We heard sone unusual rapture calls this morning and so I went to investigate. It is like a scene from a bird slasher movie around the church, dismembembered thrush head, pigeon wings and other random pluckings. Perched on the roof are two peregrines, just digesting the latest kill. In 43 years I have only ever seen them in Wales and Scotland and now I csn see two from my bedroom window in Surrey. Made my day and my boy is suddenly excited by wildlife having poked the feeding remains.
Is the pair likely to mother and juvenile?

Sounds gruesome!

PS Please don’t post pics, some of us on here are of a nervous disposition.

Fabulous!!

Twitters will be onto that, get pics now.

i believe there’s a couple on a tower block in Brighton too, amazingly adaptable. No idea what relationship the pair may have. I’m sure the internet will know though!

they are cool aren’t they. Lucky you to have a ring side seat for the action!

We heard sone unusual rapture calls this morning and so I went to investigate.

Raptor calls? Or did the local doggers lead you to the falcons? Either way you’ll be peering at them through binoculars now you know they’re there 😉

Did a work trip to a falconry place near Reading earlier this year and had a peregrine on the glove – amazing to be able to study one so close.

Fabulous 🙂

There was/is a nesting pair on my old work buildings in Bondi Junction, Sydney 8)

Used to watch them hunting all day and you’d see the tell-tale feathers floating down when they had been successful, which was very often!!

cinnamon_girl – Member
Sounds gruesome!

PS Please don’t post pics, some of us on here are of a nervous disposition.

TUP

OP – pics, pics and MORE pics!!

8)

You know they’re in central London too right?

That is pretty cool though

Probably there avoiding all the gamekeepers in the North of England at the moment!

In all seriousness they are probably a mating couple at this time of year (mate for life) and will be in the nesting process somewhere. Cross your fingers they have chosen there as they are known to rotate nesting sites.

A pair nested on Salisbury Cathedral.

There are peregrines on Chichester cathedral. I think they’ve been there a few years. There are also some somewhere in Guildford, though the location isn’t publicised.

It seems not so long ago that buzzards weren’t found in the south-east. Now I see them every time I go out. Red kites less often.

Yay!
As above, suprisingly adaptable and unflappable birds (did you see what I did there? 😉 )

Back along our local nimbys tried to use them as an excuse not to build a blue trail for teh noobz -they didn’t take kindly to pointing out that the peregrines were not put off by mechanised tree harvesters laying waste to many hectares of larch 50m away from nest the season before, or that this pair had nearby ‘neighbours’ nesting in a church tower in central Exeter.

Our local ones have been victim to attacks by what we suspect are either gamekeepers (much private shooting land nearby too) or pigeon-fanciers. OP, do tell RSPB about this and see if someone can work out where they nest before the peregrine-haterz, breeders or egg-collectors do! -it might be worth thinking very soon about cctv for the nest more for security than birdwatching purposes.

Good god the vindictive brain washers have done a good job haven’t they!! Perigrines are doing great- like all of our Raptors. When I worked closer to Salisbury Plain, we’d see loads migrating back and forth each year. Here in Berkshire, they’re less common but we did have a beautiful female here for a week last year. Saw her have a great woodpigeon kill.
My friend hunts partridges with his ‘manned’ one (I won’t say tame 😉 ) and he regularly gets an angry wild one turn up for a bit of a screech and a scrap with the intruder.

I’m a Gamekeeper and proud to have helped create the habitat to support every local species of bird of prey. Spotting a long eared owl and pair of barn owls with my two year old lad was a highlight of last year. Don’t believe everything you read in the press!!

Many major cities have peregrines nesting these days, Bath have a pair that have been nesting in a purpose-built box on a church tower in the city centre for years, they’re nesting on old warehouses in Bristol, I believe they’re nesting on a church in Calne, Wilts, I’ve seen them regularly in Chippenham, not far from where I live, and around Biddestone, where my local pub is, these birds are probably offspring of the Bath pair.
Glad to see them around, anything that will keep the feathered rats under control is good as far as I’m concerned.
If the pigeon racers get pissed off, so what, they’re forcing a bird to use its natural homing instinct for their own ends, flying unnatural distances for profit and self-esteem.

