Chichester Peregrine Blog

Sunday 11th – what a beautiful day! At one point there were over 50 people standing with us watching.  First a sparrowhawk then a buzzard came to investigate – Dad soon sent them packing.Peace was restored and we were treated to a nest changeover so we could see Mum as she had a wash and brush-up and went for a bit of excercise.

As far as we are aware there are 4 eggs and all is well he being the dutiful  Dad while Mum sits on the eggs.No more to report will update in a week or sooner if any news.

The second egg was laid on Monday 22nd in the morning just before dawn.  Dad’s keeping mum well fed on a diet of mostly starlings (they’ve been gathering and doing their murmurations over Chichester train station this winter, obviously nobody warned them about the resident peregrines!).

Yesterday afternoon as we arrived to watch in the cathedral grounds we heard the unmistakable sounds of a peregrine alarm call.  Mum had spotted an intruder from her vantage point on the nest turret.  Dad was up in an instant and there followed several close encounters with an intruder.  We suspect it was the female (it was bigger than Dad) from last year’s brood as it was very reluctant to go.  Dad finally chased her off to the south east and returned to the nest turret – obviously mum didn’t feel he had done a good enough job and took off also in a south easterly direction to make sure.  They were soon both back on the spire and Dad tried a bit of mating but she wasn’t interested and shooed him off.  He disappeared,  to return very quickly with what looked suspiciously like a woodcock.  Mum quickly took charge of this even though she still had a full crop leaving Dad looking hungry!!  Hopefully he got some dinner after we had left!

The first egg was laid sometime last night!  Looks like we will have a family this year after all the speculation. Thanks to Mel and John for the information.  We look forward to seeing everybody at the Cathedral when the RSPB set up shop around the 23 April.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve seen dad frequently sitting on the nest turret, often after a verbal prompt from mum.  He’s been particularly attentive, looking after her and the nest.  Today I watched her enjoying a meal he’d brought in.

I haven’t seen them mating myself, but I have heard from a few other locals who’ve seen them.  Watch this space…

Yesterday in freezing wind but beautiful sunshine both Mum and Dad were sitting on the Cathedral.  Dad was in his usual spot and Mum decided it was cold on the south side and moved to the west –  but you can see the wind was still ruffling her feathers.

Well, the last few weeks have been fairly uneventful – both peregrines sitting close together, either one above the other, or mirroring each other like bookends.  Nothing has really happened worth mentioning though.  There is some restoration work being done at the cathedral at the moment, and one of the builders yesterday told me that our pair were spotted mating earlier in the day.  Gosh, that is very early!  About 2-3 weeks earlier than we expect based on previous years.

Today, I saw them again doing their impression of a pair of bookends, then mum squawked, prompting dad to fly around and land on the nest turret.  He kept looking from the turret up to her and back again, presumably contemplating his duties for the months ahead.  He then hopped down inside for a few minutes before reappearing on top to watch the sunset.  No sign of mating today, but they’re obviously thinking about it!

I was in town around 7.30 this evening, and happened to pass the cathedral.  I glanced up and saw one of the adults flying around the spire, catching the light on its underparts.  It looked spectacular, very pale against the black night sky!  It wasn’t long before it landed on the west side.  Perhaps it had just moved around to check on its mate…