Parliament Diary

Parliament February 28th

2012-03-04T01:29:00.000-08:00

I headed up to town on the tube as it was a weekday otherwise you have to pay petrol, Congestion Charge and Parking, before you know it your £30.00 out of pocket, London is an expensive place to visit in the week if you drive.£7.00 on the Oyster was not too bad as I arrived at dawn, around 6.45am, I left the telescope at home, too much gear otherwise.
Looking at the wind showed the union jack going westwards so I thought they would likely be on the east side. For the next 30 minutes I searched every nook and cranny, no peregrines, I gave the Middle Tower and Big Ben the once over, not a sign. By now I had decided they had gone over to last year’s nest site where they successfully fledged 3 juveniles, hopefully where ever they breed they will be successful again. I will keep an eye on Parliament but will now start covering the upriver nest site more.
During the course of the morning I kept a look out and had more or less given up on them when low and behold they came in, just as I was getting ready to go. Both landed on Middle Tower where I managed to get a couple of photos, despite this it still looks as if the upriver nest site is favourite.
Time will tell.

Falcon

The pair

Another issue that I have been thinking of a lot lately is the number of pairs in London and there security.
Sad to say that in this country raptor persecution still persists and it is one big reason why sites in London are not publicised, it is a pity as the London public should have a chance to watch and be involved with these birds on their doorstep. It is an age old and awkward position, do you not publicise every site or publicise them with the view that, more eyes watching makes for a securer site. Parliament is publicised as it is secure, the Tate Modern is publicised as it is not a breeding site, in the end I think you have to judge each breeding site on its own merits and location, but is that right? If you get all the local people involved in each respective site there will undoubtedly be more security for the birds and that is what it is all about.
Out of town across the country other urban peregrine sites are publicised and on the internet, no problem. America, in particular New York, publicises every nest site and the world and his dog are involved, would the same approach be better in London, get local people involved?
If a minority of Eggers or Pigeon Fanciers want to find them they will, a recent court case showed this, an egg collector named 9 sites in London straight off the top of his head. In a rural location they should be kept unpublicised, there is little security on a lonely moor or cliff face to a determined individual. I have always kept all the sites that I monitor apart from Parliament unpublicised, but I must admit to re thinking, is it the right approach to each pair when it comes to their security and safety?

Parliament January 28th

2012-01-29T22:25:00.000-08:00

First visit of the year, I ended up rushing a bit even on a Saturday to make the dawn start, I made it in the end and located both birds roosting together on the Middle Tower at 7.30am, it was bloody cold, about 1 above but the sky was clear and promised a good day, this soon changed.
I was optimistic that I might get some hunting, especially after observing the Tiercels body actions, lots of head movement and position shifting. This proved correct when he launched himself north wards and left at speed, the light was still not good, I suspect he was trying to take a feral leaving roost. He returned about 3 minutes later, prey less but again adopted a similar position on Middle Tower. After 2 minutes he again left at speed, the same direction and I waited in the gathering light.
Even before I saw him returning I knew he had something just going by the Falcons reaction, she started to call repeatedly and her body actions took on an anxious stance as she ‘danced on the spot’.
He came into view with a feral and landed on Victoria Tower, she in the meantime had flown to the Tower and consequently took the prey straight off him, normal peregrine behaviour from the dominant female.
He adopted a nearby position to wait for the scraps, from his stance he had no intention of hunting again.

Tiercel waiting

I watched them both until the Falcon finished feeding at 8.34am, instead of relinquishing what remained of the prey she stashed it, the Tiercel did not go and feed, perhaps he was not hungry as yet.

Falcon about to stash prey

Tiercel

The pair at the stash site

Both then flew a couple of circuits around the Palace before landing near to each other, from behaviour it appeared both were going to ‘lay-up’ and so it proved.
Later in the morning I checked the new nest box, they have not entered it as yet, there has been no disturbance to the substrate, and neither are there any new talon marks on the landing ledge. I am now pretty sure that the previous talon marks on the ledge were made by one of last years juveniles getting curious. Next month will give more information, as it stands on behaviour; I suspect they will go straight over to the other nest site. The main thing is that they breed successfully where ever it may be, if they go to the other nest site they will be back in early July.

Tiercel

Nestbox

The pair ' laying up'

For good measure and showing that the Tiercel was showing territorial behaviour to Parliament a Carrion Crow was attacked and driven off, who knows?

