cafelady

But it is a problem. Oxfam were out in force yesterday & on Thursday, uniformed & identifiable, actually waving their arms in the faces of those of us who tried to avoid them. And they zig-zag across the street to try to intercept you. The Moor's busier now than the press might have you believe, & I think I've got the right to walk down to college without ducking & diving. Nobody was rude to me, but it felt unpleasantly intrusive. The Big Issue sellers are well schooled in how they should behave, & I don't see how Oxfam - of all people - get away with bending the rules so blatantly.

Just don't go to the ASDA on South Road any more. It's become a self-service store & they don't deserve your money. Staff will begrudgingly help if you want cigarettes or alcohol, but otherwise you're completely on your own, as if it was an express store, which it isn't. Try Gerry's or the Old Bank for bread, the Inner City Farm shop for veg, meat if you eat it & a whole lot besides, & the Animal Rescue shop for pet stuff. Pay a few pence more & get a human being who actually serves you.

Sheffield lot still staying close to home. Juvenile on the perch at the moment, & saw adults there twice yesterday. Quite comical - a plane went over & you see the female debating about whether to mob it. Fortunately she decided not to.

Just caught a glimpse of one of our Sheffield mob on the perch. S/he flew off almost as soon as I logged on, so don't know if it was an adult or a juv. Nice to see though.

Thank you for the maps, which fascinate me. I live in S6, & had always imagined that gaps in the Victorian/Edwardian terraces were because of bomb damage, but clearly not because they are so few direct hits marked. Must have been slum clearance.

[/color]http://www.carnyx.tv/CarnyxWild/WildlifeCameras/Chichester.aspx Some hot peregrine action on this site. Thank you for the brilliant link, Melv. They're really active, & look almost ready to go. It leaves me confused - why did our more Northerly, Sheffield bunch hatch earlier than Chichester? I thought it'd go by climate. The Sheffield adult male's been spending time on the perch this afternoon. I saw one of the juveniles on the apex of a roof below him, & could hear her calling - suppose he's doing his parental duty & standing guard.

Adult male on perch, getting battered by the wind just now. Has gone to take refuge in the scrape. Can't hear any young calling.

Timorous Tessie (chick #2) still in residence. Testing her wings to work out what they're for, & has just got herself back onto the top of the box again. She seems worried about leaving her snap, going back to peck at it time after time, so I wonder if the adults will stop feeding her soon, or as PeteMO1 said a while ago, just leave the prey on the top of the box to tempt her into the Great Outdoors. You're not the only addict!

A junior's back, & has just been eating in the scrape. I think she's the timid one. On the ledge at the moment. You can hear her clambering about when when she climbs onto the top of the box.

Lots of calling. Mother has just been to check on her, & flown off.

Eeek - we're both on the ledge again this morning.

The Sheffield Peregrine blog gives June 5 as the possible fledging date because they first flew on that date in both the past two years. That takes us to Friday this week. However, because there are just the two chicks this time, with less competition for food, the experts think that they might be ready earlier. I had a look just before PeteMO1 posted. One in the scrape, one on the ledge & an adult on the perch. It seems as though one of the chicks took over the perch space the minute the parent freed it up. Very active & very inquisitive. Not long to go now.

One Notts junior being fed at the very far end of the ledge right now by one adult. No sign of the others. The Sheffield nest was a bit crowded when Ma came to give them their food this morning. I'm sure it was her because no ring on the leg - the chicks aren't far off being the same size as her.

That one is, at least, because when I first looked, there was nobody there.

One Notts chick back on the ledge at the mo. Hopped into the scrape, pecked at something, hopped out & is now bus-spotting.