WINCHESTER Cathedral’s resident peregrine has appeared to have scattered her eggs overnight.
Having been incubating two eggs which she laid earlier this month, people noticed early on Monday, April 29 that Mel’s eggs had rolled off the nesting tray.
In a post on the Winchester Cathedral website, Keith Betton, chair of the Hampshire Ornithological Society, said that the eggs have since been replaced.
He wrote: “Mel is now about halfway through incubating her eggs. It has not been an easy time, with one egg falling off the tray ten days ago and then another which we think she ate in the night. However, nothing prepared anyone for the scene this morning with both remaining eggs off the tray and on the floor of the gulley. We do not know exactly how that happened, but she may have accidentally knocked them off – or maybe she was startled by something.
READ MORE: Winchester Cathedral peregrine's third egg rolls off nesting tray
“The embryos in the eggs need warmth and they had been off the tray for several hours, but I am licenced by the Government authorities to take decisions that may help the birds in a bad situation, so I decided to get the eggs back on the tray. They may not hatch, but at least there is a chance. It seems very likely that Mel is a first-time nester and with age comes more experience. We all hope she will succeed in hatching them, and once she saw the eggs back on the tray she went straight back to continuous incubation.
“William has not been seen on the camera much recently, but that is normal. The male’s job is primarily to fertilize the female and then keep a lookout from a good vantage point in case danger approaches. We’ll see a lot more of William if there are chicks because another duty is to bring small items of food for them in the first ten days after hatching.
“Our hope is for chicks around May 17 or May 18, and if the eggs are not going to hatch, we will remove them after a sensible time to avoid Mel incubating for way too long.”
To watch the cathedral's peregrine cameras, visit winchester-cathedral.org.uk/explore/peregrines/.
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