Parliament Peregrines Diary
Monday December 27th
admin | 07 January, 2011 19:41
Slightly warmer weather on arrival although the recent trend of bleak grey skies looks as if it is here for a while, bring on the sunshine.
Usual pre dawn start trying to locate the birds in the semi darkness, wind was coming in from the west, so the east side looked favourite, so it proved. The Tiercel was the first out at 7.48am, he flew a couple of circuits round Victoria Tower and then alighted back on the east side, as he did he started to call. He was staring intently at something and was obviously agitated.
Suspecting that the Falcon was round there as well from his actions I headed round to the Park for a better view, as I did the Tiercel flew north. As I set up round by the river and scanned I located the Falcon already feeding on a kill, this explained the Tiercels actions a short while ago, as it was still very early, and I knew that she or the Tiercel had as yet not hunted, it was likely a stashed kill, or possibly a nocturnal kill.
As I watched through the scope I could see that it was not the usual feral pigeon , but was very brown all over. Eventually she turned round whilst feeding and it was then that the head of the prey came up briefly, it was enough to confirm that the prey was either a Common Snipe or a Woodcock, I had seen a very long narrow bill. Looking again and going by size of of prey, I was 95% sure it was a Woodcock, this almost certainly meant it had been taken during the nocturnal hours as Woodcock are mainly nocturnal.
More and more in watching Peregrines in London, it is coming to light that many pairings are hunting nocturnally in London, on one particular sight, most times when I turn up at dawn, one or both birds are sitting there with full crops. This is not prey that is being taken the previous afternoon and stashed, it is birds being taken during the dark hours, and the peregrine(s) are then feeding there and then on the kill. For the last 2 winters I have visited this particular site, which is illuminated, at various times throughout the night, 10.00, 11.00am and on one occasion 1.00pm,( I know what you are thinking, I am nuts, you are right, my wife tells me so). On a number of visits, I have witnessed one or both birds slipping away from there roost position, twice it has been to the sound of invisible calling Redwings going over in the darkness. Prey remains collections have also shown the nocturnal movers.
Anyway, back to the Parliament pair, I watched the Falcon for another hour, during this time she fed, and then laid up to digest prey.
Of the Tiercel there was no sign so he may well have taken prey further afield. Unfortunately, during the visit, the light was so bad that the photo's I took were only fit for the bin. Below is a series of photo’s taken from Victoria Tower at an earlier date showing the landscape of London and how the Parliament pair see there surroundings.
Looking East with the 'Shard' and Canary Wharf in the distance
Northerly - Big Ben and the London Eye
Still Northerly - Post Office Tower in the distance
South - Victoria Gardens Park below
South west - Battersea Power Station
West - Westminster Abbey below
The Asahi Shimbun
admin | 18 December, 2010 19:32
On July 10th
I met up with Yuki Takayama, who is the staff writer and Ebara Kotaro, the
staff Photographer for the Asahi Shimbun, Japans leading newspaper. Will
Blathwayt, who also works for the newspaper was present and translated. All 3 had been in
London for a few weeks and had taken some photographs of some Peregrines at
various sites around London, they have very kindly provided me with a link to
the Photographs. The photo’s are excellent, especially the Parliament and Tate
photo’s and well worth a look. Link below: http://doraku.asahi.com/lifestyle/earthphoto/101213.html How the article
looked when it was published, would be good to know what it says…… 
Thursday December 9th
admin | 12 December, 2010 06:34
Called in at dawn en route
to West London where I was supervising the placing and fixing of a new nestbox
for a pair that failed last year due to flooding. Middle Tower on right with Big Ben to the left At 7.10am I located
the Falcon roosting on the east facing side away from the westerly wind,
Peregrines are not silly, they always roost on the opposite side to the wind
direction. Could not locate the Tiercel so presumably he may have slipped away
very early. At 7.17 the Falcon hunted, straight out over the Thames, low and
very fast, obviously on to something. She was lost to view for a good while but
returned at 7.25am and alighted on the middle tower, it was then that I could
just barely make out the Tiercel resting slightly to the side. As I got on to him he
went north west, non hunting flight and looking as if he was going somewhere
distant, this was indeed the case as he never returned. Settled back to watch
the Falcon. Looking around, I
could not help noticing the extra Police presence and crowd control barriers
and realized today was the Student protest day, knowing that I had to come back
this way after placing the nestbox in West London, I made a mental note to avoid
the area. As they say, the best
laid plans… later that day it took me 3 hours and 40minutes to get from West to
East London, hard to be sympathetic with the students with all the damage and
violence that occurred. Falcon watching feral activity below Back to the Falcon,
