitting by now. The pair seem to be staying together though, so could be good news for the future.
Cheers Dean.
Dean Macdonald said
Thu Apr 22 8:28 PM, 2010
2 Peregrines on the church at 7.30 this evening.
Steven Astley said
Sat Apr 17 9:30 PM, 2010
Peregrine seen at dusk flying onto town hall clock tower
Mark Rigby said
Fri Apr 9 1:54 PM, 2010
Peregrine sat on town hall clock tower at 9am.
Judith Smith said
Sat Mar 27 8:09 PM, 2010
Anthony has left Bolton MBC and is working for Natural England in Cumbria now.
Dean Macdonald said
Fri Mar 26 10:10 PM, 2010
Hope so. Any news from Anthony?
Judith Smith said
Fri Mar 26 10:01 PM, 2010
Could be sitting? Time is about right.
Dean Macdonald said
Fri Mar 26 9:58 PM, 2010
Since my last post i've only seen one bird. I may have been unlucky with sightings, i only have short viewing times while i'm at work, and i'm spending far too much time at work at the moment, so haven't had time to get to the car park roof to see what's going on. Had far more regular sightings of 2 birds last year and the year before, at this time of year. Of course, 5 mins after i go back into work they could be displaying for the next hour. So still optimistic.
Dean Macdonald said
Fri Mar 12 9:05 PM, 2010
Both birds calling in the air together at lunchtime today. One bird, the male, settled on the church tower but didn't see where the female landed. Could've been on the other side of the tower. Still not yet managed to get any decent close views of the birds together. I've had severel reports from people who've heard them being very noisy in the town centre. So it's looking good so far.
Cheers Dean.
Dean Macdonald said
Tue Mar 9 8:53 PM, 2010
Interesting prey species there. Must be fed up with the local pigeons. I've only ever seen them take pigeons, the area around my works is littered with corpses.
At least we can take heart with the fact the female died of natural causes and not any foul means.
Judith Smith said
Tue Mar 9 8:14 PM, 2010
I took the Dunlin into the Bolton Museum as it was fresh and uneaten, and Pat Francis (senior keeper) showed me the mounted adult female Peregrine which was found dead in the churchyard at Bolton Parish Church on 16th December 2009, which she has just received. The taxidermist's report was attached. It didn't die of coccoidosis as first thought, but as follows (extract from report by Phil Leggatt): "On examining the thawed bird its cause of death is fairly apparent. The crop had a small puncture in it which has become very badly infected causing it to become full of pus, very swollen (instead of the thin pink membrane it usually is). The smell from it was very pungent. The body was otherwise unmarked [with no trauma]...I have come across this several times before in both wild and captive-bred raptors when a small bone or fragment punctures the crop membrane due to the pressure of an engorged crop, preventing the bird from putting its crop over to the stomach, and the food mass effectively rots in the crop if the bird does not expel it. The bird usually dies in a few days from the resulting infection."
I took a photo of the mounted bird and have sent it to Ian for possible inclusion on the website. The natural history part of the museum is closed till November for major building works.
-- Edited by Judith Smith on Tuesday 9th of March 2010 08:24:22 PM
Paul Heaton said
Tue Mar 9 7:14 PM, 2010
Parish church tower this morning, with Judith Smith and very interesting it was.
Bar-tailed Godwit. Woodcock. Lapwing. Dunlin BH Gull Dunnock and lots of other bits of birds that we did not name,
Seems the Bolton Peregrine have a taste for waders,
Godwit and Dunlin now two birds there that would keep a Bolton Borough lister happy pity they were half eaten.
Keep looking at the live ones.
Dean Macdonald said
Wed Mar 3 7:19 PM, 2010
Both birds displaying over the clock tower at 1pm today.
Dennis atherton said
Tue Mar 2 11:02 PM, 2010
good news, a lot of the scaffolding is down now and all the stuff from round the clock and tower, lets see if they come back and away from the parish church, they might be settled there by now, at least there old haunt is now available
Ian Campbell said
Sun Feb 28 11:59 AM, 2010
Pair of birds on parish church 10.00 a.m. today. Cheers Ian
Dean Macdonald said
Mon Feb 22 9:32 PM, 2010
2 Birds in the air over the church at 8 am. Aslo a pair of Ravens flew over around 12.45.
Simon Warford said
Sat Feb 20 4:15 PM, 2010
2 birds on the Parish Church making one hell of a racket this morning.
Paul Cliff said
Tue Feb 16 3:27 PM, 2010
Female over Bradley fold road heading towards Bolton town centre 30 minutes ago. I love seeing em in the air!
