A BIRDWATCHER from Hong Kong has made a 12,000-mile round trip to Derby in the hope of seeing the city's famous peregrine falcons.

Since 2007, Jennie Mak has been one of thousands of people who regularly visit a website showing live pictures of the birds nesting at Derby Cathedral.

And yesterday, the 35-year-old combined her birdwatching visit with a business trip to the city.

She said: "I first heard about the peregrine falcons when I was visiting friends in Derby several years ago and listened to the local radio station.

"Since then, I have been following their progress and after the cameras were set up in 2007 I have been looking in every day to see what they have been doing. I love birds so I decided to make a trip to Derby in the hope of being able to see them."

Jennie used a telescope to see one of the birds sitting on a ledge on the cathedral tower.

Peregrine falcons first nested at the cathedral in 2006. The pair raised three chicks that year, followed by two in 2007 and four last year.

Last Monday, for the fourth consecutive year, the first egg was laid. Egg number two then followed on Thursday and the third was laid just after 4.30pm on Saturday. Experts were expecting number four to arrive during the early hours of this morning.

Nick Moyes, of Derby Museum and Art Gallery, has been helping to monitor the peregrines since they first came to the city.

He said: "It was fantastic to welcome Jennie. She has been a regular contributor to the website and has been keeping track of the birds for a long time, so it was wonderful to meet her.

"Fifty years ago, peregrine falcons were on the edge of extinction and now they have made a fantastic recovery and are coming to cities like Derby, which gives people the chance to see them in person."

There have been more than 96,000 visits to the website so far this year.

Derbyshire Wildlife Trust is a partner in the peregrine project. Education manager Nick Brown said: "We were amazed how far people would travel to see the birds, the cathedral and the city – sometimes for the first time.

"The first person to spot the second egg last Thursday was logging on from Grenoble in France. Derby people working abroad also use the webcams – we've had comments from workers in the Gulf, South America, Hungary, Uzbekistan and North America."