Last weekend - will they or won't they?

In the end 4 did and 4 didn’t, firstly another London site fledged that I monitor and then the Parliament birds, which laid at a slightly later date, stayed tight to the nest ledge and went through the motions with wing flapping and exercising.


Saturday June 9th

This London site I am particularly pleased with, last year only one fledged and he injured his leg – see ‘Injured Juvenile Peregrine’, this year there were 4 juveniles, this came to light after an earlier ringing and DNA session revealed the 4 little chaps. One of the juveniles was absolutely enormous and we were in no doubt she was a female, looking at the others going by size and weight it appeared we had 2 male and 2 females.
Arriving at dawn, not a good morning weather-wise, I have to say the weather is unbelievable at the moment, what summer? It soon became apparent that all were on the wing and were flying strongly enough to make me think that they had probably fledged a couple of days earlier.Allthough there flight was good enough, on this particular site grounding has never been an issue due to a massive roof to exercise on, there landings left a lot to be desired. Saturday was a windy morning and none were getting it right, in time they will, as they say practice makes perfect.

The same juveniles taken this week, sunshine at last!

Sunday June 10th Parliament birds

Arriving very early showed firstly 3 juveniles on the nest ledge and a little while later they were joined by the 4th.
I watched them over a 3 hour period and none showed any signs of taking the plunge, all seemed content but were wing flapping and exercising for the big day. The adult Tiercel was hunting constantly but never took prey while I was present. Looking at them I would expect them to fledge around mid-week, hopefully there will be no accidents.
Once fledged it remains to be seen when they will go to Parliament, the earliest date I have had is July 10th, they are eagerly awaited so it would be good to see them break the July record for arriving back.