Sunday 30th September

Last week I was in Cornwall on a busman’s holiday with the Institute of Quarrying visiting a China Clay Pit and a Tin Mine, getting an insight into the management and processes of each of the quarries. We also visited the Eden Project which based in a reclaimed china clay pit; we all thought the project is amazing and will certainly revisit.

Hope you have all had a look at the video highlights which features the chicks from zero days old to fledging to nest. The short film is a tremendous spectacle capturing moments from the Kilrea and Carrowdore Peregrines. Difficult to believe where the year has gone and that it’s autumn already. Luckily, we have the Raptors 2 series to watch on our screens very soon. I’m sure it will make all of us recall the activities that have happened this spring and summer in the quarry when we watch the programme on Sunday 14th October on BBC1 at 6pm.

Wednesday 12th August

I met my Quarryman’s Diary counterpart aka David Edwards from Carrowdore Quarry at the Quarry Products Association NI’s big Showcase held in W5 at the Odyssey. It was a splendid affair for the quarrying industry. David and I discussed how pleased we were with our involvement in the Return of the Raptors and what a great experience it has been. We were both especially delighted with the efforts the children from both our local primary schools made. I loved the variety of peregrine models on display at the showcase from Carrowdore Primary School’s P6 & P7 classes, great artwork.

Thursday 2nd August

The guys from Ecowatch Luke and Alistair were over from Cornwall collecting the camera and the recording equipment that they supplied for the Raptor project. Nick and I met with them at the quarry, thanked them for all their teams work and wished them all the best for their journey back to Cornwall via a Dublin sailing. We later heard about the tour of Ireland they took in on leaving Belfast they went via Enniskillen to Dublin, talk about going west!!! – Of course they blamed their Satellite Navigation device for the detour. Glad to say they made their ferry on time.

Thursday 21st July

Over the summer I have been carrying out my Quarry Manager’s duties checking the asphalt plant and walking the quarry perimeter, so I’ve been keeping a close eye on the peregrine family. A great place to see them from is at the vantage point we made for school visits, from here you have fabulous views of the quarry. I always keep my binoculars with me to watch the three young feeding and sporting in the quarry they’re still making a lot of noise too. It is very rare to see the two adult birds and the juveniles all together now; Katie and I come into the quarry in the evenings and weekends, we get such enjoyment seeing the birds roosting on ledges around the quarry and flying off the high cliffs over our heads.

Monday 16th July

We had a crane in the quarry today so I had the opportunity to take the camera down off the ledge as it is the end of the season. Sean Delargy was working at the Asphalt Plant so he came up to the quarry face to put his crane and basket in place. I was able to access the ledge to remove the camera and data logger to return to Luke at Ecowatch. The birds were again overhead, and I have noted that it is the young male that is always the most noisy remembering it was him that made the most commotion on the day of the ringing. He would also spend a lot of his time close to the Ravens and Buzzards in the quarry; he’s certainly got no fear that’s for sure! As it’s holiday time no crushing is being done in the quarry so it’s all the wildlife that is making the clatter, there is never a dull moment in a quarry.    

Saturday 14th July

Katie and I were in the quarry today watching the birds flying and feeding, we even saw one of the birds doing a stoop in the air.

Friday 13th July

Called out to the quarry to check water pumps and organize the subcontractors work. Hannah, Breda and Rae was again sporting overhead. I left about 9.30 to go to the Ballymena Stream Traction Event. It was their 40th Anniversary and to commemorate they had 41 stream vehicles in total at the show, a sight to behold. When I was walking around the arena I met show’s commentator Tommy Collins. He produced a microphone but it wasn’t to talk about vintage he was extremely interested in the Return of the Raptors so I was able to give an update on the chicks and their quarry habitat, telling listeners they will get a full Raptors update in the second series this autumn.     

Tuesday 10th July

When I arrived into the quarry this morning about 6.30am the birds were doing an awful lot of screaming, it was happening around the concrete plant and stockpiles - one was back on its own while the other two was eating away at a pigeon. After that I was driving round the quarry and saw the pair had spilt, one was sitting on the original nesting ledge and the other close by on its former nest ledge.  

Monday 9th July

Very wet day again, I was repairing a pipe at the water pump and watched the three birds sporting with each other it was as if they were taunting one another. Flying overhead grabbing the other with their talons, amazing skills on display. Nick Walker rang to ask about prey being left in the quarry by the adults for the young birds to find but I have not came across any yet.