Pairs at Derby Cathedral, Nottingham Trent university building and a million Belper. Supposedly common round here but I’ve never actually seen them in the wild.

“Vindictive brainwashing” from the RSPB:

As peregrine numbers have recovered, some pigeon fanciers and game interests have called for the removal of the legal protection given to peregrines. Maintenance of legal protection is required under European Birds Directive.

The RSPB believes that the highest level of protection is essential to the conservation of the peregrine, which remains comparatively rare, and is extremely vulnerable to human activities (including continued illegal persecution). Once the peregrine population declines, it takes many years to recover. The peregrine is a valuable indicator species of the health of the environment, but only if its numbers are not kept artificially low.

The peregrine is a widespread species, present at low densities. Because of this, targeted conservation action can be difficult. Broad scale habitat protection and reduction of pollution and chemical contaminants will benefit peregrines.

The RSPB and other organisations have been providing nesting ledges and boxes to help peregrines re-colonise their former ranges in the south and east of England. Continuing vigilance is needed to keep in check the illegal killing of peregrines by gamekeepers and pigeon fanciers, and the robbing of nests for eggs and chicks by egg collectors and falconers. The peregrine is included on the Green List of UK birds of conservation concern.

Well my old 7x zoom Olympus was not really up to the job and my ancient SLR has given up on life 😡

If they are still there in the morning after tonight’s forecasted storms I’ll contact the relevant bodies and buy a half decent camera. I have already contacted some Ecologist friends. No one else seems to have noticed them apart from some crows who mobbed them for 5 mins.

The church does have a tall steeple and we are surrounded by woods, common land and lakes with plenty of prey species and so assuming the bell ringers don’t go crazy tomorrow I have high hopes for them sticking around.

It’s not in the RSPB’s interests for the awe inspiring headline birds to be seen to be doing well. After all, having evil gamekeepers and pigeon fanciers as scapegoats keeps the donations flowing doesn’t it 😉

“Yeah, they’re doing great but send us your money anyway please” isn’t quite as catchy 😉

The nesting box in Bath, with a couple of young birds, this was several years ago, when one of them managed to end up in the river that’s right below the nest box. Fortunately it was rescued with no harm done to the bird, apart from to its dignity.
One of the parent birds is perched on the camera to the left, that Springwatch set up.

Awesome! That’s a cool pic 🙂

I came across one tucking into a pheasant whilst on a ride last week.
Darkest Hertfordshire (btw thanks to Herts fire service for showing me some new bits 🙂 )
So close I heard it tearing and ripping the flesh off. When it saw me ,it backed off,but stayed on the ground& defended the catch from some crows.
Very impressive.

Apparently they adapt very well to urban living, with all that prey and lots of high vantage points. If you can find a copy, The Peregrine by JA Baker has some great descriptive passages.

After all, having evil gamekeepers and pigeon fanciers as scapegoats keeps the donations flowing doesn’t it?

TBF someone was doing a great and somewhat organised job at keeping the concern and scapegoating going locally, rspb or no rspb.

Our local nest was poisoned in 2000. Mum and 2 chicks fwiw. I would imagine it takes a great deal of skill and organisation, (far more than I posess) to poison a pigeon carcass and lower it on a string 50 feet down a sheer quarry face into the nest but nevertheless someone managed it. Same MO a few years later in near Buckfastleigh, and more recently on south devon coast. One was found with an air rifle pellet in its wing last year near us too. I am fairly confident it is not ‘laypeople’ with these skills, equipment and going to these lengths.
Whether there are enough of them now (and I see rspb now push the ‘length of time it takes to repopulate’ angle rather than the low numbers from a few years back) is largely irrelevant whilst it is still a criminal offence to kill them.
If it didn’t keep happening then the rspb etc might have to find something else to report and other sad stories to raise funds with.

Bubs, it seems you can’t often have a wildlifey/countrysidey thread on stw without bickering breaking out about this or that conservation/protection organisation (more frequently RSPCA as I recall, and never anything to do with me previously). I am cracking open a frosty one and leaving your lovely thread with my apologies for my part in derailing it.

There is no doubt wildlife crime is an important and ongoing issue but as a progressive Gamekeeper and lifelong bird of prey fanatic, I perhaps take the glib comments a little more personally.