as I was watching her, I could see that she was watching something below her
very intently, no doubt a Parliament feral pigeon, this was confirmed when she
suddenly dropped off the Middle Tower and went into a dive. She was then lost
to view but appeared shortly after with a feral pigeon, she then made straight
for Victoria Tower, probably the 1st time that I have witnessed a
feral being taken low down on Parliament itself. Dodgy picture in bad light showing the Falcon about to nail the feral Watched her feeding
for the next 20 minutes and then headed for West London to place a nestbox. Feeding on Victoria Palace Side view Prey Remains On October 5th
I helped out on Autumnwatch at Parliament and provided some prey remains from
another site in East London. At the time myself and Chris Packham went through
them and identified as much as we could. I have now got the
results of the whole bag which has been identified by a friend of mine in
Bristol, Ed Drewitt. He has identified
prey for me for a number of years, which I am very grateful for. He has a great
website and it is well worth having a look to see what features on a Peregrines
menu, website below; Prey Feral Pigeon – 20 Wood Pigeon – 1 Collared Dove – 1 Teal – 3 Fieldfare – 1 Ring Necked Parakeet
– 2 Starling – 3 + Redshank – 1 Ringed Plover – 1 Moorhen – 1 Unidentified Wader –
1 Juvenile One of the orange
colour ringed juveniles has shown up in West London and seems to have found
itself a territory to hunt and roost on. It is being regularly watched by
Nathalie Mahieu and Stuart Harrington of the LPP and has now been present for a
good number of weeks. Good to see juveniles
relocating in London, hopefully the other 3 will show up. 
Peregrines and Crows
admin | 30 November, 2010 21:54
The event below is not the Parliament pair but another pair
in East London, thought it may be of Interest. Peregrines are incredible hunters and at the top of the chain
when it comes to Birds of Prey in London, I have seen many stirring sights
whilst watching them , quite recently I witnessed a confrontation between a
pair of Peregrines and 4 Carrion Crows. Carrion Crows are the bully boys in the bird world, big,
intelligent, full of attitude and quite a formidable adversary, they will mob
many raptors especially Kestrels and Sparrowhawks but rarely mob Peregrines. The
Crows know that the Falcons are very aggressive and mobbing can become
dangerous to the health of the Crow. The Crows will ‘ bait’ Peregrines when
they have prey and are feeding on a structure, always 2 or more but rarely seek
them out up in open sky as they do with Kestrels and Sparrowhawks. In open sky
Peregrines are in there element, they are also extremely territorial and hold
to territory all year round, much of this is due to the threat of losing there
territorial site to other Peregrines and also losing prey remains to Crows. Recently, I arrived at a regular site at dawn as I normally
do and watched the pair come out from roost from the ‘core’ structure, looking
at both, I was aware that both Falcon and Tiercel were showing full crops. As I
knew that this pair hunted at night, it was very likely that they had hunted
and fed during the nocturnal hours. Both birds flew to a nearby structure, the
Tiercel to the top with the Falcon slightly below him, I call this ‘profile’
perching, it is more or less advertising territorial presence on his part to
other Peregrines. Shortly after this 4 Crows appeared, they could obviously see
the Peregrines on the nearby structure but additionally, it was likely that
they could see prey remains on the ‘core’ structure, they circled highish but
none landed. This carried on for about 5 minutes, in the meantime the Falcon
had started to call whilst watching the Crows, I have seen this before, it
signals agitation and usually aggression .As it looked like all 4 Crows were
going to leave, 2 suddenly broke off and landed on the far side of the
structure, near the top, they could not see the Peregrines and vice versa. It was too much for the Peregrines and as one they attacked,
flight was direct and powerful, the usual scenario was that the Crows would see
them coming and they would dive straight down low to the ground where they know
the Peregrines are unlikely to target them. In this case the Crows were not
aware of the approaching Peregrines, as they cleared the top of the building,
both flicked over and went for the Crows. One of the Crows soon appeared with the Tiercel on its tail,
his usual tactic is too hit the Crow too reinforce the territorial message and
send it on its way. As I was watching this, I heard a Crow calling in alarm,
into view came the 2nd Crow but unfortunately for it, the Falcon had
caught it and was attached to its back! As both were losing height rapidly, I
could see Falcon bending her head down through binoculars trying to give the
neck bite. The Crow was now screaming with fear and trying hard to defend
itself from the enraged female, she had a good hold and was obviously intent on
killing it. Having felt myself the strength and depth of the talons, I
sympathized with the crow as I knew that those talons were around ½ an inch
long and very likely doing damage. The ground was now rapidly approaching with both birds still
locked together, at the very last minute the Falcon disengaged and gained
height, the unfortunate crow was moving too fast and hit the ground quite hard.