Friday 6th July

It’s the start of the summer maintenance programme at the quarry, works have shut down for the holidays and subcontractors are in. I’ll be in supervising the contractors, with time to walk and check the quarry’s perimeters and get great views of the birds.  

Wednesday 4th July

I came out in the evening with Katie and her younger brother and saw the three young birds sporting around the quarry. When we got out of the car the male started a real din, Katie thought he was squealing so loud because of it was used to seeing her wee brother in the quarry along with her. We stayed for about an hour watching them before going home to roost ourselves.

Sunday 1st July

I called out to the quarry early morning and checked on the water levels and the peregrines, watching one of the birds feeding on top on the stockpiles. I went to Monaghan Vintage Club Rally at Clontibret today and I was talking to Sean Delargy who was very keen to get an update about Kilrea’s peregrines. Sean assisted the ringing of the chicks by skillfully operating the crane.

Saturday 30th June

Helen Mark and Marc Ruddock did a live broadcast from Craigall Quarry for the Your Place and Mine show on BBC Radio Ulster. It was a very wet day for the broadcast; nevertheless we sat and watched a young bird on a ledge while the programme was on air, witnessing the other two birds getting food brought to them. Brendan from NIRS and I had great viewings of the birds, while Marc and Helen was busy on the radio.

As this was the last broadcast for BBC Radio Ulster from Craigall Quarry for the Raptors programme I would like to take this opportunity to thank Helen Mark for her visits and that it was great working with her.

Friday 29th June

We’re having a blast today and Nick Walker is coming up to capture all on film. I saw one bird about 15-20 meters away from us. Nick set the camera on top of the quarry bench and we came back to Michael’s office to film everything safely and remotely.

Monday 25th June

No birds had returned to the nesting ledge, but I’m going to keep the webcam on the ledge for a day or two yet incase any returns, then I will set it to give a view of the quarry. We are seeing the young birds flying around in the quarry which is great that we have had successful fledglings at Craigall Quarry.  

Sunday 24th June

Called out at the quarry this morning – some of the men are working today. I checked the monitor and we still had one bird on the nest. I had left about 11.30am and called back at 7pm to find the nest was empty, the third bird had fledged – Breeda was the last to leave. This must of happen between 11.30 and 7 so I check the 24hr archive footage but the last recording was at 12 noon and she was still there, so I’m not sure of an exact time. Before I left I saw two birds on one of the ledges across the quarry, I didn’t see any of the others.

Saturday 23rd June

I arrived into work and checked the ledge to find the three birds are all on the nest. I watched later on as two of the birds were flying around the quarry, it was Hannah and Rae – they landed on a ledge opposite the nesting ledge, both of them are flying well. I came back into the quarry on Saturday night about 8.30pm; Breeda was the only bird still on the nest and I think it was Hannah still sitting on the ledge where I had seen her roost on earlier today.

Friday 22nd June

I came in this morning and checked the monitor before going up to the quarry face. I could only see one bird. I drove up to the quarry face and could still only see the one bird. As I was driving back I noticed two birds sitting together on rock armor – it was Hannah and Rae, perched only about 3m from the car which didn’t seem to bother them. As I reached for my camera they soon jump off, they must be very camera shy. Nick Walker was back in the quarry today and when I showed him that two birds are back in the nest, Rae had went back on to joined Breeda. Michael Hardy was able to get great footage of Rae leaving the nest, following his movements on the webcam.

The Return of the Raptors filming crew joined in the quarry this afternoon after being at Carrowdore Primary School filming the children’s peregrine diaries and artwork, I hear they are fabulous. Marc Ruddock was with them too, so I asked him about the young birds returning to the nest after they fledge, this was the first he knew of it happening. The film crew stayed to after 7pm. As I was ready to leave for home, Jim Wells arrived to check out the birds – again Hannah and Rae was on and off the nest – now you see them, now you don’t. Jim thought that the chicks were normally too timorous to go back onto the ledge again. I said maybe it’s because we’ve used the local parachute club to train them in landing skills!   

Thursday 21st June

I checked on the monitor early in the morning and the three birds are still on the ledge. Later at 11am I checked again and could only see two birds, so I went up to the quarry face and didn’t see Rae the young male on the ledge. I started to check along the quarry face and at the bottom I saw the bird hopping from stone to stone, it was Rae. I was able to follow Rae with the Webcam recording all the footage. He went down to the shallow water at the pump for a bath before he climbed up onto the stones again. Nick Walker arrived to do some filming. After a short time Rae flew up onto the water pipe that goes over the quarry face then flew from there around the quarry and landed on a face on the opposite site of the quarry. One of our dumpers had a breakdown so I have to leave my bird watching and get some parts ordered. I went up to Nick at 5.30pm and stayed to 7pm getting footage all that time. As we were leaving we watched the young male take flight again, landing on the stockpile the parents would regularly use.