Season Summary

2012-01-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all

First of all, apologies for the lack of postings of late, normal work and field bird surveys have kept me very busy over the last few months. I am a Steel fixer by trade, a family tradition and have been doing this since I was 16.Now at the ripe old age of 54, its beginning to tell on the body, everything is harder these days. In contrast the bird survey work is thoroughly enjoyable, how can you moan whilst getting paid for doing a lifelong hobby? I have grafted all my life Steel fixing, I am ready and hopefully soon, to concentrate on the birding alone, Peregrines of course as the priority.
Back to the Peregrines and the season summary, it has been a good year for the pairs that I monitor; new pairs have emerged again, on some of these I have to say a big thank you to the public for contacting me.
Of the pairs that I can publicise, Parliament were successful for a 2nd year, fledging 3 juveniles, one of which has already laid claim to another section of London, he has been recognised due to his orange leg ring.
For obvious reasons I can’t publicise the other locations, I wish we could, one day we may be able to do this; everyone should be able to enjoy these magnificent birds.
On one site I at last, after 4 years of trying managed to read the resident Tiercels leg ring, I have always known where he was from due to the colour, black, but have never been able to read the numbers. He was rung on the publicised site of Chichester Cathedral,West Sussex on June 1st 2002, he was one of a brood of 4, it shows how far they are going to find new territories in urban areas.It makes you think, do they just head for Cities/large Towns due to the fact that they were born in one, or do they just move on until they find an opposite sex peregrine or a building/structure where they are not challenged by other Peregrines?

Falcon(click on photos to enlarge)

Elsewhere new singles/pairs emerged, hopefully as mentioned above I can commit more time to each pairing, as it is, I simply cannot cover them all and give each pair the attention they deserve.
Urban Peregrines cannot be left to their own devices come fledging time, with juveniles jumping ship all round London roughly on the same period, you simply cannot cover every pair. More often than not, especially with the wrong weather on the day of fledging, they will and do ground. I understand about natural mortality, in the ‘ wild’ the mortality rate hovers around 30%.I do this along with others, to make a difference and give each juvenile I pick up and take back up the chance it deserves. The nature programmes where you see non-interference from camera men where juveniles are in trouble, I do admire them for being that way, me, I would rescue the lot.

Another grounded juvenile (Photo Nathalie Mathieu)

It would be great and a far easier task for me if I could name the sites so the local public can be involved more in each respective site, all each one needs is a hard core group of peregrine enthusiasts to look after them. Due to a mindless minority of eggers/pigeon fanciers this is never going to happen, unfortunately this is the England that we live in, a small minority spoiling it for many, many others.
Fingers crossed for another good breeding season.

October 29th

2011-11-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

Bit of a late posting, but better late than never.
I visited on Saturday morning, usual time at dawn; I am now staking the nestbox out at first light and throughout the morning to see if one of them enters it again. No luck but the real interesting time will come in Feb onwards; they will then start pair bonding and courtship behaviour before finally choosing a nest site.
The pair were both roosting on Victoria Tower on Saturday, the first bird heard though was a juvenile, with the light he came out, it was a male and he had prey with him which he took to the Abbey. I know the adults are not feeding him and are totally ignoring him but the bond is still there. A crow came to close to him on the Abbey and quick as a flash the adult Tiercel was on it and drove it off, Crows and Peregrines are like Cat and Dogs. Crows fear peregrines and will not challenge them in the open sky like they do with Kestrels and Sparrowhawks, on the deck is another matter, if they can mob them safely they will.

Juvenile Male

Juvenile

Juvenile on prey

Again as in the other week both adults just layed up, the adult Falcon is definitely taking a shine to the summit of Big Ben and now seems to use it regularly, the Tiercel still favours the Middle Tower.

Falcon just about visible on the summit of Big Ben

A better view

Laying up

I also had a chat to the chaps at Westminster Abbey, they went to the top the other day and could not believe the amount of prey on their ledges, they are also aware of the pair and sometimes point them out to the tourists.
I had quite a funny situation the other day, I was scoping the Tiercel on Victoria Tower and about 20 Chinese chaps and ladies came over, one who spoke passable English asked if he could have a look. As soon as he saw the male through the scope he went into overdrive and got very excited and started calling everyone over, in the end I had to show them all more or less and they absolutely loved it.One of them even told me the Chinese for peregrine or bird of prey, good to see that along with Parliament they are a tourist attraction!

Big Ben at dawn

Victoria Tower

I expect the juvenile to go soon, he is already way overdue, the fact that the adults are not driving him off shows how plentiful prey is in London, I often wonder where the brood will end up, I know one of 2010’s juveniles has got himself a mate.

Tuesday October 18th

2011-10-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

I visited Parliament at dawn on Tuesday, I have been very lucky of late with bright sunny mornings. With the later mornings the Park next door opened its gates just before dawn (7.00am) and I was able to watch from the grass area. I was hoping for some nest box activity but none materialised, it is early days yet, I am hoping, if it was an adult that entered it, for some prey stashing inside.

Nestbox on East wing (click on photos to enlarge)

With a strong westerly wind I located both adults at 7.00am roosting on the eastern face of Victoria Tower, both simultaneously leaving at 7.20 and heading up river. Within 5 minutes they returned and with them was a male juvenile, he is not being fed but like some juveniles he does not feel confident enough to make the transission and leave as yet, he seems to come and go.