As I got the telescope on it, it righted itself and stood upright, it was quite
obviously in shock, it was not calling but was rooted to the spot and staring.
It stayed this way for a good 3 or 4 minutes before I took my eyes off it, when
I looked back it had gone, it did not look as if it was in any condition too
fly, I suspect it may have moved to cover. Crows so often dominate other species, this time they were
on the receiving end.
Monday November 15th
admin | 30 November, 2010 21:29
After filming Autumn
watch on the top of Victoria Palace, a separate company, Passion Pictures had
arranged for filming to again take place on the Tower, for the Peregrines, I
was to narrate as to what the pair were up to. Tom Mahert who is a good friend, works in Parliament had
also come up at dawn, he is the man responsible who had made everything
regarding the birds happen. Spot the Peregrine The trouble with
Peregrines is that they are so unpredictable and unfortunately they never read
the script. The plan was to arrive and be in position on the Tower by dawn so
that hunting activity could be observed and filmed. It was a very bright
morning, the visibility and landscape of the London skyline was worth being up
there just for the view. Falcon refusing to hand over prey to Tiercel We were in position
by 7.10am, unfortunately with good light, the pair had come out earlier and had
already taken prey, a feral pigeon, and were well into feeding with the Falcon
dominating and the Tiercel looking on and waiting for her to finish. They were
on a wide ledge on Westminster Abbey, looking through binoculars, I suspected
that they may have taken the prey in darkness, the main reason being that there
was little meat left on the kill. Also , if it was a stashed kill, they would
be feeding on Victoria Palace, the Abbey is to far away to defend prey remains
from Carrion Crows, so all stashed prey is kept on the Palace. Whilst we were not
filming, myself and Tom walked round and looked for prey, some could be seen
far below and out of reach, but Tom came across a recent Black Headed Gull
kill. Falcon can just about visible on left hand side In the City, mainly
due to the feral pigeons abundance, Black Headed Gulls are not that often
taken, I have put this down to taste, although B H Gulls are bigger prey. Feral
Pigeons are far harder for a Peregrine to take being fast and agile as opposed
to the far slower and less agile Gull. It may also be that the feral is lighter
and also easier to carry, especially for the smaller Tiercel, one other reason
could well be down to the taste of the meat. With filming
commencing we kept an eye on the pair, even though the prey remains left were
very little, she would not release to the Tiercel, who on 2 occasions tried his
luck and approached the Falcon. On both occasions she dropped her wings and mantled
the prey, I could see the Tiercel calling in frustration, not a happy
Peregrine. After a good while
she did release to him, what was left was tiny, and she then flew over to the
Middle Tower to retire and rest up, likely for the duration of the morning. I
also had my camera with my long lense up there and had seen her go, managed to
get some half decent shots, although quite distant. Falcon arriving at Middle Tower We eventually
finished filming and we left the pair in peace, the Falcon resting on the
Middle Tower and the Tiercel had layed up on the Abbey. Falcon As I had a last look
round the London skyline, which was now stunning in the bright sunshine, I
could see the buildings/structures of another 5 pairs of Peregrines in the
distance, couldn’t have said that a few years back, Peregrines are here to
stay! Full crop and ready to lay up for a few hours
Sunday October 31st
admin | 17 November, 2010 22:32
Had arranged to meet
Jules Cox at dawn, he is a professional Wildlife Photographer, the plan was to
see if we could get some shots of the Peregrines. Right from the start the
weather was against us with overcast grey skies and then persistent rain. The
rain was heavy enough to dampen and ‘ground’ both Peregrines unfortunately,
both appeared from roost at 6.50am, the Tiercel making straight for the middle
tower, and then moving to a stashed kill
on the west side. 