Tuesday 19th June

The birds still have not ventured of the ledge – when I am close to the ledge checking the water pump they be very noisy for a few moments. I watched them have a meal of woodpigeon, then having a good rest. As this was blast day, I will be recording their reactions. The parents are always close to hand on the stockpile and on the roosting ledge above the nest. When the blast went off, the three chicks looked around and sat down again unconcerned.

Monday 18th June

I checked on the birds while I was doing the water pumps at 6am. Two of the birds are at the front of the ledge. The young male was at the back of the ledge, the adult female was on the stockpile and appeared to be plucking a prey item. After about five minutes she flew up to the ledge with the breakfast and started to feed the young male, his sisters clambered back up to the nest to get some food too. The adult soon left them to it and flew off over the quarry.

Later on, Nick Walker was back at the quarry to record more great footage. Michael Hardy and I was away from the quarry that afternoon but we’d heard that the birds were really beginning to flap and could be close to fledging so I called out at the quarry again about 8.30pm to check if they were still on the nest. Katie was along with me, we watched them for a half hour sporting on their ledge. Katie questioned when they are leaving the nest and will they still be on the web camera for her to see.

Sunday 17th June

Some of the Return of the Raptors production team was coming out to the quarry today to film our peregrines. I was out in the quarry from early morning filling the water pump with fuel, having a walk around the quarry doing checks and getting a chance to do some work to Patrick Bradley’s vintage Leyland Comet lorry, making it ready for a run to Scotland happening in 2 weeks time.

Brendan Dunlop from NIRSG and Michael Quinn the Cameraman arrived around 9.30am, I took them up to the quarry floor. John Deering must have enjoyed his Sunday morning lay in as he arrived about three-quarter of an hour later…

The birds had fed about nine in the morning so it wasn’t until Noon that anything exiting happened. The female landed with prey and feed the chicks their Sunday lunch. Michael and John left for more filming at Carrowdore Quarry. John commented before he left that the Carrowdore birds weighed in more than the Kilrea chicks, I said it was all the takeaway food that Carrowdore’s chicks are overindulging in and that the Kilrea chicks have been on reared on healthy lean Craigall cuisine as per the M. Hardy Dietary Plan.         

I called back out to the quarry about 7.30pm to check on the water levels, the fuel pump and if any of the birds had fledged yet.

Saturday 16th June

I checked the monitor and the web’s live data screen, and archiving had begun again. Later on that morning I listen to the Your Place and Mine show on BBC Radio Ulster. Helen Mark presented a wonderful recording from the day we ringed and named the chicks, a really interesting broadcast that everyone was commenting on to me.

Friday 15th June

Watch the birds being fed and they are really showing their size. I was at Castledawson’s vintage event this evening when I got a called from the Return of the Raptors producer John Deering regarding the web camera’s archiving because it wasn’t showing anything from 11am. This happens sometimes freezing the live images that you see on the live data screen; I need to either reposition the webcam or reboot the system for it to correct itself. So I called back to the quarry at 10pm to reboot, John called me back later on to find out if I was able to get all running again.

Thursday 14th June

I watched the birds this morning stretching their wings with plenty of flapping but no take offs. I had visual inspections of the quarry face to do this morning; this is vitally important practice because of the heavy downpours of rain we’ve recently had. I walk along the top of the quarry bench inspecting for cracks and loose rocks that could possible be a danger to anyone below. All’s safe in this occasion. Checking of the quarry and its perimeters is regular practice at all quarries, especially for signs of non-authorized entry. It’s good to note that the quarry manager, quarry staff and neighboring landowners are always on alert and pass on any information to the company and the police. Now that peregrine chicks are fledging across the county we are all keeping a watchful eye on each of them, wishing them the best start of in life, members of the Raptors Study Group follow their development closely.

Wednesday 13th June

Nick Walker was in touch about coming up to Craigall quarry this Sunday to do some filming of the birds on the ledge, it’s a good chance to film them active on the ledge before they decide to fledge. Sunday is a good day for the camera crew to be at the quarry as no works will be happening so they will be able to access all areas without the risk of a dumper purring pass. Great news that Carrowdore’s chicks are fledging.