Juv and adult male having a spat.

Middle Tower

Juvenile on top of Big Ben

Neither adult showed any inclination to hunt, again possibly due to the presence of the juvenile, occasionally one of the adults would fly over to the Abbey but little else occurred, the Juvenile had a bit of spat with the adult Tiercel but other than this little activity.

Falcon on Victoria Palace

Adult Tiercel

Tiercel resting up

Tiercel on Westminster Abbey

This coming winter I am going to do some afternoon visits, they are very likely hunting in the afternoon so hopefully I can get some footage.
I intend to visit on Sunday, as soon as the last juvenile has gone it is likely they will return to normal hunting behaviour at dawn, also now that I can get in the park I should hopefully get some better photos with the sun behind me.

Parliament

2011-10-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

September 28th

With the pair now firmly established back on Parliament it is now a lot easier to find them given that they have returned to their favoured roost spots, both adults were quickly located.

The eye at night (click on photos to enlarge)

This particular morning I was due to meet Bertie Gregory and Tom, we were going up on Victoria Palace to hopefully get some photos of the pair. An added bonus was that one of the juveniles was still present, unseen but clearly audible from outside Victoria Gardens, it sounded as if it was on the east facing river side. It soon made itself seen before we went up and looked like a male juvenile with the adult Tiercel who was had also shown from roost.Time was marching on so we went up the Tower with the pair and a juvenile located.

Add caption

Juvenile landing on Big Ben

Tiercel above, Falcon below on Westminster Abbey

For once the weather was ideal and we managed to get some half decent photos in a 2 hour stint, these were mainly of the juvenile, both adults were not hunting very likely due to the presence of the juv(they are encouraging it to go by not feeding it) this was despite both having empty crops. The juvenile made quite a few excursions out over the river and was lost to view, each time it returned to the top of Big Ben, in this period of time it was not seen to kill.
It was an absolutely glorious day and the views over London were spectacular, you can never tire of looking at a landscape like this.

Tiercel seeing off a Crow

Juvenile head on

On my previous visit of September 17th I went up with Tom and checked the nest box to see if any visible signs were apparent to see if they have given the box the once over. When I place and lay the substrate I always leave it absolutely flat so that I can see if anything has disturbed it, on opening the door it was quite obvious a peregrine had entered.

Juvenile

Further to this when I looked on the landing ledge there were needle marks dotted everywhere, these had come from there talons as it/ they had landed. Good news but still early days, was it one of the adults or a juvenile that entered? Time will tell, the next step is to photograph one of them on the ledge, if it is an adult using it they may well start stashing prey in it, watch this space!

Injured Juvenile Peregrine

2011-09-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the month I placed a post on an injured male juvenile Peregrine, his left leg hanging down and to all appearances broken where it joined his body.
Since that posting I have been keeping an eye on him to see if he will deteriorate in condition and also to see if he goes as the adults were not feeding him.

Juvenile on right with Falcon feeding centre of grill (click on photos to enlarge)

Falcon on prey

I am very happy to say that the little chap is hanging on in there, from Sunday’s visit it looks as if he is surviving on the adult’s leftovers. He is a game little chap as well, on Sunday he waited patiently as the Falcon fed, he was sitting about 3 metres from her occasionally giving the hunger call, she in turn mantled the prey, in this case a feral pigeon. After 25 minutes he again started to call, this time edging closer to her, she made herself look even bigger already dwarfing him being a female, instead of backing away he made a grab for the kill. There followed a free for all and he came away with part of the prey so well done to the plucky little fella, he deserves to make it. I dare say the Falcon, they are dominant over all males be it adults, juveniles or immatures probably did not put up much of a struggle being her offspring.

The juvenile with 'pinched' prey

Watching him fly after this showed the leg to be held closer to the body and even perched, it was not hanging down as much as seen a couple of weeks ago. With the right foot holding part of the prey, the left was drawn up tighter to the body. Additionally when he emerged from roost in the half-light I thought at first it was the adult Tiercel as he was more streamlined as the leg was not on show.

The leg is now being held much better than a few weeeks ago

The question is now though, how long will the adults put up with him, and is he capable of making a kill himself with the leg the way it is? I like to think that he is capable, he did have a couple of half-hearted hunts at an earlier stage and is flying much better, I will have another look at him this weekend.

Parliament September 10th and 17th

2011-09-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Sept 10th

Dawn found me trying to locate any birds on Victoria Tower; mornings are starting to drag out now with light not coming until 6.15am, autumn is here.