Dean Macdonald said
Mon Feb 15 6:11 PM, 2010
Yep, 2 birds on the church at 12.30 Couldn't see if the female had a ring as i didn't have my bins today.
steve ashworth said
Mon Feb 15 11:41 AM, 2010
both male and female on parish church at 11.30 today
Judith Smith said
Fri Feb 12 7:50 PM, 2010
Good news. I had a call from the Town Hall today to tell me the scaffolding will be removed from the Town Hall clock tower very shortly - by the end of the month - so breeding should be able to go ahead assuming we get a new female. At the Parish Church, they are getting a lot of problems with dead pigeons and feathers blocking the drainage channels so that wet rot is beginning. So they will be putting a mesh across the top of the tower to prevent this.
phil ogden said
Fri Feb 5 11:39 PM, 2010
Thanks for info. Work on town hall will be over running i have heard,
Dean Macdonald said
Fri Feb 5 10:02 PM, 2010
The remaining male bird is still frequenting the parish church. I see it most days and yesterday there was the corpse of a pigeon on the drainage spout. I hope another female arrives in the area but nesting on the town hall looks out of the question this year as i've been told the work on the clock won't be finished until june.
Dean.
phil ogden said
Fri Feb 5 1:33 PM, 2010
Was walking from the market today back to Wellington house. Two crows on top the comms tower being circled by peregrine. Both the crows and peregrine very vocal. Quite a stand off.
Dennis atherton said
Thu Jan 14 6:39 PM, 2010
very sad news, i used to love seeing them around the town hall in bolton,i went in town with digiscope kit to get some photos on a saturday, everyone asking what are you looking at, a lot of people knew what they were, quite infamous i would say, i hope a pair comes back again next year
Judith Smith said
Wed Jan 13 8:34 PM, 2010
The dead female went to a taxidermist today for Bolton Museum. The taxidermist, who has a lot of experience with raptors as he used to breed them, thinks it died of a disease associated with Feral Pigeons called (I think) cocciodosis. However, the internal organs are going to CEH for analysis and a definitive result.
dave broome said
Fri Dec 18 10:17 PM, 2009
Judith Smith wrote: (OK I know it's incest but there you are...)
Quite normal in Bolton
Judith Smith said
Thu Dec 17 9:43 PM, 2009
Bolton Museum have found funding to mount the bird. The "innards" will be sent to the Predatory Birds Monitoring Scheme so we can find the cause of death. I'm not too despondent about the future of breeding birds in Bolton town centre. There are two other breeding pairs nearby, and there are the young from 2008 which will be ready to breed in 2010 (OK I know it's incest but there you are...) and we did raise 24 young Peregrines in GM this year so the future is bright.
Adrian Drummond-Hill said
Thu Dec 17 8:23 AM, 2009
Very sad news, I too hope this is not the end of breeding birds in Bolton.
Dean Macdonald said
Wed Dec 16 11:05 PM, 2009
I hope it's not the breeding female but how many other adult female birds are likely to be in the area? I haven't seen any. I'm gutted. Could the fact they raised 4 young this year have taken their toll? Or could the scaffolding on the town hall have just disrupted their routine? Either way it's very sad news. I hope it's not the end of the birds breeding in Bolton.
Dean.
Judith Smith said
Wed Dec 16 8:46 PM, 2009
I have now had chance to do full measurements and weigh this bird. In my opinion it is an adult female. It's fully slate grey and no suggestion of rufous on it. I have sent the photos to our ringer and to a Peregrine expert I work with, with the measurements, and if I'm wrong, will post! It's important we find what killed this bird, as adults - this could be, probably is, our breeding female - have a much higher survival than juvs. There may be underlying causes such as pesticides. It was underweight (890g cf range of 925g - 1333g) and appeared to have a broken neck - possibly due to a collision with the tower?
It's now in my freezer and I am waiting for Bolton Museum to decide if they can afford to pay for a taxidermist to mount it. If that is the case, the organs will be removed and sent to the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology's Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme for analysis. If the museum doesn't want it, the bird will go to CEH in its entirety.
Ian McKerchar said
Wed Dec 16 8:16 PM, 2009
Pete, I'd fully expect last year's young to still be in mainly juvenile plumage and obviously so. If it appeared to be an adult, complete with fully blue-grey upperparts and wing coverts with distinctly barred underparts, then it will not have been a juvenile from last year. Shame for the bird either way
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 16th of December 2009 08:17:25 PM
Pete Lane said
Wed Dec 16 7:21 PM, 2009
The bird was found by a friend of mine working in the church yard this morning. I collected it and passed it on to Judith. It had no rings on, but it seems last years young from the town hall were not rung (for health ans safety reasons!!!) It looked like an adult, but tests will reveal its age, there were no obvious signs of injury.