Tuesday 12th June

I don’t think the heavy rain showers are affecting the chicks as much as a few weeks back, I suppose their new feathers are more water proof than the fluffy down, but they did stay tight into the corner of the ledge.  

Barbara had taken some pictures of everyone at the ringing on Thursday, so I popped into her office to have a look at them. They are really good (for an amateur), there is a great one of Michael Hardy holding a chick, but sure we always knew he had an eye for the chicks!  I think Laverne is going to put some ‘Raptors behind the scenes’ photos on the qpani.org website so check it out.

Monday 11th June

I was at work for 6am this morning completing my regular quarry checks, while I was checking water depths I watched the male sitting very still on a roost he would use just above the nest. The chicks were busy sporting around. Later on, Michael zoomed the webcam in on Rae who was standing at the edge of the ledge busy flapping with the fluff flying off him, but going nowhere – the fluff is really starting to disappear with their new wing feathers appearing, they have grown incredibly too.

Saturday 9th June

I called out to the quarry this morning to check on the nest and the quarry. The adult female (now affectionately named Barbara after Barbara Darragh our Development Administrator) was watching everything going on from her perch on the stockpile. She had left the chicks with prey to feed on, they’ve learned the skills to do this now, and I got get views watching them eat. Today I’m off to Kerrykeel in Donegal for a vintage rally, super weather for it!

Friday 8th June

After all the excitement yesterday, all is back to normality in the quarry. It was a busy week at Patrick Bradley Ltd as we also had our Environmental Management System ISO 14001 audit on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. John Walton was the auditor; he was delighted the peregrine webcams with our school visits. He thought it was a lovely gesture from the Year 7 pupils from St Columbus Primary School sending beautiful hand made thank you cards which we have displayed in our office reception.

I would like to give a personal thank you to the Year 7 pupils for looking after my grand daughter Katie, and helping her to take some pictures on her disposable camera. It was also nice to meet their teacher Caroline McCartney and the classroom assistants again. Katie was full of chit-chat with her Mum about the ringing of the chicks, but she was especially overjoyed when talking about Ben who she had met. But assured us all that there was to be no romance as Sam McCloskey, Ben’s mum, didn’t allow him to have a girlfriend. I’ll maybe wait a few years before I do my matchmaking again!

The birds are showing no signs of stress, but I’m sure the warm weather is tiresome on them.

Thursday 7th June

It’s another warm day at the quarry, temperatures recorded on the monitor in the afternoon was close to 40 degrees – that must be extremely high temperatures for the chicks, no wonder the mother was doing all she could to keep the heat off them yesterday. The basalt rock must emit a lot of this heat as well. Michael Hardy’s ‘Craigall Quarry Rescue Service’ will be on the alert today for ‘heat exhaustion’; he might even be armed with sunblock SFP to slick on the chicks this afternoon!  

We had a great audience at the quarry for the ringing of our three chicks. Caroline McCartney brought her Year 7 class from St Columbus School; Helen Mark from BBC Radio Ulster; Laverne Bell from Quarry Products Association; Sam McCloskey with her son Ben; my grand daughter Katie; Marc Ruddock and Brendan Dunlop from the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group. Some of our staff from the office came up to watch the proceedings as well. Darryl Grimason and the filming team from BBC was there recording for the second series of Return of the Raptors.    

Sean Delargey the crane driver was in control of raising the basket with Marc, Darryl, the camera and sounds men in it. Marc climbed out of the basket onto the ledge and picked up the three chicks placing them into a wicker hamper. They were all wearing safety harnesses, and Helen Mark and I had a good laughed together… “if Marc thought so much of his precious cargo he would have fitted the chicks with harnesses too”.  The female peregrine was flying around overhead making noise, but she soon quieted down and returned to the ledge keeping a watchful eye on her chicks, she is very attentive and tolerant.

Everyone stood in a circle around the wicker hamper as Marc took one out at a time to ring and record its measurements. Darryl Grimason assisted Marc and Brendan with the recording. Marc talked us through the procedure and we learnt more about the chicks’ developments. He was able to identify the sex of the chicks by there size and weight, we have 2 females and 1 male. The male is a feisty chick and weighed in at 648g, the pupils named him ‘Rae’ after Kilrea! The females are always the bigger of the sexes and weighed in at 1060g and 1080g, they got christen ‘Breeda’ (after breeding) and ‘Hannah’ named after Mount Everest’s conquer Hannah Shields.