Big Ben (click on photos to enlarge)

London Eye

Despite a good search of all their usual favourite roost spots, the only one that gave itself up was the adult Tiercel; he was seen briefly before heading north. Of the Falcon and juvenile female there was no sign. It was not until 6.40am before I saw the juvenile female; she came in from the east across the river and landed on the topmost towers of Victoria Palace. At first I thought she was looking for the Tiercel to return with prey as she scanned the skyline, this thought was quickly cast aside as she proceeded to hunt. Over the course of the next hour and a half she made 7 sorties, unfortunately all failures as she returned every time preyless.

Juvenile hunting from Victoria Tower

Tiercel on the Abbey

Falcon laying up on Middle Tower

Juvenile about to go on another hunt

At 7.40am the adult Falcon came in from the west and landed on the middle Tower, scoping her revealed a full crop.
From these actions it appears the adults have stopped feeding her, this was reinforced when the Tiercel came in around 7.55am, her usual action would be to intercept him, instead she carried on hunting and the Tiercel fed on Westminster Abbey.
Decided to call it a day around 8.30am, I have now got into the habit of checking Victoria Tower Gardens for migrants, especially at this time of year, no rarities but a Chiffchaff was seen and also a pair of Egyptian Geese feeding on the river.

Egyptian Goose

A nice end to the morning, it seems constant westerly’s/south westerly’s at the moment with occasional sunshine, I managed to get a few photos, the pick of them being the juvenile flying past the flag on Victoria Palace.

September 17th

6.30am-with a strong south westerly it was not hard to locate the adults, both were sheltering in roost positions on the northern face of Victoria Palace, of the juvenile there was no sign. By 7.45am both adults had not moved, looking at both of them showed their crops to be slightly bulging but not overly. It was possible that a night time excursion or a dusk meal may have taken place, night time hunting as we now know is becoming a regular occurrence for some pairs.

Juvenile male, note size of crop

Tiercel

A nice surprise was seeing a juvenile coming in and landing on the Tower with the adults, I suspected as it came in that it was one of the males, as I got on it the size was quite apparent, it was indeed a male. A bulging crop showed it had killed and fed.

Bold as brass

Good nick for a ' Townie'

Checking for Dogs

I also came across what was probably one of the tamest Foxes I have seen, walking around bold as brass on the green opposite Parliament in broad daylight, no mange and a good brush, it was healthy, it was obviously used to people. As you can judge by the photos, it just walked straight up to me.
Time was marching on and nest box inspection called so I headed inside.

Young Peregrine

2011-09-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

Recently I visited one of my regular sites checking up on a juvenile male peregrine, the resident pair had only produced the one this year, I was following his progress closely to see when he would leave and make his way in the world.
On arrival a very sad sight greeted me, he was still present, flying round as normal but his left leg was broken and hanging down, it was also quite obvious that the injury impaired his flying and his landing ability .It appeared to be broken where it joined the body.

The unfortunate juvenile with the leg held out in front of him

For many other species – pigeon, black headed gull etc., this could possibly be something that they could overcome, to a bird of prey like a peregrine the injury will very likely be the end for him. The leg will hinder him catching prey, he will lose speed and manoeuvrability in the chase, and if he does manage to catch prey it will be very hard to balance, hold the prey, and feed on one leg.
If he does survive Bumble foot could be an issue as Peregrines, as do many birds of prey alternate their leg they are resting on.
Watching him this morning was a sad affair as the adults are starting to hold prey back, this is his message to go, and without prey he will soon lose condition and deteriorate.

What caused it? – he has now been flying for over 2 months so his flight ability is not that of a recently fledged bird, the likely causes could be chasing prey and hitting an obstacle in pursuit of prey or he has wandered into another pairs territory and been attacked by one or both resident birds.

A sad sight

I have let NaturalEngland know but the kindest thing may be to put him out of his misery to stop him suffering. While I am awaiting an answer, if he does leave the natal site and is seen elsewhere in London or Essex I would appreciate a call of his whereabouts, you can contact me on www.londonperegrines.com or leave a message at the bottom of this entry.

Perks

2011-09-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of visiting many peregrines sites in London is the associated wildlife that lives side by side with the peregrines and also shares the same habitat, albeit at different levels. Of the different species that I encounter Crows and Magpies are without doubt the smartest, they know when they are safe from attacks by Peregrines, they also know how far they can push them.

Large female Peregrine with prey, the Magpie knows it is safe while she is feeding

I have now been monitoring Peregrines for over 10 years, they have opened doors for me that I would have never even dreamed off, I am a lucky man and the rewards in helping and watching them accomplish successful breeding have been worth every minute of it.

As mentioned in earlier blog posts Kestrels feature at 3 sites where Peregrines are territorial and breed, on the whole both species seem to ignore each other, there is occasional mobbing by the Kestrels but they are not seen as a threat like a Carrion Crow is. Abundance of prey (feral pigeon) also means they are rarely targeted in London.

