I arrived at lunchtime to see one of the juveniles happily circling around in the thermals, along with three herring gulls. Presumably her siblings weren’t interested in playing so she found some new friends!
Over the next hour or so, the four juveniles all perched on the North and East blind windows, so for a while I had all of them in view together, and dad sitting on his favourite spot on the top tracing of the spire.
Later, one of the youngsters carried prey onto one of the towers above the cathedral entrance, and proceeded to pluck it. For well over half an hour there was a flurry of feathers drifting off there. She wouldn’t have caught the prey herself – it would’ve been passed to her in mid-air by one of the parents as part of the hunting training. She was obviously enjoying her prize!
We did see a bit of group flying and tumbling over the cathedral and the town, but it was mostly a quiet day – too hot for a lot of activity!