Marc was conscious of the heat and kept Rae, Breeda and Hannah cooled down with sprays of water, returning them to their nest where the mother soon returned to them. The quarry staff gave out bottles of juice to everyone to cool them down too. When he was at the nest Marc was able to pick up some of the prey remains, he showed these to the children who shrieked when they saw a song thrush’s skull. Marc was able to identity remains of starlings, song thrush and pigeons. We’ll do a proper clear out of the all prey remains found in the quarry once the chicks have fledged and compile a list.  

A successful and enjoyable day for everyone, I hope you caught some of it live on the website if not you’ll be able to view the archive footage.

Wednesday 6th June

The sun is out today and it’s very warm. I watched the female sitting on the ledge with her full wing span out to shelter the young from the strong rays of the sun. She would stay like this for five minutes then give her wings a rest then stretch them out again. She stayed very close to them all day. I recorded this footage for the Return of the Raptors producers as I thought it was excellent and I’ll ask Marc about this behavior tomorrow. We’ve got the crane in position, and are looking forward to having the St Columbus School pupils at the quarry again.

Monday 4th June

I was in work for 6am and completed my daily drive-round checks of the quarry. I saw the female sitting on the stockpile of stones. I watched the young ones on the ledge busy sporting with each other; you can really see their feather changing. It will be great to have a closer look at them this Thursday went Marc Ruddock takes them down onto the quarry floor to ring them. I have the crane organized to hoist Marc and the camera crew up to the ledge. My grand daughter Katie is going to accompany me on Thursday to witness the chicks being ringed, she has taken great interest in the peregrines and joins me regularly at the quarry in the evenings and weekends, when all is quiet… we can sit and watch them for hours.

Sunday 3rd June

It’s such a wet day in Kilrea, very heavy rain. This morning I went online to check on the chicks and see what was happening on the ledge as this was the first heavy rainfall the chicks will have had. They were all huddled together at the corner of the ledge trying to keep dry I suppose. I came out to the quarry to turn on the water pumps and switch on the webcam monitor. The chicks are still huddled together so I alter the webcam to get a better view of them.

In the evening I was coming back from a car show in Portrush and called back into the quarry to check on the water pumps. I looked up into the ledge and saw the birds still huddled together with no word of the adult birds. I’d only arrived back home when I got a phone call that the camera needed adjusting again to get you the viewers the best footage on the raptors website, so I hastily went back to the quarry again.

Thursday 31st May

Staff in the quarry left early yesterday evening to get into Kilrea in time for the welcome home celebrations for Hannah Shields returning from her Mount Everest achievement. She is the first woman from Northern Ireland to climb Everest, and everyone in Kilrea is very proud of her scaling the world’s highest peak!

Everything is in place for ringing the chicks at Craigall Quarry next Thursday afternoon. The event will be filmed for Return of the Raptors sequel and the pupils from St Columbas Primary School will be at the quarry to watch all the proceedings. The pupils are naming the chicks and will be able to find out from Marc how many males and females we have.

Wednesday 30th May

I was doing my daily early morning drive round the quarry and checking on the ledge, and thought I’d comment on how you can now see the chicks sitting proudly on their nest from the quarry floor.

Later when I was in my office I notice a car speeding fairly quickly past; I discovered it was Michael Hardy making a hasty dash to the quarry face – Michael had been keeping a eye on the monitor while working at his desk and dropped everything when he only saw two chicks on the ledge and worried one had fallen. Fortunately and to Michael’s relief all three chicks were safe and sound with the missing chick obscured behind a rock. So, we have named a new service at Patrick Bradley Ltd called “Craigall Quarry Mountain Rescue Service” with Michael Hardy the team leader in charge of rapid response! We will be replacing his yellow flashing beacon light on the roof of the car for a blue flasher.  

Marc Ruddock has been in touch regarding a day this week to ring our three chicks; I’ll have to get the crane in organized. Marc is ringing the Carrowdore chicks today.

Monday 28th May

I watched the birds early this morning moving around on their nest; the parents seem to be spending less and less time on the ledge with them. The chicks are getting too big to sit under the female anyhow and normally huddle up together for the body heat. Today I was doing my checks round the concrete block; the crushing and blacktop plants to see what summer maintenance will be required, hard to think it is this time of year again and the chicks will be fledging in the coming weeks, but we’ll still see them round the quarry over the summer months.

I’m a member of the Institute of Quarrying and this evening they’re having a visit to Creagh Concrete Products Ltd, pre-cast division at Ardboe. It’s always an enjoyable and interesting occasion, a chance to meet and catch up with our colleagues from the quarrying industry and share our peregrine related stories.