Dave Tennant said
Wed Dec 16 6:55 PM, 2009
That is sad news,was in bolton yesterday has anyone any idea when the building work ends on the town hall.
Dean Macdonald said
Wed Dec 16 6:35 PM, 2009
That's terrible news. Hope it's not suspicous.
Judith Smith said
Wed Dec 16 9:36 AM, 2009
Sad news just now of a bird found dead near Bolton Parish Church. I will be picking the corpse up later this morning so that it can go to the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology for analysis.
Paul Risley said
Sun Aug 9 12:01 PM, 2009
sat evening 7-30ish
walking towards town hall from railway station saw 1 Peregrine flying towards town hall with large prey item, 2nd peregrine already on town hall.
Dean Macdonald said
Thu Jul 30 10:39 PM, 2009
The second breeding year has proved even better than the first. Regular sightings of food passes to the youngsters on the outskirts of the town centre. Although we were convinced there were 4 juv, which i don't doubt, i still only see 1 or 2 together. They didn't seem to be using the parish church as much as last year, untill the last few weeks, when food has been left on the church roof with regular sightings of the birds on the roof and the draining spout. I think they have found some hiding places among the town centre buildings but i still see them in the air pretty much every day,between the downpours!! Even had one over the garden the other week. Brightened up my summer for the last 2 years and long may it continue
Geoff Hargreaves said
Sun Jul 12 2:59 PM, 2009
Early morning visit,result 1 or 2 adults seen first on the parish church then on the town hall ,right at the neck straining topdespite a 2 hour search of the town center I couldn,t locate the 'gang'.
cheers geoff
Dean Macdonald said
Mon Jun 15 10:22 PM, 2009
Bit of activity at work today. Only 3 birds in the air, looked like 2 juvs chasing an adult. Must've been some food somewhere.
Cheers Dean.
Geoff Hargreaves said
Sun Jun 14 9:46 PM, 2009
Popped in to see these birds this morning,three chicks and one adult seen a one stage probably all six but it,s hard to keep track,quite a few fly rounds and two chicks fustratingly on the lower section of building but out of view
cheers geoffit,s sky blue not 'city'
Geoff Hargreaves said
Fri Jun 12 10:07 PM, 2009
Thanks Adrian,I,ll try again on sunday if the weather looks promising,and hope the birds decide to sit in the sunshine rather than on the 'dark side' of the building which should help me get rid of that 'fuzziness' in the shots.
asda mega breakfast rulesgeoff
this is not a sales pitch for asda and you should make butties and a flask or take some corporation pop and two lathoms lobbers if your in a rush
Adrian Dancy said
Fri Jun 12 12:43 AM, 2009
Geoff some good shots of the Bolton birds
Photographing in Bolton or Manchester can get a bit hairy at times. Sadly when I was in Bolton a scroat tried it on with me and said menacingly I should give my camera to him. I'll spare you the details, but he was serious and so was my reply.
I actually liked doing the Bolton birds for most of the time, and most of the folk there were great. When I did the peregrine and magpie together about 50 people gathered round and the enthusiasm from the crowd was great but you can't take pics when people lean on your rig. One of the girls from a shop came out and said you must need a drink being here all this time and asked what I'd like to drink . You can't beat that for hospitality.
I'll let you know when I go to Bolton again, it will be in the next few days, though I hope by then I have got my main camera back from repairs. I've been photographing with a half clapped out camera for the last 3 weeks.
Geoff Hargreaves said
Tue Jun 9 10:57 PM, 2009
Right down to the nitty gritty,these birds are a fantastic sight and have had to be seen from the distant car park viewing point until now, on sunday i parked for free against the town hall and enjoyed some good views,albeit you have to walk round a bit as the birds shufftey around,but (sorry adrian) I felt much easier in bolton town centre than when i,ve been to see the manchester birds.Mind on you might have to share your scope with a few interested passers bybest comment from the public was 'are these the ones the council have bought' if only.
cheers geoff
David Craven said
Tue Jun 9 7:19 PM, 2009
Yeah, Juvs well visible from the Library steps. Two in flight about 5.00pm today, one made it over to the museum/library roof (and shouted about it), then the other took off, then seemed to have second thoughts and went back to the town hall.
