Where to start, following on from the previous post (It’s that time of year again) regarding the 1st fledger down, over the Bank Holiday weekend, the 2 remaining siblings, fledged and consequently both followed suit and ‘grounded’.
Yes, the entire brood of 3 down, like the 1st rescued, the remaining 2 had a charmed life also and were rescued by members of the public/RSPCA, like the 1st, they were also taken to South Essex Wildlife Hospital.
As you can imagine, my line of thought immediately turned to the adults, I knew the juv’s were in the best care possible at SEWH with Sue/Tom and the staff, hopefully all 3 were ok and free of injury, however with the whole brood gone, how long would the adult’s connection to the 3 juv’s last?
Additional to this, I know the nest site building is only used for breeding, much of their time is spent on another distant structure, within their territory, they only inhabit the nest building during breeding, would they just leave with the brood gone and nothing to keep them there?
I was also thinking of getting them back, it had to be done as quickly as possible, if they could be released by Sue/Tom.
On Monday thankfully, all 3 were cleared to be released back, a fantastic job as usual, so the original plan was to go with the Tuesday, however the forecast was awful, so we had no alternative but to go with Wednesday after arranging roof access.
So, in total, it had been 3-4 days since they saw one or more juveniles, the nest site is on camera, I watched her come in on Sunday, land and then quite obviously start looking around, searching all the area for the juveniles. She then turned and I could see her scanning around, looking at all the surrounding roofs, not for prey, again quite obviously searching for them, even looking down the side of the building.
With all 3 ready to go, Shaun and Paul took the chance to colour ring them, a scheme the 3 of us started last year, a white ring with 3 numerals. With the whole brood colour ringed, hopefully all being well, we could keep an eye on them, especially future movements.
Christine and I picked the birds up from SEWH on Wednesday morning, Chris doing the carrying as I have to be good with the Hernia(very hard) and we met Paul and Gary on site for the release back.
On a release back, if you can, you always want the adults to see the juveniles, this was in my head as Chris, Paul and Gary carried the birds up, I stayed on the ground, would the adults be around?
Having initially seen the Tiercel on arrival a little while earlier, there was no sign of him as they gained access to the roof, as Paul was visible on the roof however, I spotted the presumed Tiercel, a dot way up in the clouds.
As I spotted it, the Falcon appeared from nowhere calling loudly, quite obvious size wise and on her reaction level, always a stronger reaction than the Tiercel, who immediately dropped down circling with the Falcon.
Right on cue, Paul released the 3 juveniles, it was a good wind and obviously to their liking, they all flew.
To be honest I was quite surprised just how strong their flight was, it shows the advantages of a good wind, very likely not present at fledging to give them a helping hand in that all important first flight.
It was a really good wind, you would never have thought they had just been released, one of the males immediately started tail chasing the bigger female, both totally enjoying a good fly about.
The female came into land along with the male, not great landings as you would expect, but ok with the 3rd male landing on another building, I could hear him calling. Both adults were watching the juveniles so mission accomplished.
On a release back, if you can, you always want the adults to see the juveniles, this was in my head as Chris, Paul and Gary carried the birds up, I stayed on the ground, would the adults be around?
Having initially seen the Tiercel on arrival a little while earlier, there was no sign of him as they gained access to the roof, as Paul was visible on the roof however, I spotted the presumed Tiercel, a dot way up in the clouds.
As I spotted it, the Falcon appeared from nowhere calling loudly, quite obvious size wise and on her reaction level, always a stronger reaction than the Tiercel, who immediately dropped down circling with the Falcon.
Right on cue, Paul released the 3 juveniles, it was a good wind and obviously to their liking, they all flew.
To be honest I was quite surprised just how strong their flight was, it shows the advantages of a good wind, very likely not present at fledging to give them a helping hand in that all important first flight.
It was a really good wind, you would never have thought they had just been released, one of the males immediately started tail chasing the bigger female, both totally enjoying a good fly about.
The female came into land along with the male, not great landings as you would expect, but ok with the 3rd male landing on another building, I could hear him calling. Both adults were watching the juveniles so mission accomplished.
The 3
The 3 in the back of the car
Nearly there
Photos by Paul - freedom!
A really good release back and particularly satisfying for us all involved, a massive thanks as ever to South Essex Wildlife Hospital, Gary, Shaun, Paul for always being there and my missus Christine, who helps me out no end and puts up with me well, I know she thoroughly enjoyed it.
The last thanks should go to the 3 members of the public who rescued them, without them, it’s very likely that none of them would have made it, likely falling prey to Foxes/Crows.
A great result.
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