An unfortunate end

Juvenile Casualty

The photos below rather sadly show a juvenile peregrine which looks as if it has possibly died from collision, having said that I would have expected the bird to have ended up on the ground rather than entwined around its neck. Another possibility is that it touched both cables but I would have expected it to be burnt from this.

However it died it is a sad sight, it is unringed so it could be from anywhere.
Thanks go to Steve Swinney for letting me know and also allowing me to use his photos.
Hopefully we can soon get it removed and it can then be sent off to determine cause of death.

As you can see just hanging by its neck - all photos S.Swinney

Hybrid – a different bird?

I was sent the photos below by Colin Mackenzie – Grieve from the Old Hall Marshes area, he has very kindly allowed me to use them.
As you can see at first glance the bird appears to be one and the same as the East London bird, size, colour and shape all match but on closer examination it appears there are subtle differences.

Essex bird - darker on back with clear moustachial stripe - photos by Colin Mackenzie- Grieve

This bird again looks to be a Saker/Gyr hybrid, the one difference that seems more obvious is that Colin’s bird has a slight moustachial stripe which is characteristic of Saker but only has slight streaking to the underparts, the EL bird seems to have more underside streaking.
The EL bird also has pale fringing to the feathers which do not seem apparent in the Essex bird, by and large it looks as if there are 2 out there.

East London bird - paler and possibly slightly bigger

I am not sure how common Saker/Gyrs are amongst Falconers but looking at them they could be family related?