One of the peregrine chicks has died. We are now down to three chicks in the nest.  

Staff, and our peregrine-cam visitors, noticed yesterday that there were only two chicks in the nest. So our first thought was that we had lost two!  

Luckily the third chick returned to the nest in the evening after having been on a journey around the clock tower ledge.  

Today the RSPB project officer has spent the day looking for the fourth chick, but to no avail. It seems unlikely that the chick is still alive.  

One possible explanation is that the chick was the weakest of the four, and that the hot weather over the last few days has been too much for it to cope.  

The three remaining chicks look very healthy and have a very good chance of surviving, particularly as the weather seems to be getting cooler.

Last week our Museum photographer took some stunning pictures of the peregrines from the Museum's roof. We hired a 600mm F4 lens with a 2x converter to enable us to zoom in to the nest.

Here are some images of the 4 chicks and the parents feeding the chicks.

Take a look at the series of photos of our nesting Great Tit family taken by the nest cameras!

Thanks to everyone who came to the Moth Night last Saturday. It was the first time we've had a moth night at St Fagans and I found it very interesting. I'll definitely like to do more in the future!

My personal favourite moths on the night were the Lunar Marbled Brown and the Nut-Tree Tussock. Here's a list of all the species we found - thanks to Dave at SEWBReC for this!

Micropterix thunbergella

Eriocrania subpurpurella

Agonopterx cf heracliana

Capua vulgana

Dark-barred Twinspot Carpet

Small Phoenix

Golden-rod Pug

Mottled Pug

Brimstone

Coxcomb Prominent

Lunar Marbled Brown

Flame Shoulder

Common Quaker

Hebrew Character

Nut-tree Tussock

Pictures and loads more info on moths can be found at UK Moths

The house is taking shape now it's all quite exciting. You can see how it will eventually look when Dafydd and the team have finished their work.

Dafydd's had plenty to think about though. The first six rafters went up easily but then he had to decide where to place the ring-beam - inside or outside the rafters? As you can see from the pictures he place them outside the rafters. You can find out why in Dafydd's diary.

Once the ring beam was placed the next set of rafters went up quickly. They were notched, allowing them to hook onto the ring-beam and then lashed with tarred string. A second ring-beam was then placed lower down. Before long we will be thatching.

Link to Dafydd's diary http://www.theroundhouse.org/dafsdiary.htm