Tiercel with stashed kill It is possible that they actually plan for bad weather
knowing that there is not going to be much activity by the no 1 prey species,
feral pigeon. Then again I think it is more likely that it is just opportune
feeding with prey left over from the previous afternoon, or possibly migrant
prey taken during the nocturnal hours. At this time of year it could be night
time Redwing or Fieldfare flocks going over or even Woodcock coming in.
Falcon laying up
In the meantime the Falcon had appeared from roost at the same time as the Tiercel, she flew straight out, flew a few circuits and alighted on the south side.
Around 30 minutes later she was joined by the Tiercel and this is where both birds remained for the duration of our visit, rain stopped play unfortunately.
Despite the weather we both managed to get some photo’s sheltering under a tree, Julians photo’s were very impressive even in bad light and rain. I have listed his website below, well worth a visit, especially for the photo’s of Golden and White Tailed Sea Eagles.
http://blog.julescoxphotography.co.uk/
Wildlife Photographer – Jules Cox
Can now also confirm that the last remaining juvenile has at last got the message and has departed, I last saw her on October 2nd apparently living off the adults scraps with both refusing to feed her. Hopefully she will make it, all the juveniles are carrying an orange leg ring, it will be interesting to see where she and the others turn up if they are seen, I expect Outer London, Inner is getting a bit crowded these days with Peregrines, great to see.
Julian photographing the pair
Autumnwatch - Parliament October 5th
admin | 15 October, 2010 19:16
Chris Packham and myself on Victoria Tower
I arrived at dawn to see if I could locate the pair and also see if the remaining juvenile was still present and had not left. Originally there were 4 juveniles, 2 females, a male and an inbetweenie that I could not sex as its size was between Falcon and Tiercel.3 of the juveniles had left, with a single juvenile remaining with both adults refusing to feed it, it appeared to be existing on the adults left overs. I had also visited on Saturday and the juvenile was repeatedly begging the adults for food relentlessly, neither bird would relent and release prey, the message was clear, it was time to go.
During the course of the morning I managed to locate both adults as well as the juvenile, obviously it had not got the message yet, if it does not go of its own accord soon, the adults will likely ‘persuade’ it to go. The chaps from the BBC arrived around 8.30am with others shortly after, they were able to get straight on to the birds, both adult Tiercel and juvenile were still present, the juvenile could be heard above the din of passing traffic quite clearly.
Juvenile living off adults leftovers
The remainder of the day was spent filming at the top of Victoria Tower with Chris and the camera crew and then descending to Victoria Park to film prey remains identification. Must say I really enjoyed it, as I opened the 2 sacks it was quite obvious that some of the prey was still ripe to say the least. Birds identified were
Many Feral Pigeons
Moorhen
Ring Necked Parakeet
Blackbird
Ringed Plover
Teal – 2 no
Starling
The Ring Necked Parakeets are quite interesting, as mentioned earlier, the prey was taken from an East London site, there was also an additional bird on top of Parliament. From what I can gather Peregrines are one of the few species that will take them as they are quite an aggressive species and have a formidable bite. I have heard of a number of people in London who have seen Sparrowhawks chase them but give up, I have seen this also myself, would be interesting if anyone has seen a Ring Necked Parakeet taken by a Sparrowhawk. The Sparrowhawks may just consider it wise not to risk injury, they are easily capable of taking them, especially the larger female whose speciallity is Wood Pigeon.
Finished the day early afternoon, the prey was taken to Bristol after filming to a friend of mine, Ed Drewitt, he identifies everything, bones, skulls, feathers and all.
Tiercel on middle Tower
Saturday October 2nd
admin | 04 October, 2010 10:50
With half decent
weather forecast I decided to visit in the hope of getting some decent photo’s
of the adults, and if present, the juveniles. In the half light I searched all
the regular roosting spots of the adults and also checked Big Ben for any
juveniles, could not locate any birds, much the same as my September 24th
visit.
At 6.35am a female juvenile came out from Victoria Tower from the east facing side, I was not able to check that side as the Park was still locked. She was very vocal, fooding calling from the word go, no adults were around,or it appeared, any other juveniles. At 6.50am the juvenile went for a feral pigeon but gave up the chase halfway through, she returned to Victoria Tower where she continuously food called whilst scanning the sky for the adults. During the next 40 minutes or so, she made 3 half hearted attempts to take prey, everytime it was a feral pigeon, none of the hunts were pressed home and she returned to the Tower every time.
