Yesterday afternoon I walked around the cathedral to find nothing again. After 10 minutes both parents returned from the north, making a lot of noise, one of them carrying prey into the NW turret – their favoured ‘dining room’ this year. The other adult sat on a pinnacle, keeping a very close eye on the horizon, and her mate. I saw a few feathers float out of the turret, but not a lot – plucking was apparently very half-hearted. Then the observing parent moved and sat on top of the turret, squawking loudly. After a few minutes of this, dad emerged, carrying the pigeon which still had most of its feathers, and one wing. He flew eastwards, flapping madly to try and gain height with his burden, eventually catching a thermal and circling in a gradual northerly direction. I hoped to see the juveniles come in and take their dinner, but he disappeared out of sight, presumably to pass it to them over an open field where they were waiting for him.