Saturday 26th May

I’m in the quarry this morning giving a refresher training course to our off-loader drivers. I wanted to update you on how our peregrine family reacted to the blast going off in the quarry yesterday. I stayed in the office to watch the monitor and record the footage, the male and female were off the nest probably away hunting. The three chicks where closely snuggled into each other and when the blast went off only one of them lifted its sleepy head, looked about for a brief moment and snuggled back down. So it certainly doesn’t inconvenience them too much.     

This weekend I’m taking part in the Mid Ulster Vintage Club Classic Car Run in aid of Guide Dogs for the Blind, I’m hoping it to be a successful event and a good run out for everyone.

Friday 25th May

It has been a busy week in the quarry and we had the unfortunate stoppage of a breakdown at our crusher plant. We had to work late last night to get all up and going again for today’s production. It's blast day at the quarry, it will take place later this afternoon. I’ll be watching the peregrine’s monitor closely and recording the footage. The chicks are getting more active, especially one in particular moving around the ledge. I noted a question to ‘ask the expert’ asking if many chicks fall over the edge of the cliff face. Marc’s unaware of this happening but it is possible, hope our little ones don’t stray too far. When the shot firer’s are preparing a blast in a quarry they put up edge protection that is erected around the drilling site to prevent the operator from falling – I’ll mention to Michael Hardy about putting edge protection around the peregrine’s nest, which will surely amuse him! I’ll let you know the chick’s reactions to the blast in my next update. Thanks for reading and keeping updated with our peregrine’s adventure.

Wednesday 23rd May

Brilliant close-ups of the chicks today, she had left the nest for a good five minutes. I observed feeding time for all the peregrine family, the male brought the prey in and after the female fed the three chicks she took the remainder of the prey to their roosting ledge to have a proper feed herself.

Monday 21st May

This morning I was up checking on the settlement pond and had a great advantage point of the male peregrine staking out a couple of wood pigeons, but alas they got away… one landed on a nearby ledge and the other in a tree. I’ve noticed in the quarry that the pigeons are staying closer to the crushing plant probably taking cover.

Friday 18th May

The first chick is a week old today and I think they are all getting a little more playful and moving around a lot more. We have a joke going that the Kilrea chicks will fledge before Carrowdore Quarry. We’re thinking of getting the local flying club at Aghadowey to give them the extra training!

Thursday 17th May

Today a few of us from the quarry went to Balmoral Show. I was armed with Return of the Raptor postcards to give to people but I think Laverne Bell from QPANI beat me to it as many of the quarrying and plant companies at the show already had them. Andy McGowan, TBF Thompson (Garvagh) Ltd nabbed me about hearing my croaky voice on Radio Ulster, asking more about the peregrines in Craigall Quarry and the Teachers’ Zone on the website. Andy is on the Board of Governors of two local schools and is enthused by the opportunities there are with the industry for children to learn and hopes to encourage them to get involved.  I missed John Carmichael’s falconry display but I believe he and his team was doing a great job telling everyone about Northern Ireland’s variety of birds of prey and to follow the adventure of Return of the Raptors on TV, Radio and website.

On my way home I checked in on the birds at the quarry. The female was on the nest and the male was not too far away roosting on a ledge along the quarry face.

Wednesday 16th May

The heavy rain showers today has sort of changed the activity on the nest. The two birds are getting very protective and making a fuss about the chicks by keeping them covered.

Monday 14th May

Nick Walker was back at the quarry today recording footage of the chicks. We are able to zoom the camera in to get terrific close ups. There are fabulous images of the chicks being fed and by chance the bird was standing to the side allowing us to get at least 3 minutes of her feeding - mostly the bird stands in front of the camera and obscures the webcam (maybe she doesn't like to be watched when eating!). The female is not on the nest as often, probably out hunting to bring back prey, about every 2-3 hours they would be coming back to ledge with food. Check out the excellent footage of our chicks in the archive folders, we zoomed in and got superb images of them huddled up together having a snooze when mom and dad were out getting dinner.

Sunday 13th May

I came into the quarry this morning and she was on the nest so I couldn't see any of the chicks. Called back into the quarry in the evening and saw the three balls of white fluff on the ledge, confirming our 3 chicks have all hatched successfully. I was at an event in Letterkenny today and met up with a lot of friends who praised the Return of the Raptors programme on BBC One NI. They thought it was such a well put together programme and how great it was to see the quarry people and everyone so involved. That has been our sentiments at Craigall Quarry too, such a meaningful experience for all of us.