By now I was sure
that 3 of the juveniles had gone and I was looking at the sole remaining
juvenile, to me, the fact that she did not show any determination in the hunts
showed that she was still reliant on the adults for prey.
At 7.40am her calls suddenly rose in pitch and she flew towards Westminster Abbey, I suspected an adult may have arrived, walking round there, this was confirmed with the adult Tiercel on a ledge with prey. What immediately became apparent was the fact that he was not going to release the prey and had ‘mantled’ it and was looking directly at the juvenile who was going bananas. She even fluffed herself up into threat posture with wings held down low trying to intimidate the male who had probably seen it many times before and just ignored her. Normal behavior for him would be to release the prey to her immediately, his behavior now was telling her it is time to go. The same scenario has very likely been played out with the other 3 juveniles, they had most likely already left going on the adults behavior.
The message was
pretty clear to the juvenile but presumably it was hanging on for the chance of
a meal, if it continues to remain the adults will likely drive it off.
It is not going to be
easy for the juvenile, there are many pitfalls to becoming independent.
1.At least 30% of
juveniles will not make it to there 1st year.
2.If it has not
learnt to hunt successfully from the adults it will likely starve.
3.In London, due to
the numbers of pairs that are present all year round, it will be attacked by other
Peregrines as it passes through there territory. Eventually it will find a Structure/Building where it
can build a territory of its own. This could be in London in the ‘gaps’ between
pairs or even further afield. Its natal site will always give it a strong
incentive to nest in an urban area.
4.After 2 or 3 years
she will be able to breed, it is rare that they breed in there 1st
year.
It will not be easy
but you only have to look at the growth of the London population to realise
that many do and are returning to the City.
Friday September 24th
admin | 02 October, 2010 19:03
I had not visited since Bank Holiday Monday due to other commitments, work etc, and also Londons growing Peregrine population keeping me on my toes. With the growth in the population, it is now a lot harder trying to keep tabs on the pairs, let alone single birds, each year seems to produce 2 or 3 new pairings. As many will undoubtably know urban Peregrines cannot be left to there own devices, especially at fledging times, London is a dangerous place for a youngster who is about to make his or hers maiden flight. I, along with members of the London Peregrine Partnership work in shifts trying to cover as many sites as possible, with the increased population in Peregrines it becomes harder every year. Dawn found me walking my usual transect, have now got into a pattern so that I can visually cover Victoria Tower, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey for any birds leaving from roost, the weather was awful. Overcast, windy and patchy rain was to be the norm all morning, I would be lucky to get any photo’s.
At 6.58am, the
Tiercel came in with prey from the north, by this time I had convinced myself
that the juveniles had gone as they are very vocal and I can usually find them,
up until the Tiercel came in, there was not a peep. As soon as he landed, a
juvenile female flew out from the west side of Victoria Tower and relieved him
of the prey, she then headed off to Westminster Abbey. This site with its wide
ledges is becoming the favoured feeding
structure, I followed her round there and found not one but 3 juveniles.
Quite surprised to see them still in attendance, many do leave the adults a lot
earlier. Looking through the scope I decided that of the 4 juveniles, I was
looking at the male and 2 females, the other juvenile, not sure of its sex due
to its size, I could not find. Despite a thorough search afterwards I could not
locate it. It was possible that it had a kill and was feeding somewhere else in
the pairs territory, or it may have moved on of its own accord. Sometime very
soon, I expect the adults to stop feeding them so that they will have to leave,
failing this, the adults will ‘encourage’ them to move on.
The adult Tiercel is still doing the lions share of hunting and it was again interesting to note that all of the juveniles on the Abbey were on prey, the adult Falcon appeared at 8.37am from the north. All the action is taking place pre dawn and then the first hour or 2 from then, could really do with getting up higher over the roof tops and seeing how far they go to take prey, they seem to have an abundance at dawn. Even allowing for stashed prey taken the previous day, I cannot see the adults being allowed by the juveniles to store it for the next morning, they would hassle them non stop, they are always hungry and food calling.
