5 Mar 23 — Preening Tom
Tom preening on the ledge last night while he kept an eye out on the egg. A good thorough job, including talons.
Today is P6T’s five weeks birthday!

He’s had a great day full of running around and flapping, with plenty of resting and preening in between. He can sprint along the runway at a fair speed! And does it sometimes while flapping (clip below for example).
He also pancaked on the wall for the first time, which means he now feels very confident on it.

He again spent the night out on the wall, in the same spot at the night before. He hasn’t been in the box since Monday unless going after a parent. Which has given Tom the opportunity to go and do a bit of housekeeping in there. It’s needed!
Name. A few people have asked if I’m going to name him. To be honest I am quite happy calling him P6T (it’s easy to say, which is usually my criterion for giving a name) and I haven’t been inspired so far. Maybe something will come during fledging but for now I will stick to it.
Funny clip to finish with before today’s album:
Today’s shots:
A second chick hatched last night, around 10.20 p.m., and was revealed at 5.47 this morning when Tom brought food (Starling) which Azina fed to the two chicks.

A pip and crack were also visible on one of the two remaining eggs but as I am typing this the chick hasn’t hatched yet. (Yesterday’s egg was also pipped by 6 a.m and the chick didn’t hatch until late, the process can take a long time). There was a time I thought it had hatched because Azina took some eggshell from under her and nibbled it. She’d done a magic trick on me as I didn’t see that bit get under her 😉


Azina has mostly been incubating/brooding but she’s also left the chicks for 30 minutes at a time twice. On the first occasion Tom spent some time with them, even tried to feed them, but on the second one they were left entirely on their own. Good thing they had each other to keep themselves warm.
The chicks were fed four times and again a mixture of pigeon and starling.
During one of her absences Azina went hunting and came back with a pigeon that she cached by the nest box. Tom picked it up a bit later and started plucking it. When Azina arrived he legged (or winged it) with the prey and she went in hot pursuit 😉 (the first four shots)
Shots for today:
And a very short clip to finish:
Two quiet days but very different. Yesterday Tom did little incubation (just under two hours). Today he did the most he’s done in a day so far this year with over five hours in two shifts. Today Azina did her longest day shift with seven hours on the trot.
About two thirds of the way through now…
I have put the #FledgeWatch notices up around the hospital this morning. P6T is in the second shot, he was preening on the left hand side corner of the ledge.

I really hope there won’t be any accident during the weekend because I have to go away. I will be keeping an eye on the cameras when I can. I have asked some friends and neighbours to keep watch and help to rescue P6T if necessary.

I will start Fledge Watch on Monday morning.

Anyone is welcome to come and help watch, keep me company or relieve me for a while. I hope he fledges on Tuesday or Wednesday but, with young Peregrines, you really can’t tell!
Indy had her accident on Day 40 (that’s Monday for P6T) but really didn’t fledge until 4 days later, Walnut fledged on Day 43 (Thursday), Jack fledged on Day 44 (Friday).

He again spent the night out on the wall, in the same spot at the night before. He hasn’t been in the box since Monday unless going after a parent. Which has given Tom the opportunity to go and do a bit of housekeeping in there. It’s needed!
Rainy day… And we got a repeat of Wednesday with few exchanges and long shifts with Azina doing one of six hours and Tom over three hours so he was back to over five hours in total. No sign of intruders 🙂
Tom’s getting bolder! He nipped at Azina’s wing to make her move today…