After all of the preceding days’ activity a period of blazing heat appeared to slow the birds down on Saturday morning and early afternoon. Mum, Dad and the juveniles barely moved a muscle during the hot part of the day. Mid-afternoon the sun went behind some cloud, the temperature dropped and within minutes the adult birds went back to circling high above the Cathedral. The youngsters immediately responded by resuming flapping their wings and hopping into view on the sides of their turret.
At 3.30pm Dad took a Pigeon in straight pursuit right over the centre of Chichester, around 200 yards north east of the Cathedral. This was passed straight to Mum, who flew around the turret carrying the prey for a minute or two in plain site of her offspring before bringing it into the nest area. This certainly appeared to be evidence of the adults having decided it’s time to tempt the youngsters into the air.