I left just after
9.00am, both adults and juveniles had settled into there rest positions so it
looked as if there would be no more activity
Migration is now well under way with 17 Barn Swallows and 9 House
Martins seen going north, also came across 3 calling Chiffchaffs in Victoria
Park Gardens, seems to have been a good year for these as they seem to be
everywhere.
Bank Holiday Monday
admin | 31 August, 2010 20:25
With decent weather
forecast for the Bank Holiday, I decided to visit to see if the juveniles were
still around at Parliament or had moved on to pastures new.
Arrived at 5.30a.m, bought my wife Christine with me as well, she likes the birds and also the history of the area, she was just about functioning at this time of morning. Clear skies promised a good morning so hoped to get in some photography and some decent photo’s. English weather these days seems to be constant westerly winds and grey overcast skies, as any photographer will tell you, you have got to have decent light.
In the half light I had already scanned the north, south and western sides of Victoria Tower trying to locate the adults, no luck with either bird, with a strong north westerly it was possible that they had roosted on the eastern side facing the Thames to avoid the wind. This proved the case with both adults emerging from this side at 5.55a.m, both flew straight to Westminster Abbey, the Tiercel landed but the Falcon carried straight on west towards St. James Park. A further 20 minutes elapsed with the Tiercel still in position on the Abbey, by th time I had convinced myself that the juveniles had indeed dispersed to find there own way in the world.
Tiercel from roost
At around 6.25am the
Falcon came in with prey to the Abbey, a feral pigeon, and as if by magic, a
hungry horde appeared. 3 juveniles came in from the direction of Big Ben, the
Falcon immediately handing the feral over to a female juvenile who mantled it
to keep the other juv’s at bay. The noise was quite deafening, even the road
noise could not drown it out. What the attraction is with Big Ben, I do not
know, the obvious noise every hour does not seem to put them off, as mentioned
earlier in the diary, they do roost on it.Why not roost on the Abbey? It may be that they possibly prefer there
own space rather than roosting on Victoria Tower with the adults.
With one of the juveniles now feeding, the remaining 2 started to food call which the Tiercel could not ignore, he immediately headed off north, the Falcon in the meantime had already departed west. Shortly after this the remaining juvenile showed up so bringing together the brood of 4, all on Westminster Abbey. The juveniles have now been present since July 10th at least, this is when I first saw them at Parliament, so they have been present for around 7 weeks, in this time I have not seen them take prey for themselves. Such is the abundance of feral pigeon in London, the adults are not having any trouble keeping prey supplied, if there was a prey shortage, they would very likely be weaned earlier and sent on there way. Without doubt they will go in September some time, in all honesty I thought the male(s) would have gone by now.
Juvenile with prey
Juv waiting for prey
Juvenile with feral pigeon prey
At 6.43a.m the
Tiercel came in with another kill, again feral pigeon, this again was claimed
by one of the juveniles and the Tiercel flew to the upper ledges of the
Abbey. Shortly after this at 7.02am the Falcon came in with prey, this was
taken by the juvenile male. Again the Falcon departed, this time in the
direction of Victoria Palace, as I watched her go the adult Tiercel started to
‘chack chack ‘ repeatedly. His agitation soon became apparent when a Grey Heron
appeared flying towards the Abbey, it was too much and too close for the
Tiercel who immediately attacked it and mobbed it until it left the area. Grey
Herons are seen as a threat by many species, namely Birds of Prey, Crows
especially and also Gulls. Grey Herons take many small bird species right up to
Blackbird size. As I watched the Tiercel return he suddenly turned in to the
wind and gained height with rapid wingbeats, I looked up and there was 3 feral
pigeons going over. As soon as he had gained the height he went in to a fast ‘
power flight ‘ catching them quite easy but failed on 4 attempted takes, each
time latching on to a different target as he cast up after his dive. After the
4th attempt he gave up, energy will not be wasted on continued
chases when he will know that prey is plentiful. This is the first time I have
seen him chase prey, with so many large buildings around, he just disappears
out of eyesight.
He returned to Westminster Abbey and that is where I left him, still waiting for another passing feral pigeon, he has endless patience, he knows that others will be along.
Magpies catching some rays
Juvenile
Friday August 13th
admin | 15 August, 2010 14:22
Not the best day to
be visiting if you are superstitious but
none the less arrived at dawn to catch up with the adults and, hopefully the
juveniles. The first sighting
was of a male juvenile straight from roost on Victoria Tower at 5.20am, he flew
the short distance to the Abbey, flight was very labored owing to the overcast
and rather cold conditions, rather surprised it was not the adult Tiercel.