The countryside is under threat but far more so from habitat loss and sterile, efficient, tidy farming than a few rotten egg gamekeepers or highly strung racing pigeon enthusiasts. I can confidently say that the rise in driven shooting has in fact facilitated much of the large scale raptor re-population. The thousands of tons of relatively easy prey has enabled all the large meso predators to flourish by filling the empty gap created by pesticides and myxomatosis. /oversimplistic mode

I can say with some confidence that birds of prey have zero impact on the viability of our business. We lost approximately 150 pheasants to Buzzards this entire Summer but the same amount to foxes in two nights! That’s just over 1% when we lose a huge amount more to straying, foxes and other forms of mortality between June and Feb.
The Red Kites rear a nest of young every year in one pen but don’t ever touch a healthy pheasant (and keep the Buzzards away 😉 )
Owls and Raptor sightings in the last twelve months here on 2000 acres of mixed Berkshire countryside include: Little Owl, Long Eared Owl, Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Perigrine, Merlin, Hobby, Common Buzzard, Red Kite and 1 glimpse of a Goshawk.

Anyway, sorry for the thread derail too but please don’t tar all gamekeepers with the same brush!

I like what you say Crosshair & good on you for being seemingly as proactive as you are.
The persecution of raptors anywhere is a something I can’t get to grips with.

You know they’re in central London too right?

I lay on my sofa and watch them on Crystal Palace transmitter, I don’t think they nest there just sit and watch for parakeets and pigeons. (I think they nest on Croydon south transmitter just down the road.
There are also owls here, heard them at night but not seen them yet.

@crosshair well said and keep up the good work

It was quite cool watching them dive past the window half way up mill bank tower a few years ago. Livened up a deadly dreary meeting no end.

St Georges Church in Sheffield has nesting Peregrines. The University of Sheffield has set up a couple of webcams on the nestbox. Pretty amazing to watch as the eggs hatch and the youngsters fledge. Though it may not be to CG’s liking during this time…

Webcam link

I worked on an offshore windfarm a wee while ago. A peregrine lived on one of the offshore sub-stations, living off the passing trade of migrating songbirds. I would often find various bits, normally just a beak, of some small and unfortunate twittery bird littering the decks of the ship.

Scared the bejesus out of me once when I spooked it as it sat resting (digesting?) near one of the ships doors that was set back in an alcove.

I feel sick every time an alleged BoP killing hits the news as by and large there is no need for it. Grouse shooting is a little different because they are truly wild and a whole seasons investment in the habitat and biodiversity of the moor can be undone by a colony of Hen Harriers. This is why the HH joint action recovery plan is such a good idea as it should give a nice even density of Hen Harriers that is sustainable for both the moor owners, the Grouse and the Hen Harriers themselves (unmanaged moor soon becomes so lacking in prey that it can’t sustain any Harriers anyway (i.e. Wales!).

Buzzards CAN be a localised problem too but as I say, the Kites help keep their numbers down here by out competing them for carrion and generally driving them away at nesting time. Natural England has been slapped on the wrist and has to give due consideration to issuing Buzzard control licenses now but they are one of our fastest increasing green listed birds and the RSPB regularly get issued licenses to control amber listed Gull Species so any frothing about that is overblown too.

There’s a great bird blogger called James Common who wrote an awesome piece about his summer on a Grouse moor which is a perfect counter piece for discussion like this. He was there to carry out an ecological survey and was truly amazed by the diversity of species- including every bird of prey that should have been there and the hard work and dedication of the keeper’s and estate staff. Sadly, his employer made him take it down as they have an anti-shooting agenda and it was being widely quoted across the web by pro shooting groups.

Like most things in life, it’s not as black and white as it first seems.

Three years ago I took the night train up to Inverness, did about 200 miles ( mainly) off road to Ullapool and back, then back on the night train. I didn’t see one peregrine. Cycling through Trafalgar Square on the way from Euston to Charing X to get the train home, I was treated to the sight of two flying above me, one of which was a big female. The rest of London’s rush hour was totally unaware of them. Lovely sight- as long as you ain’t a pigeon!

OMG OMG. They were back today and I had a slightly better camera. 😀

bubs – thanks for the pics.