A striking male Black Redstart (click on photos to enlarge)

Black Redstarts are another species sharing the high level habitat with Peregrines, I have seen them foraging within 3 metres of them totally unconcerned, it comes down to reading body behaviour, more often than not the Peregrines are laying up. To a certain extent on 2 or 3 sites in London they actually gain protection by the presence of the Peregrines from Magpies and Carrion Crows.

Juvenile Black Redstart

Grey Wagtail is another urban breeder, I encounter these on nearly all the sites, sometimes up to 3 pairs on the larger sites, they are vastly under recorded as an urban breeder and no doubt Black Redstart is much the same to a lesser extent.

Female Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawks are another; they do not seem to be seen as a threat, even from territorial breeding Peregrines, both species just seem to ignore each other on the sites where they occasionally meet. On the other hand I have seen Peregrines react very aggressively to the presence of a Common Buzzard going over, larger birds of prey are usually seen off with great relish. Peregrines seem to have an inbuilt high level of aggression, probably one of the reasons that Falconers value them so highly and the fact that they will tackle larger prey.

I intend to go to Parliament this Saturday now that they are back, I hope to get some video of them to place on the blog, and I have at last decided to join You Tube. Being a bit old fashioned and trying to move forward with the electronic age is hard at my age, I see pitfalls and an ambush around every corner!

August 28th

2011-08-30T06:20:00.000-07:00

I visited slightly later than my usual dawn visit after previous visits showed them not to be present, if they were, they promptly left. I am pleased to say that they now seem to be present all the time after popping in last week for a quick visit, this visit, as with last Sundays visit showed both adults and a juvenile female still present.

Falcon in flight (click on photos to enlarge)

Falcon over Victoria Tower

It appears that the 2 juvenile males may have struck out on their own already, they do wander a lot so they could still be in the area, it just seems that they are not at Parliament with the adults unlike their sister.

Trying to find a Peregrine on Victoria Tower is hard, too many nooks and crannies

Falcon resting up

On arrival on Sunday, around 9.00am, I located the Falcon, Tiercel and juvenile female all laying up on Victoria Tower, both adults looked like they had fed, little by the looks of it from there crops. It looked like the juvenile had not fed due to her persistent calling and begging. Despite this they ignored her, I suspect that they may be trying to encourage her to go .To confirm this the Falcon flew a number of passes in front of the juvenile, possibly trying to entice her out to fly and hunt or it could be that the Falcons bond is now not so strong and she may be trying to edge the juvenile out.

Believe you me, its taken a long time to get this photo, light could have been better but cant complain

The 'classic' shape

It seems to differ all over London in times when they leave the natal site, much depends on prey availability, and there is certainly no problem with this in London.

Juvenile

Good to see the adults back, it will be interesting to see if they will visit the new nest box, if so, at this time of year it may be used to stash prey, then again they could ignore it totally, time will tell.

Parliament and Prey

2011-08-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 14th

After another visit I have more or less accepted that they are not going to return as in 2010, this was the case on Sunday with only the adult Falcon seen at Parliament. It could well be that the adults will not return and hold to Victoria Palace until the juveniles have fledged, or at the very least the 2 males.

This is one of those cases that I hope they prove me wrong, certainly different from last year and also shows how behavior can change from one year to the next.

On Sunday I arrived with my wife Christine at 5.15am, I positioned myself so that I could cover Victoria Tower and Big Ben, it was 5.45am before I even saw a Peregrine. I had already accepted that they were not present, no calling or juveniles showing. It was the adult Falcon who first showed, she looked as if she had come in from the west, presumably the nest site, she landed on Victoria Tower.

Falcon with large crop

Scoping her shortly afterwards showed a large crop so it was unlikely she was going anywhere, possibly showing the first signs of the lessening of the bond to fledged young in trying to lay up on her own. She was still present when I left 40 minutes later, I was hoping that the juv’s might have followed her, as it was the Tiercel was likely bearing the brunt of feeding the hungry horde.

Resting and sleeping

The closest I got to a juvenile

I decided to visit the natal site and was lucky enough to find a juvenile male on prey, nearly missed him but for the confetti of feathers coming down, as it was the views were not that good. I then searched all the localized buildings, no luck, so probably ranging farther afield.

Decided to call it a day and visit a couple more sites on the way home.

Tiercel - seen at another site resting up

Tiercel with Falcon below, they do like a Tower Crane

Prey

I did a prey collection from an East London site over the weekend, it has not been collected since January, the site fledged 3 juveniles so I was expecting quite a lot. This proved true with a large bag of mixed prey recovered, predominately feral pigeons but also a few I was able to identify myself. All the prey is sent to Ed Drewitt in Bristol, website as follows Ed Drewitt he very kindly identifies everything for me, bones, feathers, feet and all.

From what I saw and photographed other than the pigeons were –

Black Headed Gull – 4

Ring Necked Parakeet – 5

Moorhen – 1

Starling – 4

Teal – 1

Unidentified - many

I was not sure whether to post the photos of the prey, I keep them for reference, Peregrines are birds of prey and they eat other birds like many other Raptors, they are doing what comes naturally. In the end I have decided not to as some are very graphic and they may offend.

