Chichester Peregrine Blog

A falcon was found trapped in the pigeon prevention wire on top of a wine bar in Chichester earlier this week.  It was released, but suspected to be injured.

Both our peregrines have since been seen in their usual positions, mum on the nest, dad on sentry duty, so we suspect that the bird with poor landing skills may have been either a sparrowhawk or a kestrel, both of which are seen regularly over the city and the surrounding area.  If you have any further information about this incident, please add a comment – we’d love to know more.

Our pair are doing a marvellous job of looking after the eggs, keeping them protected in all weather (a thunder storm last night!), and feeding themselves.

They’ve got unlikely housemates – a pair of woodpigeons have built a nest on the base of the SW pinnacle, one of the peregrines favourite perches and only a short distance from the nest!  We spotted them there last year and, despite the obvious danger, they’re back.  We only saw them there for a few days last year before they disappeared – we’ll keep an eye on them and see if they fare any better this year…

This afternoon I saw mum sitting on the west side of the cathedral eating a small meal.  As soon as she finished it she returned to the east side, and within five minutes went back into the nest, turfing out poor dad.  She doesn’t like to leave her eggs for long!

Poor old Dad, he obviously wants to help – he occasionally pops into the nest turrett, offering to sit on the eggs, but gets sent away again immediately.  Mum is being very protective over her eggs, and not letting him sit on them.  When she changes position, she spreads her wings to hide them from any observers, although we have managed to get an occasional glimpse of the terracotta coloured shells (via the nestcam).  They’re not due to hatch for almost two weeks yet, so our Dad has got a frustrating wait ahead of him!

The RSPB/A date with nature website has been updated to show dates and times for this years viewings at the cathedral.  It all starts on the 25th April when the chicks are due to hatch.  In the meantime, you can see Dad around the spire most of each day and evening.

It’s that time when Mr Peregrine is called upon to stand guard over the nest, his missus and their eggs.  He really looks like he is taking it seriously at the moment.  Although he does his fair share of incubating, most of the time he spends watching over her and getting her meals (sometimes his famous ‘out-of-date’ ready meals) but most of time doing a thoroughly good job.

Have a look at the picture below?  I think he has a few feathers missing from the left breast.  Was this the result of a bit of a scrap with another bird?  Maybe you saw what happened.  If you have any info please write a comment. 

Monday saw the 4th egg in the nest so our family is now complete.

We expect the eggs to start hatching around 23rd April.  They will hatch over a period of a few days as they are laid on different days.

The day: Sunday 22nd

The time: 2.30 ish

Once again Dad is called upon to protect the family home.  This time it was a buzzard that was interested.  The ensuing onslaught of blows from Dad on the buzzard was a sight to behold.  He repeated struck the buzzard, a bird of twice his size, as he chased it away.  Needless to say the victor returned home  brimming over with pride about 20 minutes later and when we left all was quiet on the ‘south-eastern’ front.

A sparrowhawk circled around the cathedral for a while, but the peregrines didn’t seem worried about it.  They seem to ignore it as long as it goes away again.  They did, however, have another more determined visitor.  This was another peregrine – a female.  She, like the sparrowhawk, circled around while dad sat watching, and mum was in the nest turrett.  After a while, dad got fed up of it and flew out to chase it away.  He was gone for a good 20 minutes or so while he escorted the female interloper far from the nest site.  Due to the lack of noise or distress, it’s very likely to have been one of their juveniles from a previous year – it seemed as though he recognised her.  Presumably she was wanting to claim her inheritance of the family home.  Clearly, her parents aren’t ready to give it up yet!

Something else we saw a little later was very surprising.  Mum emerged from the turrett and sat on pinnacle.  Shortly afterwards, dad joined her – mating again!  This struck us onlookers as very odd behaviour.  They’ve already got three eggs, and presumably a fourth on the way.  This wasn’t for breeding purposes, so would only have been for relationship-strengthening or courting, not something we expected at all.  Apparently this was the third time within the last few days too!

The RSPB are keeping an eye on the goings-on inside the nest via the camera, and have seen eggs!  Yesterday, three eggs had already been laid, the fourth will probably follow in the next day or two.  This explains why activity around the cathedral has been a lot quieter over the last few days – since Wednesday, mum has been out of sight for long periods of time, leaving dad alone to watch the skies for unwelcome visitors.  Courting is over, now it’s down to business!