Saturday 12th May

I check the website at 6am before going out to work; I knew there would be another arrival! When I got into the quarry I switched the webcam monitor on to see prey being brought to the nest and I could see two chicks. Listened into BBC Radio Ulster Your Place & Mine programme this morning. they where giving their updates about the Return of the Raptors and delighted to see footage live on the website of the Kilrea chicks. The recorded interviews Michael Hardy and I did will Helen Mark at the quarry seemed to come across well. The quarry has also received a number of comments about how terrific the programme was last night. I came back into the quarry in the evening to check on the monitor and noticed she was looking agitated again, this could mean the last egg was hatching?

Friday 11th May

I had spoken with Laverne from Quarry Products Association NI this morning, confirming when the peregrine had laid her three eggs and chatted about how we thought they would be hatching out this weekend. We're all like expectant mothers and fathers in suspense! In the afternoon I got a chance to catch up on paperwork in the office so I was by the webcam monitor and noticed the female was looking very agitated or unsettled looking. The male arrived with prey and she wouldn't come off the nest, I had a good inkling the eggs might be close to hatching. I started to record the footage from the monitor so everything would be captured and rang the office staff and Marc Ruddock to let them know. That started a barrage of text messages and telephone calls going out to all interested parties, the quarry was like a maternity ward with anticipation. Shortly after 3pm we saw the first ball of white fluff, chick number one had arrived! I kept on recording the footage which will be used in the TV sequel this autumn. My granddaughter is following the peregrine family adventure closely with me and joined us at the quarry this evening to see the activity; she is totally captivated by it all. We had visitors to the quarry at noon to learn more about our webcam and the peregrine falcons habitat. They were very impressed with what we are doing, they belonged to Larne's RSPB members' club and I appreciated my time with them. Unfortunately, the quarry can't facilitate all callers because of the nature of our industry, plus we are all busy in our jobs keeping production going. At Craigall Quarry we operate high security and health & safety measures, meaning nobody can enter the quarry without permission from management, for their own welfare.

Tuesday 8th May

I checked on the birds this morning. The female was on her nest and I saw the male flying overhead towards her. Everyone in the quarry is getting very engrossed as the eggs are nearing hatching.

Monday 7th May

I came into the quarry at 7.30am this morning to check on the birds, the female was on her eggs. I was going to the Shane’s Castle Stream Rally in Antrim today; I had some of my vehicles that I’d restored there. John Carmichael from the Northern Ireland School of Falconry was there with his display attracting a fascinated audience. John was telling everyone about the Return of the Raptors, the website and the TV special this Friday evening. I met one of the school children from St Columbus Primary School that had visited the quarry with his class, he was telling me he can’t wait to see the television programme and was asking loads more questions about the web camera and the peregrines. His class is keeping a close eye on the website at school and is doing a project on our peregrines. It’s great to see children so keen and enthralled about raptors.

I had a good chat today with John Carmichael; I had met him previously at a show in 2005 and spoke to him about the birds we found in the old water tank. That’s when John put me in touch with Mark Ruddock from the Northern Ireland Raptor Study Group to investigate. So I like to have a good catch up with John when we bump into each other. John was telling me he is very excited about the temperature and humidity data that is being collected from both nests, when this information is analysed it will be really useful for him to study as he artificially incubates falcon’s eggs, if it is too hot or too cool then eggs won’t develop properly. I’ve observed on the webcam the peregrines turning the eggs to ensure that they get evenly heated, the incubation period is very important.

Saturday 5th May

Helen Mark from BBC Radio Ulster called in with us at the quarry this morning. I took her up the quarry face in the car to see the nest. I needed to switch the water pump off which is close to the face. When I got out of the car and walked over towards the ledge one of the birds came off the nest flew overhead and then the other came onto the ledge. This was fantastic to witness and Helen was thrilled. Mostly the two birds do their changeover on the ledge; it’s great how they take turns brooding the eggs and rarely leaving them uncovered. Helen was recording some footage at Craigall Quarry for the ‘Your Place and Mine’ programme on BBC Radio Ulster that will be aired this Saturday morning.

Friday 4th May

Today was blast day at the quarry and I was watching the monitor closely when the blast went off; I was eager to observe the female peregrine who was sitting on her eggs to see any reaction. There was no move or shudder on the camera, but the female came of her nest for the most of 4 minutes. She stayed above the ledge busy looking around before settling down on the three eggs again. I brought my granddaughter along with me to the quarry this evening; she was keen to see the camera monitor and the peregrine’s ledge. We observed the female on the eggs.