Ian McKerchar said
Tue Jun 9 6:29 PM, 2009
I think Geoff confimed it on the 7th
Judith Smith said
Tue Jun 9 6:08 PM, 2009
4 juveniles and 2 parents confirmed by Anthony Bremner this afternoon.
Judith Smith said
Tue Jun 9 4:40 PM, 2009
I have seen Geoff's photos, as has our Peregrine ringer, and it really does look as if there could be 4 juveniles. This year, with them not being on the nest tray but on the base of the dome, they were partially obscured by pinnacles and other stone ornamentation and were able to walk right round the dome base. In fact they are seen best from the library steps, I'm told today. Sometimes you do get one juvenile that does its own thing - maybe a different sex to the others - so it could be there are 4. They laid 4 eggs last year. So, folks, have a close look whilst the juvs are still frequenting the clock tower and let's get this sorted! Obviously they couldn't be ringed this year (due to H&S reasons) but we are hoping to remedy this for next year when safety rings will be installed as part of ongoing masonry renovation. I'm hoping to get there with the scope tomorrow morning. Bolton Council have also taken steps to ensure the birds will not be disturbed by the workmen whilst they are breeding; a strict code is being enforced so that if the workmen come face to face with a juvenile - which is impossible to prevent now they have fledged as they can be anywhere - they will retreat immediately. The council is liaising with me, the RSPB and the GMP WLO in the birds' best interests.
Dean Macdonald said
Mon Jun 8 9:56 PM, 2009
I got a call from Anthony just after 1pm. He was watching the juvs taking their first flights. Unfortunately i was tied up at work and couldn't nip out to keep an eye on them. He was concerned about them getting caught up in the netting on the town hall. Hope that doesn't happen this year. I did manage to take a look around 3pm and the juvs where back on the clock feeding. Looks like they're on the move, which should make the next few weeks very interesting
2 Peregrines putting on quiet a noisy display on the church tower today. I've seen 2 birds pretty regularly this last few weeks but it doesn't look like a breeding attempt has been made. The female should be sitting by now. The pair seem to be staying together though, so could be good news for the future.
Cheers Dean.
2 Peregrines on the church at 7.30 this evening.
Hope so. Any news from Anthony?
Since my last post i've only seen one bird. I may have been unlucky with sightings, i only have short viewing times while i'm at work, and i'm spending far too much time at work at the moment, so haven't had time to get to the car park roof to see what's going on. Had far more regular sightings of 2 birds last year and the year before, at this time of year. Of course, 5 mins after i go back into work they could be displaying for the next hour. So still optimistic.
Both birds calling in the air together at lunchtime today. One bird, the male, settled on the church tower but didn't see where the female landed. Could've been on the other side of the tower. Still not yet managed to get any decent close views of the birds together. I've had severel reports from people who've heard them being very noisy in the town centre. So it's looking good so far.
Cheers Dean.
Interesting prey species there. Must be fed up with the local pigeons. I've only ever seen them take pigeons, the area around my works is littered with corpses.
At least we can take heart with the fact the female died of natural causes and not any foul means.
"On examining the thawed bird its cause of death is fairly apparent. The crop had a small puncture in it which has become very badly infected causing it to become full of pus, very swollen (instead of the thin pink membrane it usually is). The smell from it was very pungent. The body was otherwise unmarked [with no trauma]...I have come across this several times before in both wild and captive-bred raptors when a small bone or fragment punctures the crop membrane due to the pressure of an engorged crop, preventing the bird from putting its crop over to the stomach, and the food mass effectively rots in the crop if the bird does not expel it. The bird usually dies in a few days from the resulting infection."
I took a photo of the mounted bird and have sent it to Ian for possible inclusion on the website. The natural history part of the museum is closed till November for major building works.
-- Edited by Judith Smith on Tuesday 9th of March 2010 08:24:22 PM
Bar-tailed Godwit.
Woodcock.
Lapwing.
Dunlin
BH Gull
Dunnock and lots of other bits of birds that we did not name,
Seems the Bolton Peregrine have a taste for waders,
Godwit and Dunlin now two birds there that would keep a Bolton Borough lister happy pity they were half eaten.
Keep looking at the live ones.
Both birds displaying over the clock tower at 1pm today.
Cheers Ian
2 Birds in the air over the church at 8 am. Aslo a pair of Ravens flew over around 12.45.
Yep, 2 birds on the church at 12.30 Couldn't see if the female had a ring as i didn't have my bins today.
