Chichester Peregrine Blog

Great to know that both peregrines were there later in the afternoon.  We managed a picture of one in the early afternoon.

I was watching both birds sunning themselves on the cathedral this afternoon, and quite a few people walked by, asking if they’re still around, is mum back yet, when will they have eggs, etc.  Well, as far as I can tell, mum never left – I’ve seen her and dad together several times over the Autumn/Winter, usually just sitting comfortably – no doubt enjoying the peace and quiet before the next brood disturbs them!

We expect courtship behaviour (dad feeding mum etc) to start soon, in few weeks time, then mating/egg laying during March.  All being well, eggs normally hatch towards the end of April.

Watch this space for updates…

What a beautiful day! There’s blue sky, sunshine and both peregrines are in residence on the cathedral!!

I saw dad on his own in his usual spot on Tuesday afternoon, but no sign of mum.  Yesterday I again saw him, but sitting on the nest turret. I walked around to see if I could spot mum, and spotted her on the E.central pinnacle.  Then I realised that dad wasn’t on the turret any more – maybe he’d moved to the pinnacle and it wasn’t mum after all…  I ran round again, saw one back on the turret, but the one on the pinnacle had gone – was it the same one, or were they playing both with me?  This went on for about ten minutes, until finally I saw one fly southwards – when it landed back on the SE panel of the spire moments later, I saw that mum was already sitting comfortably on the S panel, so dad had landed next to her.  Whew, at last, confirmation that they’re both still there enjoying sunsets together!

As we arrived at the Cathedral, we saw mum fly off towards the harbour obviously looking for a snack before bedtime. Dad had already been to get his.  At first we thought he was asleep but he was just sitting guarding his dinner. After a hearty meal he sat there enjoying the evening sunshine.

As dusk began to fall, last night, in a beautiful sunset our pair of peregrines were to be found on almost opposite sides of the cathedral spire.  Dad in his usual spot and mum almost diagonally opposite, up on the top decoration.  She must have had an amazing view of the sunset whereas he was presumably dozing!  All is well with the cathedral peregrines.

Today there was one lone juvenile sitting near the south west turret.  All the others, Mum and Dad, included had deserted the spire – or perhaps he had been left in charge!!  We took a picture – see below – and had a fleeting glimpse of two more peregrines flying in formation nearby but there was no communication between them and the sitting youngster.  I daresay they were out over the harbour playing and learning their hunting skills.

There were high levels of excitement at the Cathedral yesterday. In recent days the Peregrine family have (with the exception of one reluctant juvenile) spent each morning away from the building, presumably involved in hunting lessons for the youngsters. During one such period a lone male adult Peregrine appeared above the Cathedral and was soon investigating the nest site and surrounding pinnacles. After observing the bird’s leg-ring (Green #34) it was realised that this was none other than the male displaced from its territory at Sussex Heights in Brighton by one of the Chichester birds’ offspring last year. Everyone watching was alarmed as one of this year’s youngsters was perched on the far side of the spire from the interloper, but fortunately for the juvenile in question the Brighton bird appeared not to notice her.

The new arrival came and went from the building several times during the morning and nobody could be sure that he had not displaced the Chichester birds earlier in  the morning. At around two normal service was resumed however, as Green #34 flew off to the south east, and shortly after his leaving the Chichester male adult returned carrying prey with a juvenile female in tow. The two birds performed a spectacular food-pass above Millets, and then both settled upon the Cathedral as normal.

Now the wait begins to see if the displaced male will appear again, and if he will contest the territory with the current inhabitants.

Dad surprised everybody by making a landing on the north side of the Cathedral looking very bedraggled this morning. He looked very much as though he had been soaked from head to tail, and then sat drying-off for a long time before regaining his usual appearance. We assumed he’d decided to have a good bath somewhere nearby before drying himself in the warm breeze, but it’s impossible to know exactly what had happened. There was very little other activity around the building during the day as most of the family were out and about, presumably honing the flying skills of the young birds as they begin to learn to hunt.

Last night found Dad sitting high up on the spire with a feather sticking out of his ‘nose’ (see picture) – even after a speedy flight it had not become dislodged.The juveniles performed to perfection giving us several wonderful displays of their prowess in the sky to the strains of Mozart and Beethoven (equally performed to perfection by the Boston Youth Symphony) from the Cathedral.