2011 - season summary and new nestbox

2011-08-10T07:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Parliament

2011-08-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 31st

I always said that Peregrines are unpredictable, right from the start, behavior unfortunately differs from one pair to the next, such is the case with the Parliament birds. Based on last years activity and behavior when they returned to Parliament around about July 10th, I expected this years return to be earlier as they fledged and were stronger at an earlier date than in 2010.

Last years brood was 4, 2 females, a male and in betweenie which I could not sex due to size, it was in between male and female.

No Peregrines so something scenic

The difference this year is the 2 males, they appear to be calling the shots and are not returning to Parliament, consequently both adults are being pulled back to the natal site or where ever the 2 brothers are. The other juvenile, the female, usually dominant, as from earlier posts, has roosted and has been at Parliament on many occasions, she is on her own, the greater numbers of the 2 brothers pulls the adults of Parliament all the time. If she wants to be fed she has to go also.

On Sundays visit, I gave it a couple of hours from dawn, the only bird present was the adult Tiercel, I found him at roost on the north side, at just after 5.00am he left flying south. I waited another 30 minutes just in case one or two of them were having a late one, but no birds appeared. I then decided to visit the nest site, this was empty also.

Tiercel at roost

With the warm weather the adult female and juveniles could have roosted anywhere within there territory, there was little wind, it was a clear warm night.

As they were not at Parliament and have not been on a number of occasions, I suspect they have another structure within there territory that they favour highly, it could be that there is a good prey source nearby.

A number of people are still waiting to photograph/film them against the backdrop of Parliament, unfortunately the Peregrines are living up to there unpredictability and keeping everyone guessing, including me.

I have no doubt they are visiting every now and then during the day, they are just not staying.

Weekend July 23rd and 24th

2011-07-27T12:23:00.000-07:00

Tied up on other sites over the weekend so did not have a chance to visit Parliament, yet another pair has come to light, when I wonder will they reach there capacity in London?

It has been a good year for them, of the 9 sites that I monitor, many have produced fledged juveniles, in addition to this, Nathalies pair at Fulham&Barnes Peregrines successfully bred for the first time and fledged 3 juveniles.

As expected in Inner London, over 90% of prey is made up of Feral Pigeon, as you get out towards East London, many of the sites that I cover, you do begin to notice the difference in there appetites. I am now recording Ring Necked Parakeet regularly when I get the chance to visit nest sites once licensing restrictions are relaxed, this was recently the case at one particular site.

Juvenile Peregrines, not from the site above, even as Juveniles they are stunning looking Falcons

Unusual sight of a juvenile sitting in a tree

This site fledged 3 juveniles and whilst visiting the site for urgent works, the juveniles are flying now very strongly, I counted the remains of at least 7 Ring Necked Parakeets, this is mostly due to local abundance. The Peregrines are not having to go ‘looking’ for them, hunting takes place from the nest site structure as the Parakeets flyby. This site more than any other has the potential to turn up more varied species due to its geographical location, I am eagerly looking forward to collecting the prey at the end of August.

From this to the adult below, it sometimes takes a few months before they take there own prey

Adult with prey

I was also sent a photo the other day from the same site, this had been windblown over the side and was obviously quite an old kill, on examination of the photo received, It looks good for a Red Legged Partridge. As there is little suitable habitat in this pairs territory for this species, they are hemmed in by other Peregrines on all sides, it raises the possibility that this could well be another pair hunting at night.

To see a Peregrine ' flat out ' at speed is a stunning sight,trying to keep the camera on it is another matter

I intend to visit Parliament this weekend in the hope that the whole family have now established themselves around the House of Commons.

We will see.

Parliament - Friday and Saturday

2011-07-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

Friday

As with the best laid plans, unfortunately the Peregrines again never read the script, perfect weather dawned on the Friday for filming but a bit of a no show from the peregrines.

The idea was to try and get some hunting footage, birds bringing in prey, food passes if possible from adults to juveniles, of the juveniles, there was only the female present, the 2 remaining males were back at the nest site.

Juvenile female, I suspect the one from Parliament, at an adjacent site being given the treatment by the resident Tiercel

Juve female over Victoria Tower (click on photos to enlarge)

Juvenile on Big Ben

Both adults were roosting on Victoria Tower at dawn, both flew up river immediately, no doubt to check up on and feed the 2 males.

The 2 males are sticking together and are seemingly tied to the natal site far more than there sister, this is despite having been over to Parliament on more than one occasion. Last year all stayed over and were more or less present on every visit.

Males tend to like there own space as they tend to get dominated by there sisters in the food stakes, even at an early age, this may well be one reason that they are not making the jump to parliament and are sticking together. There could well be other reasons, the nest site is there home, why move when they are secure there?