At the Parish Church, they are getting a lot of problems with dead pigeons and feathers blocking the drainage channels so that wet rot is beginning. So they will be putting a mesh across the top of the tower to prevent this.
The remaining male bird is still frequenting the parish church. I see it most days and yesterday there was the corpse of a pigeon on the drainage spout. I hope another female arrives in the area but nesting on the town hall looks out of the question this year as i've been told the work on the clock won't be finished until june.
Dean.
Quite normal in Bolton
I'm not too despondent about the future of breeding birds in Bolton town centre. There are two other breeding pairs nearby, and there are the young from 2008 which will be ready to breed in 2010 (OK I know it's incest but there you are...) and we did raise 24 young Peregrines in GM this year so the future is bright.
I hope it's not the breeding female but how many other adult female birds are likely to be in the area? I haven't seen any.
I'm gutted. Could the fact they raised 4 young this year have taken their toll? Or could the scaffolding on the town hall have just disrupted their routine?
Either way it's very sad news. I hope it's not the end of the birds breeding in Bolton.
Dean.
It's now in my freezer and I am waiting for Bolton Museum to decide if they can afford to pay for a taxidermist to mount it. If that is the case, the organs will be removed and sent to the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology's Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme for analysis. If the museum doesn't want it, the bird will go to CEH in its entirety.
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Wednesday 16th of December 2009 08:17:25 PM
That's terrible news. Hope it's not suspicous.
walking towards town hall from railway station saw 1 Peregrine flying towards town hall with large prey item, 2nd peregrine already on town hall.
The second breeding year has proved even better than the first. Regular sightings of food passes to the youngsters on the outskirts of the town centre. Although we were convinced there were 4 juv, which i don't doubt, i still only see 1 or 2 together.
They didn't seem to be using the parish church as much as last year, untill the last few weeks, when food has been left on the church roof with regular sightings of the birds on the roof and the draining spout. I think they have found some hiding places among the town centre buildings but i still see them in the air pretty much every day,between the downpours!! Even had one over the garden the other week.
Brightened up my summer for the last 2 years and long may it continue
cheers geoff
Bit of activity at work today. Only 3 birds in the air, looked like 2 juvs chasing an adult. Must've been some food somewhere.
Cheers Dean.
probably all six but it,s hard to keep track,quite a few fly rounds and two chicks fustratingly on the lower section of building but out of view
cheers geoffit,s sky blue not 'city'
asda mega breakfast rulesgeoff
this is not a sales pitch for asda and you should make butties and a flask or take some corporation pop and two lathoms lobbers if your in a rush
Photographing in Bolton or Manchester can get a bit hairy at times. Sadly when I was in Bolton a scroat tried it on with me and said menacingly I should give my camera to him. I'll spare you the details, but he was serious and so was my reply.
I actually liked doing the Bolton birds for most of the time, and most of the folk there were great. When I did the peregrine and magpie together about 50 people gathered round and the enthusiasm from the crowd was great but you can't take pics when people lean on your rig. One of the girls from a shop came out and said you must need a drink being here all this time and asked what I'd like to drink . You can't beat that for hospitality.
I'll let you know when I go to Bolton again, it will be in the next few days, though I hope by then I have got my main camera back from repairs. I've been photographing with a half clapped out camera for the last 3 weeks.
cheers geoff
Sometimes you do get one juvenile that does its own thing - maybe a different sex to the others - so it could be there are 4. They laid 4 eggs last year.
So, folks, have a close look whilst the juvs are still frequenting the clock tower and let's get this sorted! Obviously they couldn't be ringed this year (due to H&S reasons) but we are hoping to remedy this for next year when safety rings will be installed as part of ongoing masonry renovation. I'm hoping to get there with the scope tomorrow morning.
Bolton Council have also taken steps to ensure the birds will not be disturbed by the workmen whilst they are breeding; a strict code is being enforced so that if the workmen come face to face with a juvenile - which is impossible to prevent now they have fledged as they can be anywhere - they will retreat immediately. The council is liaising with me, the RSPB and the GMP WLO in the birds' best interests.
I got a call from Anthony just after 1pm. He was watching the juvs taking their first flights. Unfortunately i was tied up at work and couldn't nip out to keep an eye on them. He was concerned about them getting caught up in the netting on the town hall. Hope that doesn't happen this year. I did manage to take a look around 3pm and the juvs where back on the clock feeding. Looks like they're on the move, which should make the next few weeks very interesting
I've only seen 3 juvs.
Cheers Dean.