Staffordshire Wildlife Trust are enlisting the public’s help to get an exciting project off the ground via a voting system.
Peregrine Watch will enable thousands of people to experience an encounter with the fastest animal on earth – the majestic peregrine falcon.
The peregrine falcon is the undisputed fastest member of the animal kingdom, capable of reaching speeds of almost 250 mph when swooping for its prey. These remarkable birds live right here, in the UK, but few people get the chance to see them because they literally like the high life; nesting on tall cliffs and high buildings.
For the past nine years a pair of peregrines have nested high on the cliffs of the Roaches in the Staffordshire Moorlands. The Roaches, perhaps Staffordshire’s most iconic landscape feature are gritstone cliffs that rise hundreds of feet above the windy moorlands and mark the gateway to the Peak District.
The Roaches are visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year who come for the breathtaking views, fantastic walks and challenging rock climbs. But between mid March and late June it is the wildlife that takes centre stage, as this is when a team of volunteers supported by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust set up “Peregrine Watch” to welcome tourists and passers-by to look through their telescopes to see the fastest bird on the planet in its natural habitat.
Peregrine Watch came about because the birds actually nest on one of the busy rock climbing routes. In the early days the prime purpose of the Peregrine Watch was to guard the birds from disturbance from climbers. Nowadays, thanks to support from the British Mountaineering Council, the area where the birds nest is closed during the spring, so the focus is on raising awareness about these magnificent birds, which sadly still suffer from illegal hunting and egg collecting.
In 2016 Peregrine Watch welcomed over 6,000 visitors of all ages to the temporary base (a converted garden shed!) at the base of the cliffs. From this vantage point visitors can look through two telescopes which are trained on the nest hundreds of feet away, high on the cliff. Visitors can also talk to the team of Peregrine Watch volunteers who mount an almost round the clock vigil during nesting season.
In its current format Peregrine Watch is great, but with help from Aviva Community Fund it could be much better, and that’s where you, the public, come in.
Through Aviva Community Fund, The Trust want to commission a company that specialises in remote camera systems to install a camera on the cliff. This will use solar panels to power a camera (with audio) and a 4g WiFi bridge to bounce a wireless signal to a server located in their offices, several miles away so live video can be streamed onto the internet. They are also seeking funding to purchase 4g enabled tablet computers that can be used at Peregrine Watch base station.
The camera will enable the public to see all the activity going on in the nest, as well as the comings and goings of the birds and the fledgling of the chicks even when they can’t be on site.
Upon registering with Aviva HERE you’ll be allocated ten votes to support this and other projects which may appeal.
The Trust’s vision is for Peregrine Watch to develop into a project that reconnects people with nature and inspires more people to get out and about in the natural environment. With your help they’d like to be able to welcome 10,000 people to their base camp and reach over 100,000 in the virtual world through their webcam.