They can sometimes be very hard to spot, especially when there are stone Falcons up there already

Adult Tiercel

Spot the Peregrine

Adult

It could be with there sister at Parliament most of the time, they may realize that they are more likely to be first when it comes to prey where they are, without there sister present. Easy to read human emotions into it, the simple reason could be that they just like the nestsite area more.

During the course of the morning, around 4 hours from dawn, only the juvenile female was present after the adults left, and her presence was only every now and then.

Saturday

Just after dawn the 1st thing we heard was the calling of a juvenile from Victoria Tower, I was with Bertie Gregory, a young wildlife photographer who had arranged to photograph the birds from Parliament, again the 2 juvenile males stayed over at the natal site.

The 1st act of the adult Tiercel was to drive off an adult Lesser Black Backed Gull, as a rule, the adults usually ignore them at Parliament, with the juvenile present, different story.

Juvenile female

Same bird

Right from the start the weather started to turn foul, we did manage to get some shots of the juvenile and an adult but the light was very poor and not ideal.

Eventually the 2 male juveniles will come over, and I would expect them to stay, when, who knows? The only thing that may bring them over sooner is the adults, they are roosting on Victoria Tower, they may well hold to the Tower and hunt from it,the males will have to come over to be fed, hunger is a great motivator.

Back! July 9th and 10th

2011-07-14T02:52:00.000-07:00

At last it looks as if they are back although there hunting habits and behavior of juveniles seem to be in contrast at the moment from last years juveniles. On both days, after early starts, the juveniles followed the adults no doubt on hunting expeditions further afield, possibly bought on by a lack of localized prey. Like most pairings, the Tiercels in particular have favoured hunting areas, if prey does not pass by in the immediate core area, in short, go looking for it.

Juvenile dozing

Falcon - also dozing

Tiercel resting also

From what I did see of the juveniles on Saturday and Sunday, all were flying strongly before disappearing following an adult. On Sunday I waited for quite a while after seeing the whole family embark on a hunting expedition, the juveniles fighting and playing amongst each other whilst striving to keep up with an adult. On Saturday it was likely they had killed further afield and were possibly laying up after feeding elsewhere, juveniles along with adults, unusual, as more often than not, they will lay up on Victoria Tower.

Falcon on Big Ben

On Friday July 15th they are due to be filmed against the backdrop of Parliament, hopefully normal localized hunting will be the norm, the juveniles will put on a show like last year, and the weather will be good.

I took this at an adjacent Peregrine site, it shows a male Peregrine driving off a female juvenile, very likely the female from Parliament.

Good to see them back, quite a few people are already aware of them around Parliament, you might miss seeing them above, but you cant fail to hear them, great stuff!

Saturday July 2nd - where art thou?

2011-07-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

I arrived at Parliament at 4.15am, the weather was perfect for a change, with this I was hoping that they were present and I could take advantage and get some good photos. As with the best laid plans, they had not read the script, and despite a thorough search up to 4.40am, it was quite obvious they were still at the nest site.

What 4.30am looks like at Parliament (click on photos too enlarge)

I decided to head that way to confirm and also being Saturday, I was hoping that I could find a spot away out of the public view, especially as many were just turning out of the nightclubs. At this time of morning many of the revelers are the worst for wear, and although mostly harmless, you do have to be a bit careful when you are carrying a lot of gear around London.

I eventually found the perfect spot down a private road with no public access which was a dead end, it gave me good views of the site.

Juvenile Herring Gulls

Tiercel

I could hear the juveniles before I arrived, all food calling so it looked as if my timing looked good for some photography and to record some action. For my pains I had also ‘ set up ‘ just below a nesting Herring Gull, both adults gave me a hard time even though I was a good distance from there 2 curious juveniles.

Male juvenile with prey

Defending it from other male

It was apparent straight away that all the juveniles were flying strongly, eventually found the remaining 2 sitting on adjacent buildings. The adult Tiercel was hunting constantly, he killed twice, the Falcon once. Juveniles have sussed out that it is better to intercept the adult as it comes in with prey rather than wait and perhaps lose out to a brother or sister, hence some of the prey is being food passed.

Male with sister and brother trying to take prey

Peace after feeding

I suspect after watching them for a few hours that they will make the journey to Parliament pretty soon, there is now a few people waiting for them to arrive, including a film crew on Thursday, hopefully they will ‘ make the jump’.

Parliament Peregrines, they're back - briefly

2011-06-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

June 25th

On Saturday I visited Parliament rather later than usual , around 6.30am, this was due to staking out another site at dawn which I knew held a territorial Tiercel. The weather at the other site was atrocious, heavy rain but good enough visibility to see that the male had got himself a mate, these days it is only a matter of time.

Yet another pairing, this one is outside London quite away, the structure they are on is far from ideal, but it is there core structure and the male has been there over 8 months, they will not move territory It will be impossible to keep this site unpublicized due to its location, and it also offers up a load of questions.

