Chichester Peregrine Blog

There are definite signs of courtship behaviour, and starting to prepare for another brood in the spring.On arriving at the cathedral today, there was nobody to be seen.  A while later, both birds flew in together, him landing on his high perch and her on a pinnacle below.  Mum looked a bit twitchy and aggravated when a sparrowhawk appeared flying over to the east, but didn’t move.  Not until dad flew off, at which point she followed, staying close to him.  They returned together again, him to sit on a pinnacle, while she sat on the nest turret looking in with interest.She moved to a pinnacle just above the turret to preen, then dad flew down to the nest turret, earning him some brownie points!  He’s obviously making an effort to impress her, and it didn’t go unnoticed – she was watching him very closely.We ended our afternoon with a superb view of him sitting directly above her to the east of the spire.

I’m relieved to say that both our birds survived the Big Freeze.  I popped around a couple of times during the snow, but last time only saw one of them which was a little worrying.  Today, I was in town enjoying the glorious sunshine and saw both of them, Mum was in Dad’s usual spot high on the spire, having booted him out to sit on a pinnacle below (perhaps she was hoping he’d go and get some dinner!).

A bright and sunny (if rather chilly) afternoon at Chichester Cathedral on New Year’s Day and both Mum and Dad are sitting close together on the south side of the spire.  After inspecting his ‘nails’ and a bit of a stretch, in which he showed off his tail feathers to perfection, Dad flew off leaving mum to watch us below.  Perhaps he was off to get the supper!!

A glorious afternoon to go out with the cameras and where else but Chichester to see our favourite peregrine couple.As we arrived she left the pinnacle on the SW where she was sunning herself to greet her mate as he arrived to join her.  She soon returned to the same spot as he took up his favourite place at the top of the spire this time on the south side in the sun.  Perhaps they were feeling the chill in the air!!

Yesterday, after our first snowfall, I popped down to check on our peregrines to see how they were reacting to it.  Dad was sitting on his usual high perch, then flew down onto the South pinnacle where he sat in the sun looking down into the balcony.  He seemed completely fascinated, transfixed by whatever he saw there.  I assume he was looking at snow – there wasn’t any visible up there from the ground, but the balcony wouldn’t have had any direct sunlight to melt it.

Several minutes later, mum flew in and landed on the pinnacle immediately below him, so I briefly had both of them in view in my binoculars before he flew down into the NW turret.

I stayed for a few minutes to see what he was doing, but he didn’t reappear, and there was no sign of feathers flying out, so it didn’t seem as though he was plucking anything.  He could’ve been investigating snow in there, or perhaps he was just getting out of the cold for a while…

I guess our girl just likes it at home too much – she’s still there!  I’ve seen the two of them together on several occasions, and again yesterday, keeping each other company in their luxury penthouse suite on top of the cathedral.  Can’t say I blame her – why would she want to be anywhere else, with all the comforts she’s got there?  Numerous high perches to choose from where she can enjoy sunshine, or shelter from the wind and rain, a second pair of eyes to keep a look-out, and the company of her well-trained ‘spouse’.  What more could she want?

Saturday was beautiful, so a visit to Chichester was the order of the day.  First stop the Cathedral – and there, as soon as we looked to the spire, was Dad in his usual place on the north face.  As I Iooked away I saw another peregrine fly in to the east side and on further investigation found mum also on the top tracing basking in the autumn sunshine. So much for going on holiday!!! It seems these two much prefer to stay close to home and each other.

By the way, there are now peregrine fudge bars and tea towels for sale in the cathedral shop along with the mounted pictures of our pair, and more peregrine merchandise coming soon.

I arrived at the cathedral today to find dad flying around above the green.  It’s the first time I’ve seen one flying for several weeks – they sit still for hours!  After he landed, I walked around to see if I could spot mum.  She was on the pinnacle overlooking the nest turret.  She was looking in, and appeared to be worried – occasionally looking up at dad high above her on the spire and squawking, then looking back into the turret again.  At one point, she seemed to stare at me – I shrugged and said “I dunno, I’ve no idea what’s wrong!”.  It brought back memories from earlier in the year when she was upset that the turret was still full of old shingle and needed clearing out.  I popped into the cathedral to ask the vergers if they knew whether anyone had been up and done anything to the nest – apparently not, they knew nothing.

I re-emerged 15 minutes later and saw that mum had gone – no sign of her anywhere.  Dad left, heading south a few minutes later.  I hung around for a while, but didn’t see either return.

Perhaps mum was just saying goodbye, telling dad to keep an eye on her nest while she’s away for the winter months (only at the local harbour!).  I’ll look out for her in the next couple of weeks and see if she comes back…

Add a comment if you see her.  Thanks!

Both parents are still enjoying each others company, despite the youngsters having left.  I frequently see them sitting together on the cathedral, often mirroring one another like bookends (that’s a sign of attraction isn’t it?  Bodes well for next year…).  Today they were sheltering out of the wind at either end of the ledge below the balcony, at the base of the two eastern turrets.  I wonder if they know where their kids went.  One to Rottingdean – where are the others?

Yesterday our girl number 34 was spotted by another eager photographer over at Rottingdean enjoying herself and giving the pigeons something to think about by flying low enough for her ring number to be identified.  She picked a beautiful day to go on her travels. (Thanks for keeping us informed – we are always interested to know where they go and what they are up to – mischief usually!!!)