Yesterday I popped by for half an hour early evening, and saw precisely nothing. Not a single peregrine, not even dad. So, today I didn’t bother with the afternoon or evening, and decided to catch them at bedtime. I arrived at 9.10 and ran from the clock tower because I could hear them squawking. There were two chasing each other over the north lawn and trees. They soon perched and I saw that one juvenile was sitting on the east side, and two on the north. Our boy was next to one of his sisters who was picking at some scrap of food. The fourth girl flew round from the other side, squawking, and tried to knock her siblings off their perches, succeeding with one of the girls. Then an adult arrived with a decent sized meal in its talons. That’s when it all kicked off – the three girls all flew around trying to catch the adult, and making an absolute racket (sorry neighbours!). They were zooming around the cathedral and over the street, then the adult landed on the narrow ledge below the NW turret and two of the girls went back to their perches. The third flew alone for a while before deciding to try and steal the food. She swooped on the adult, but failed. Then she tried to knock her brother off his perch, but he held fast, flapping his wings to steady himself. She landed on the west where she stayed (presumably sulking) for a few minutes. Then she took off again, circling around the south, and coming back round towards her brother – I thought she was going to push him again, but she quietly came in to sit beside him, and returned to her previous occupation of picking at the scrap she’d left there. The adult meanwhile was still on the ledge, eating its supper. When the lights around the cathedral went off at 10.00, there was no movement – they all seemed content sitting on their perches in the dark and rain.