Shortly after this 3 juveniles appeared from Big Ben’s upper structure, again
roosting on the clock, as mentioned before how they can put up with the nightly
noise is beyond me. I have also noticed this in other London pairs, some pairs
do have a very large tolerance to anything audible.
Juv on Victoria Tower
admin | 15 August, 2010 14:19
Juvenile on Abbey
admin | 15 August, 2010 14:17
Juv male on Abbey
admin | 15 August, 2010 14:15
Juveniles
admin | 15 August, 2010 14:09
After a while all 3
set off over towards the Embankment, calling loudly, much too the dismay of the
small Lesser Black Backed Gull colony, usual panic even though the Gull
juveniles are fledged and full grown.
Scanned the Abbey
again and the juv male was still present.At 5.28am I heard the juv’s coming
back again, they were following the adult Tiercel who was carrying prey, all
made for the Abbey where the prey was taken by a female juvenile, usual feral
pigeon.15 minutes later the adult Falcon turned up, she also had prey with her,
this was again taken by the 2nd female juvenile. All in all , from
5.28 to 6.50am both adults hunted and took 3 definate feral pigeons and a 4th
bird that may have been a
Starling. Both adults had not fed themselves as far as I could see, crops were
not full,if they had, I would very likely have noticed them. What was unusual
was the fact that both adults were not present at dawn, so they had either
roosted elsewhere or they had left the roost in darkness. With Londons
illuminated lighting and also other pairs hunting at night, there is the
possibility that they had set off in pre dawn and waited at favoured hunting
spots.
One of the juveniles
has got me puzzled as to its sex, there are 4, 2 are definitely female and the
other single is a male. It is very apparent when they are together but one
juvenile seems like an ‘ in between’‘size is between male and female.
Westminster Abbey
admin | 15 August, 2010 14:08
The Abbey
admin | 15 August, 2010 14:07
Both adults are
excellent hunters to take prey in that short time period, I have seen other
pairs/Tiercels go for hours and hours,
hunt after hunt before they finally took prey.
The wide ledges of
Westminster Abbey’s upper structure is the favoured place to feed with the
adults making a bee line for it every time, and having spoken to some of the
Abbey staff, everyone is aware of the Peregrines since the juveniles arrived.
As yet I have not seen any of the juveniles take prey, all are still reliant on
the adults for food. As there seems a never ending supply of feral pigeon, it
could well be that the adults will tolerate there presence for another 2 or 3
weeks, possibly more, if there was a shortage of prey, it could well be a
different story. Hopefully they will stick around a while, there low level
flying around Parliament early morning is very spectacular and a pleasure to
watch.
Young male
admin | 15 August, 2010 14:02
Juv female arriving at Victoria Tower with prey
admin | 15 August, 2010 13:48
Sunday July 25th
admin | 01 August, 2010 18:48
The usual dawn start
in the half light at around 4.40am had me searching for any roosting birds.
Victoria Palace has so many niches and small alcoves the birds including the
juveniles can tuck themselves right in and they can be very hard to find. This
was the case on Sunday morning, try as I might I could not locate one Peregrine
out of the 6 that were possibly present. I t was also possible that they could
be roosting elsewhere (juveniles) but the adults I expected to locate.
Weather was not ideal
with light rain so I was not expecting much activity early on. At this time of
day, Victoria Park is closed so it was not possible to check the east and south
sides of Victoria Tower so I waited.
First to emerge was
the Tiercel at 5.00am on the dot, he came from the east side, with a westerly
wind ,his roost position would not be exposed to the elements. Falcon out,
again from the east side at 5.02am, straight to Westminster Abbey, in the
meantime the Tiercel went north, flight was powerful. At 5.12am a female
juvenile came off Big Ben closely followed a male juvenile, how they could
spend the night roosting there with the noise is beyond me, as usual they
started to call straight away. With
the arrival of the juveniles on Parliament, the constant calling and low level
flying means they are getting noticed more than the adults. The security police
stationed all round the area along with some tourist’s are watching the
juveniles antics at times and I must admit it is very entertaining and
spectacular. Believe it or not but the tourists start to appear at around
5.00am, they are just suddenly there.