01 May 2007

I’m checking on the peregrines every morning and evening but it’s great having the camera trained on them as well. When I’m out in the quarry I’m observing the male and female switching over on nest to sit on the eggs. The male tends to changeover with the female between 1pm – 2.30pm everyday to do his afternoon shift.

25 April 2007

I had arranged the crane to be back on site for Marc and Luke (Eco-watch) to access the ledge and perform their installations. The female came off the nest and flew around, stayed above Marc and Luke’s heads and kept coming back onto the nest, she was very determined to get sitting on her eggs again. We all noted how quiet she was. Marc had placed the peregrine’s three eggs into an egg carton and placed them in his car to make sure they kept their temperature. He replaced them with three dummy eggs while working at the ledge. We were all very conscious of our timings and the changeover procedure went without a hitch.

23 April 2007

Marc Ruddock came up to check the new nest site and make certain everything will be straight forward for the camera change later this week.

12 April 2007

We had a crane already booked in at the quarry for another job so I used it to go up in the basket and remove the camera and bracket from the old ledge. Saw the female today but no sign of the male till this evening. Two mallard ducks flew very close to the peregrine’s nest and I saw the male make a chase for them. The mallard are using the settlement pond in the quarry.

10 April 2007

The quarry is still closed but we have men in doing some repairs so I was in too. I took an hour to myself and sat and watch them flying to and from the ledge. I rang Nick Walker to let him know that I have confirmed the change of nest site. I checked if we had surplus cable left over so we can move the camera equipment. Luckily enough we have.

09 April 2007

It’s holiday Monday so the quarry is closed, I came in for a quick check and saw the male flying around.

08 April 2007

I came back to the quarry today for a closer look. Using the telehandler I was able to lift myself up to see the female sitting on the ledge, she was nesting. At last I knew where they were at!

07 April 2007

I came into the quarry today to check again on the ledge we think they are using, no sign of them.

06 April 2007

At 2pm today, the female was on top of the 14mill stone where I’d seen the male yesterday. No word of the male, she flew off and sat on the quarry face.

05 April 2007

As I was driving around this morning I saw the male on top of a pile of stones, this is about 100m away from the new ledge we think they must be sitting on. We have seen no word of the female so I’m beginning to think she must be nesting.

04 April 2007

As I was driving around the quarry this morning doing my daily checks (I do this every morning and evening) I saw the male back around this new ledge. That afternoon David Brownlow and I walked around the top of the quarry looking for possible ledges on the quarry face that they might be nesting on. The shovel driver had seen them earlier around the back of the asphalt plant. They’re keeping us on our toes!

02 April 2007

One of the birds is doing a lot of flying around another possible ledge on the quarry face about 20m away from their original one.

30 March 2007

Luke form Eco-watch was back at the quarry this morning to make further adjustments to the web cam. Luke showed me the Return of the Raptors website, it’s looking great, we saw our first view of the ledge that the peregrines have nested on over the past number of years.

29 March 2007

It turned out such a wet and miserable day for the Eco-watch and the BBC filming team to come out to the quarry. Today the web camera was installed; we had everything in place as agreed for them to carry out their work (the plinth, cabling from the face to office, electric supply). Marc Ruddock abseiled the face, he fixed the camera equipment onto the ledge. I think he found the basalt rock hard going to drill into but managed well. It was a long day for everyone, took till 7pm to get all installed. Meanwhile the peregrines were flying around the quarry watching us.

27 March 2007

We’ve seen the peregrines around the ledge where we have placed the dummy camera

13 March 2007

This morning we had the Primary 7 pupils and teachers from St Columbas Primary School, Kilrea out at the quarry for a tour of the site and operations. Staff from the quarry had already visited the school and gave them a talk on the history and development of Patrick Bradley Ltd. All quarry staff was prepared for the arrival, signs have also been displayed around the quarry making drivers aware of our visitors at the quarry today. The children were quickly assigned to groups and outfitted in their personal protective equipment for the quarry. We showed the children all the different processes in the quarry from rock extraction, crushing, asphalt and concrete block plants. They had a question sheet to answer so they were asking loads of facts and figures about the quarry’s production. The class is doing a project on the peregrine falcons at the quarry and wanted to see where they will hopefully be nesting; so we gave them binoculars to check the face for the nesting peregrines and were able to see the dummy camera that had been placed at the ledge they have been using for the past years. Unfortunately, the pupils didn’t see the peregrines this morning at the quarry but we did see a pair of buzzards soaring above the quarry and lots of jackdaws.