Live Webcams

Our webcams have ended! Here is a summary of each of the cameras.

Stork

As a special treat, we also provided you with footage of a White Stork nest. Storks breed on continental Europe, before heading south to Africa or Asia for the winter. These majestic birds can stand a metre tall.

White Storks regularly build their nests on top of buildings and they will normally lay around four eggs in the spring. The chicks will spend the best part of three months in the nest, before striking out on their own.

The Storks had a slightly rough start this year losing three of their five chicks due to poor weather conditions but the two chicks that did survive grew up to be healthy and strong and provided us with a great insight into the life of a Stork chick.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Cuckoo

We were lucky enough to have a Cuckoo lay its egg in the nest of a Reed Warbler but unfortunately the chick ended up becoming too large for the nest and falling out, it was rescued and taken to a local wildlife centre.

The Reed Warbler’s didn’t give up though and went on to lay three eggs all of which hatched and fledged successfully.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Barn Owl

The Barn Owls laid seven eggs this year and all of them hatched. Not all survived which is very typical for Barn Owls. Three Barn Owl chicks survived and successfully fledged.

The Barn Owl is one of our most iconic birds. As the name suggests, this species is happy to take advantage of man-made features when nesting and regularly raises its young in buildings.

Barn Owls typically incubate their eggs for 32 days and chicks will spend around 50 to 60 days in the nest before taking their first flight. A little smaller than Tawny Owls, Barn Owls are rodent specialists, with voles, shrews and mice accounting for the vast majority of their diet.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Little Owl

This cute species tends to lay its eggs between April and May and will incubate for roughly 30 days. Its chicks will fledge around 37 to 40 days after hatching. Compared to our other webcam owls, Little Owls are not quite so strictly nocturnal, but they still do much of their hunting at night. Like their larger counterparts, they will readily hunt rodents, but much of their diet is made up of insects and worms.

We had the privilege of cameras on two different nests this year. Family number one had here eggs and family number two had four eggs all of which hatched. Unfortunately family number two lost one chick early on and then suffered an attack from a Pine Marten which caused the female Little Owl to disappear, we are unsure if she had been hurt. The male couldn’t support the remaining chicks on his own and as a result all four chicks died.

Family number one raised three healthy, happy chicks and all have fledged successfully.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Peregrine

We had the privilege of cameras on two different nests this year. In nest number one the female Peregrine laid four eggs, only three hatched but they grew up fast and turned into feisty birds that successfully fledged.

In nest number two the female laid three eggs, unfortunately one was lost when the female flew out the nest with it still attached to her! You can watch this on our YouTube channel. The remaining two eggs successfully hatched and fledged.

Did you know the Peregrine Falcon is the fastest animal on earth? These beautiful birds are capable of reaching speeds of more than 200 miles per hour when diving after their prey and are one of the few bird of prey species that can be found in urban areas.

Peregrines typically lay their eggs in March and will incubate for roughly a month. Once hatched, the chicks will be fed a diet of pigeons and other birds, before fledging after around 40 days. Peregrines will aggressively defend their nest from potential predators and have even been recorded killing a Golden Eagle that strayed too close.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Great Tit

The Great Tits had five chicks this year all of which hatched and fledged successfully. The last chick took his time fledging but he got there in the end!

The Great Tit is one of our most familiar garden birds, and now you've got the chance to see how they raise their young. These delightful birds typically lay between seven and nine eggs, with laying normally starting in late March, although some individuals may not do so until July.

As small birds, Great Tits' incubation time is relatively short at around two weeks, and chicks are normally fledged within three weeks of hatching. You can help your local Great Tits raise their young this spring by providing them with a combination of seeds, nuts and live food.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Kingfisher

This year our Kingfisher pair raised two broods, six chicks in the first brood and seven in the second giving the parents plenty of mouths to feed! It has been a busy few months on the Kingfisher camera so make sure you catch up with the action on our YouTube channel if you missed out.

One of our most strikingly beautiful birds is the Kingfisher. The Kingfisher’s excavate a burrow by tunnelling into sandy soil on low stream banks.

Around six to seven eggs are normally laid in late March and early April, hatching roughly three weeks later. Chicks can eat well over ten fish per day while in the nest and will normally take their first flight around 25 days after hatching.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Swifts

Swifts weigh about 40grams making these birds superb fliers, they can even sleep on the wing and can fly up to 5,000 km in five days in the spring. They come back from warmer climates in April and start to nest.

Swifts will lay two or three eggs at two or three day intervals. Incubation usually lasts for around 19-20 days with the adults sharing all of the duties including incubation, feeding and protecting the nest. Once hatched the young will eat a diet on insects brought in by the parents.

Unfortunately this year our Swift pair decided against breeding inside the church despite showing the early signs at the start.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Tawny Owl

The Tawny Owl female laid three eggs and two successfully hatched and fledged. They certainly provided us with some entertaining viewing this year so don’t forget to visit our YouTube channel and catch up!

The Tawny is one of our most common owl species and the most likely to visit your garden. Primarily a woodland bird, these owls do sometimes inhabit urban areas provided there are plenty of large trees for them to rest in.

They usually lay 2-3 eggs and these are normally incubated for around 30 days. Once the eggs have hatched both the female and male will then be busy feeding the youngsters with rodents and perhaps the occasional bird and even a young rabbit or two.

The chicks will fledge after around 35 to 40 days, but will typically stay under the watchful eye of their parents for a couple of months before heading out to forge a territory of their own in late summer or autumn.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

Heron

There are currently three chicks in the Heron nest and they are growing more and more each day, keep watching!

The Heron are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds and they are the largest birds that we most of us will ever see in our garden. Despite their size they are surprisingly light.

When nesting the Heron is a sociable bird and they usually choose to nest in long established heronries. The nest will be used by the same birds for many years. Eggs are laid anytime between December and June, typically 3-5 eggs, with the incubation period lasting 23-28 days.

We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which were kindly provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland. You can watch all the videos on our YouTube channel.

All of our webcams are funded from charitable donations, and monitored by a team of volunteers throughout the spring. We hope that you enjoyed watching our webcams, the feeds for which have kindly been provided by the Beleef de Lente Project, courtesy of Vogelbescherming Nederland.