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Due to circumstances entirely beyond our control, the venue for this Wednesday’s ‘Adventures with Rainforest Raptors’ has had to change. We’re not going far though –  just around the corner from the Gala. It’s the Oxstalls Sports Centre, Plock Court (just along from Fairmile Gardens, opposite the Beefeater), Gloucester GL2 9DW.  We’re in the Conservatory Room there.  There’s a café on site. Apologies for the inconvenience, and we look forward to seeing you there!

The main feature is a talk and short film ‘To Find a Harpy’ with Natasha Ellison and Dan O’Neill, respectively a researcher and a wildlife film-maker who recently went to Guyana to search for a Harpy Eagle, and filmed their adventure. We will also hear from GRMG’s Jimmi Hill, who visited the Philippine Eagle Project to see its amazing conservation work – and visited an active nest in the wild. Come along and feel the heat!

This is a ticketed event; tickets are £5 and can be bought at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/adventures-with-rainforest-raptors-tickets-57329127965 or email [email protected] to ask for tickets to be reserved for you and pay at the door.

Venue: Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Gloucester, GL2 9EB
Doors open at 7:00pm for a 7:30 start.

Followers of this blog will already be familiar with Dave Pearce’s regular updates on the lives of the Cheltenham Christ Church Peregrines. Dave has now kindly provided us with a ten year summary which replaces the previous seven year summary, with refreshed videos, information, data, prey species analysis, privileged views and a whole lot more. You can download a copy of Dave’s summary here, and it will remain available along with lots of other resources, on our documents page.

We’re delighted to announce that our next talk is on Wednesday 30th January at The Gala Club, Fairmile Gardens, Gloucester, GL2 9EB – doors open at 7:00pm for a 7:30 start.

The speaker is Richard Sale, raptor researcher, Arctic enthusiast and author, and his New Naturalist book “Falcons” was described by British Wildlife magazine as ‘one of the best New Naturalists on birds, and one that is likely to remain the last word on British falcons for a long time.’ He wrote ‘the most comprehensive guide to Arctic Wildlife’, and is co-author of the just-published work on the Steller’s Sea Eagle, the first English-language study of this species. Richard will talk about falcons and about the Arctic, enabling him to draw on his vast experience of both topics – for example his recent studies include breeding Merlins in Scotland, Hobbies in England and Steller’s Sea Eagles in eastern Russia.

Richard will bring some copies of his Steller’s Sea Eagle book which he will sign and sell on the night for £30. He will also be happy to sign any of his published work which is brought along to the evening.

This is a ticketed event. Tickets are £7.50 each and are available online from The Bristol Ticket Shop.

If you are unable to buy online please email [email protected] to reserve tickets and pay on the door.

May we take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and restful festive season and to thank you for your continued support.

Many thanks to Dave Pearce for once again providing us with his year summary of the activities of the Christ Church Peregrines. Download this Word document for all the news from Dave, including photos and links to videos.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMI75gJCTSY&w=560&h=315]

On Friday, 16th November Steve Watson will be giving an illustrated talk on Goshawks. Steve will cover the natural history of the goshawk, including its ecology, population dynamics, biology, foraging, courtship and breeding behaviour.

This event is organised by the Forest of Dean Group of the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. Entry is £2 and tickets are available on the door.  Click here for further information.

Our first talk of the 2018/19 winter period will be on Wednesday November 14th 2018 when we have Hugh Hanmer from the British Trust for Ornithology. Hugh is the leader of the BTO’s Project Owl, so do come along to hear about this amazing group of raptors – and also find out how you can help with Project Owl, which is a major initiative over several years to study our owl populations, their habits and habitats. You’ll also find out more about how GRMG are helping owls in the county.

Venue: Ribston Hall High School, Gloucester, GL1 5LE
Time 7:30pm (doors 7:00pm)

Tickets are limited and you will need to bring an electronic copy (or paper copy, though electronic is preferred) of your ticket on the evening. For this event we have opted for a ‘donation’ style ticketing service allowing you to choose the price of your ticket. We hope that this talk will prove to be a successful fundraiser – the money raised will be divided between GRMG and the BTO specifically for Project Owl. Tickets for our previous talks sell for around £5 per ticket – there’s a basic £5 price to make it easier when buying more than one ticket. Full details and tickets can be found here – we look forward to seeing you there.

Our second talk will be ‘Falcons’ with New Naturalist author Richard Sale on January 30th 2019 – full details will be available shortly but please save the date!

More details about Project Owl can found here.

Since the first Peregrine was seen at the abbey tower in 2011, this year they have bred to produce a single chick – Paddington. The story of Alice, Bella, Christopher Robin and Paddington – the Peregrines of Tewkesbury Abbey can be read here (Word document).

The beginning of the nesting season always starts with “Raven time”.
Ravens are early nesters often having eggs by mid-February.
This season has been a mixed affair with some clutches abandoned due to the severe weather, possibly cutting off food supplies rather than affecting the nest itself, several pairs had a second go with some abandoning the second attempt for reasons that are not clear. At least two others succeeded in their second attempts.
A number of nests were right on time following the usual pattern, and obviously weathered the storms, which makes trying to attribute weather only to failures difficult. It is tempting to assume the successful nests had food sources unaffected by weather, but it is only supposition and we have no direct evidence for that. Two nests only managed to produce a single youngster.