At 5.22am another juv
came off Big Ben, am beginning to wonder what the attraction is to the
juveniles, obviously noise is not a problem, maybe one goes there and the rest
follow as they may still act loosely as a family unit. Possibly they feel more
secure being nearer to each other even though it has been a good few weeks since
they fledged.
Juvenile male defending himself on his back
admin | 01 August, 2010 18:46
Adults
admin | 01 August, 2010 18:44
Tom
admin | 01 August, 2010 18:42
Tom Maher, who works
in Parliament, joined me early to have a look at the birds, he knows the story
of the pair from the start and is the one who has made everything happen
regarding the pair, he was instrumental in the placing of the tray. The adults
and also the juveniles had laid up for most of the morning, both adults had now
returned, due to the miserable weather. Every now and then you would get a
brighter spell and it was during one of these that a feral pigeon flew close
to Victoria Palace. Ignored by the
adults, but too much of a carrot for one female juvenile who came out and set
off in pursuit. Try as she might whilst in view, she could not close, the
distance stayed the same, but more importantly she was underneath it and pushing
it up higher. Both disappeared from view heading north east, it would have been
good to have seen the climax as it looked an evenly matched contest of speed
and agility. As yet the juvenile will not have the power, stamina and speed of
an adult giving the advantage to the feral pigeon which is much more agile in
evading the Peregrines passes. We both waited a while to see if the juvenile
returned with or without prey but no bird returned, she likely gave up the
chase somewhere and was resting before returning.
Juveniles at speed
admin | 01 August, 2010 18:38
Westminster Abbey
admin | 01 August, 2010 18:34
After this I walked
round to Westminster Abbey and located a juvenile male on prey, the adults may
have fed him before returning to Victoria Palace, or it was possibly a stashed
kill or prey remains from the day before.
So far I have not
seen any of the juveniles take there own prey, all of the juveniles it seems
are still reliant on the adults, the question now is, how long will it be
before they go there own way and become totally
independent.
Juvenile male with prey on Abbey
admin | 01 August, 2010 18:31
Saturday July 10th
admin | 14 July, 2010 20:48
First visit of the
month and I visited in hope that the
adults may have come from there nest site location, and with any luck, will
have brought the juveniles with them. They do remain territorial even with
fledged young at there nest site, so I was not expecting many sightings. Even
though I thought they may turn up, as mentioned in ‘website juveniles’, in
truth, I was not sure.
I had also arranged
to meet 3 chaps who were writing a piece for The Asahi Shinbun, which I
understand is Japans leading newspaper, they were doing some research for an
article on Urban Biodiversity. They were Yuki Takayama ( Staff Writer ), Ebara
Kotaro ( Photographer ) and Will Blathwayt who translated, they all work for
the same paper. Peregrines
on Parliament will always make good news, I know a chap from Sydney did an
article on them, it seems they are generating a lot of interest.
In talking to Yuki
through Will, I learned that they had visited
Parliament 10 days running, and had only occasional sightings of an
adult during the morning, this was there last day, as usual the Peregrines
timing was perfect.
Ebara, Yuki and Will
admin | 14 July, 2010 20:47
Tiercel
admin | 14 July, 2010 20:43
Dawn
admin | 14 July, 2010 20:36
I arrived at 4.15am
with an idea to see if any birds were roosting at Parliament, the others were
to meet me at around 5.00am.Checked all the usual roost spots to no avail and
then checked remaining structures. At 4.35am I located the adult Tiercel, I
suspected that he had roosted here, very likely
to get away from the constant begging of the now fledged juveniles. In
short having a breather from the kids.
He quickly moved to a
hunting stance and also changed position, head was going everywhere searching
for prey, at 4.50am he started to call. Shortly after the adult Falcon turned
up, did not even land and continued north, flight was powerful, obviously
having seen prey. I was then joined by Yuki, Ebara and Will and with impeccable
timing the Falcon came in with prey, a feral pigeon, needless to say there was
a lot of happy chappies about. She started to feed whilst the Tiercel again
started to call, a little while later he flew down and sat waiting for her to
finish, it then got even better.
Juveniles 'playing' with a Lesser Black Backed Gull
admin | 14 July, 2010 20:34
Juvenile Male
admin | 14 July, 2010 20:23
Juveniles
admin | 14 July, 2010 20:14