2011 - season summary and new nestbox

Without doubt this has been a good year for pairs in London, some new sites have emerged and a couple of pairs have gone wandering from there established nest sites, they have not left, just moved to a different nest site location within there territory.

If I had the time I could find there location, unfortunately you can only do so much over a weekend, and as anyone who watches Peregrines will tell you, most activity seems to happen from dawn.

It would be great if we lived in an ideal world and I and others could name the sites and locations of the various pairs, everyone should be able to enjoy these stunning birds, but due to a mindless few we cant, and I cant see that changing.

Some sites are named, Sutton for one, there are also a few others that it will be impossible to keep low key, Nathalies site at Fulham&Barnes Peregrines is another, due to its location, for the safety of the young at fledging, people have to be made aware that they are present. Its a difficult one, and one that I have gone over many times, more eyes watching or keep it quiet, in this case it may have to be publicized for the juveniles safety, this year showed us that with all 3 juveniles grounding.

What its all about.

Of the sites that I monitor, around 10 pairs, 3 new pairings emerged this year, all holding territory to a building or structure, the gaps between pairs are filling up, I wonder when they will reach capacity in London and the Metropolitan outskirts, or will they just keep expanding?

16 juveniles fledged from these sites so an excellent year and a better return ratio than 2010.This is without the pairs that the LPP monitor so I expect the figure to be considerably higher.



New nest box for Parliament

In 2009 Brunel University were commissioned to build a nestbox for Parliament, recently this has been delivered and installed in Victoria Palace facing east over looking the Thames. There has been a few hiccups along the way, hence the long wait.

As nest boxes go it is state of the art and made out of cardboard composite, the design is a little deep inside but this can be leveled up with substrate. Positions for the box on Victoria Tower were a bit limited, it is not as high as I would like, but beggers cant be choosers, it is in position.

New nestbox seen from Victoria Gardens Park

Now that the pair have successfully bred further up river in 2010-11, it could well be that the nestbox may be ignored for various reasons, the natal site will have a strong pull come next years breeding season, time will tell.