It was all action today at Charring Cross hospital with George making several solo flights, Buster making a couple of wrong landings, Amy showing all the signs of fledging but not actually doing it, and two peregrine intruders...........
The first bird I saw early in the morning was Buster. He had found his way onto
the 15th floor balcony and window sills.
He's not quite as strong a flier as George yet, and on one attempt at landing Buster actually hit the wall. Luckily its covered in mesh, so he was able to hold on until he could take off again.
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Buster also 'crash-landed' on the balconys on the 15th floor. He eventually popped back up on the wall just as we starting to get worried about him.
Eventually Buster settled on the roof just above the ledge, and it was Georges turn to do some practise flying. The below photo shows George coming in to land at the top, with Buster and Amy watching him (Buster in the middle and Amy at the bottom of the pic)
George also took a trip over to the 15th floor balconys and made an almost
perfect landing on the bars.
Later on, George decided to go for another fly around, but this time he headed around towards the front of the hospital. Within seconds father Tom was up and guiding him back. They made contact briefly in the air, before George listened to his dad and went back to the roof.
George above with Tom below
George looks down at Tom as Tom looks up at George
Brief contact, Tom on the left
Being guided back to the ledge, George in front with Tom following
There were also two incidents of intruder peregrines today. The first one was a large female. It happened so quickly that I didn't manage to get any pics of the intruder, however I got some out of focus shots of both Charlie and Tom seeing her off. Below Charlie is the larger bird. They're both looking up at the intruder.
There was another intruder later in the day, but none of us Fledge-watchers could see it. Charlie and Tom acted in exactly the same way as above, lots of loud calling and flying close together.
The juveniles weren't fed much today. Tom bought in a bird but literally throw it over the ledge wall and then flew off, leaving the juvs to it. In the photo Tom is on the right hand side with the prey, two of the juvs had seen him and were running towards him.
Less than an hour later, Charlie went off and came back with her own prey. She settled at the other end of the ledge and gently fed all the juvs. A much different method to Tom !!! In the photo below Charlie is on the left feeding Amy. One of the boys is to Amys right.
Just like yesterday the weather was perfect for viewing the peregrines, and quite a few times us Fledge-watchers ended up lying in the grass watching the family interact up on the ledge and various perches. George, who was the first to fledge, is coming across as a very confident, strong and independent young male. Buster, the second fledge, is quite a character. You don't realise until after he's landed that you're actually holding your breath. Amy, the young lady who we are still waiting for to fledge, is quite feisty. She doesn't think twice about stepping on her brothers, or barging them out of her way. Their behaviour over the next couple of days is going to be fascinating to watch, and Tom and Charlie are going to have their hands, or talons, full !
Todays Fledge-watchers, apart from myself, were Nathalie (obviously), Laurence,
Maggie, Kath and Susan.
As I was making my way home I grabbed one last shot of Charlie, looking magnificent atop one of her favourite perches and facing the ledge where her three youngsters were.
And finally a photo of all three of the juveniles. Bless them. I'm back there tomorrow, and hoping that Amy decides to fledge after I've arrived, rather than do it before I get there. Wait for me Amy :)
Amazing capture of the day...I felt I was there.....
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