Food for thought: We need you to help name our popular peregrine chick
As you are no doubt aware, there has been a huge swell of interest on this blog about the possible naming of our surviving peregrine chick. The chick has become an unwitting star since all three of its siblings sadly died as a result of those terrible storms almost two weeks ago. Since then its been getting all of Mr and Mrs P’s attention – as well as yours of course – and has been growing bigger and stronger every day.
We felt that it was now time to start talking about a suitable name – and we wanted to offer you, our growing army of falcon followers, the chance to put your suggestions to us.
We would like people to email us their suggested names before 5pm on Friday, May 18, so that we can select our favourites and ask people to vote for them via an online poll, which we’ll link to from our falcon pages. Please don’t post your suggestions on this blog as they won’t be recorded, it’s important that we receive them via email – so if you’ve seen a name you like in previous comments, then please do email it to us!
We are also planning to give away a peregrine falcon toy to one person who suggests the name that is finally chosen for the chick via the online poll. The terms and conditions for this are set out below.
Last year the chicks were named Will and Kate – in homage to the royal couple who were married the weekend they hatched – and Isaac and Newton, a nod to the university’s flagship building which the adult falcons have made their home.
Unsurprisingly many of the suggestions which have appeared on our blog so far have focused on the story of the chick’s survival following those appalling storms. There have been too many to mention, but some of those which have caught our eye include Unity, Robinson Crusoe – inspired by the fictional castaway – and Jack, a reference to the chick’s tendency to take shelter in the corners of the nest box.
Maybe you’ll take the forthcoming Olympic Games as inspiration? The name ‘Bolt’, after the fastest man on the planet – Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt – might be very fitting for the world’s fastest animal. Or, in keeping with last year’s royal theme, how about something related to the Queen’s Diamond jubilee?
Then again, perhaps Robin Hood, with the legend’s links to Nottinghamshire, will strike a chord with some of you – ‘Arrow’ is a personal favourite of mine.
Whatever your thoughts are, we’d love to hear them, so please do get thinking and start sending your suggestions through to us as soon as possible.
Dave Rogers
Nottingham Trent University
Terms and conditions
NTU is running a free-to-enter competition to find a name for the peregrine falcon chick nesting on its Newton building. From the names suggested by competition entrants, the university will draw up a short list, from which the actual name of the chick will be decided via a poll. Entrants who suggested the name which is finally chosen will be entered in a prize draw, from which one winner, chosen at random, will receive a peregrine falcon toy.
The competition is open to anyone who submits a suggested name via email to environment.team@ntu.ac.uk.
By entering the competition, you agree to your name and image being used in the announcement of the competition results. We may choose to contact the winner directly asking them to send us an image of themselves with their falcon toy.
The closing date for entries is 5pm on Friday, May 18.
The decision of the judging panel upon selecting the winner of the falcon toy is final.
No alternative to the stated prize will be offered.
The competition result will be announced week commencing June 4 via the university’s falcon blog and social media channels.