1. Allthough unsuitable, they will try and breed naturally obviously, probably next year, do you let them try and make a scrape on a surface ( flat concrete) knowing that the eggs may well roll. This could possibly happen year after year.

2. There are about 3 highish buildings around it, all unsuitable due to various reasons, do you risk letting them try and breed on one of these knowing that there will be licencing issues regarding roof space. This will only be if they cannot find anywhere to lay on the core structure. In this case, would it not be better to contain them to the core structure, however unsuitable.

3. Do you place a nestbox on the core structure that they are holding to, knowing that it is not ideal, especially for juveniles, but will give them a far greater chance of success. This site is going to be one of those, if successful, where the juveniles at fledging, will have to be monitored from dawn to dusk. The public will have to be involved.

4. Do you publicise a site knowing that it may put the birds at risk from a minority, the threat is minimal in London at the moment .On the other hand more eyes watching from the public can only benefit the birds.

Certainly food for thought, anyway back to Parliament.

As I arrived the first bird seen was a Tiercel, they or he was back! No sooner than he showed, he was quickly followed by the Falcon, I thought if they are both here, surely the juveniles.

Falcon - Middle Tower ( photos are poor due to typical crap english weather)

Both adults flew a few circuits around Victoria Tower and then landed. As they did I heard the unmistakable call of a juvenile, I quickly located him, it was the strong flying male, but despite getting raised hopes that the other 2 were here also, none materialized .

Juvenile male

Victoria Tower

At 6.55am both adults left together followed by the juvenile male, the heading was the nest site where, no doubt, the 2 remaing juveniles were waiting, so it proved when I viewed later.

I suspect that the adults have tried to lead them all over but only the juvenile male has followed. He was always stronger and fledged first, I suspect the other juveniles may not have the wing strength and confidence to make the 1 mile+ flight as yet.
As I write this, who knows, it is only a matter of time, they could already be there, will visit at dawn on Saturday, fingers crossed for good weather and a family of Peregrines.

Juveniles down

2011-06-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

Each year I monitor a number of Peregrine sites at fledging time trying to gauge it right and be on hand when they ‘ jump ship’. Some sites you can work out more or less when they are likely to fledge, if you can get the exact date of egg laying (CCTV), and others I have to wait and ‘scope’ the juveniles to age them.

For those not familiar with fledging peregrines, they do have a habit of grounding as mentioned earlier in the diary with the juvenile that died in an unfortunate accident. Much depends on the nest area, if there is an adjacent flat area where they can exercise and make short flights, they are usually ok. The weather plays a big part, still windless days are a nightmare, no lift.

The nest sites that are confined are usually the ones that give problems, there simply is not enough room to build and strengthen wing muscles for 4, or even 5 juveniles.

Last year I was lucky, I had a couple low down, on separate sites, but these got back up under there own steam, hunger is a great motivator, if they are too low, the adults will not come down and feed them unfortunately.

Juvenile 1

On Thursday I was called to a site in London( Fulham&Barnes Peregrines ) , Nathalies site as a juvenile had come down, looking at it when I arrived, it still had 3 or 4 days to go to attain full fledging status, why it had gone we did not know, perhaps an adult had tried to coax it out with prey, or a strong gust of wind. (Looking at the CCTV recording later showed it went of its own accord).

Not very happy (all photos courtesy of Nathalie ) click to enlarge

Checking for injury

Peregrine juveniles like most birds of prey are full of attitude, this one certainly was as it did it best to penetrate my gloves, even as juveniles the strength they display in there talons is considerable, this was a female. A cardboard box had been placed over it to contain it, this also helps to calm it down. The juvenile was taken back up under licence, and then released on a high point near the nest site. The following day the adults found it and all was well.

Juvenile 2

This bird was in a confined nest area which did not allow much room for exercise, it was a small space even for the 2 juveniles that occupied it.

Friday was not an ideal day for fledging, little wind with no lift

This bird came down on the Friday, the site owners quickly contacted me and did very well in keeping the bird in sight, well done to them, I was then able to catch the bird and return it to a high point below the nest. It is good to know that the system works, it gives me a lot of satisfaction knowing that I and others have made a difference, these juveniles will now get the chance they deserve. The site in question is not manned during the weekend and is quite desolate, with the juvenile down and food/stress calling for an adult, there was every chance it would have ended up as Fox food.

Juvenile 3

This bird came from the same nest site as the 1st juvenile, it also fledged on the Thursday, it was seen to go on CCTV on Saturday and that was it, gone.

On Saturday late afternoon it was relocated, quite a way down from where it should be, and also not having fed.

On catching it, it was still lively so it was then taken back up to the roof to join its sister, we were hoping that the adults would feed it in the evening.

Little male

Taking it out on the glove, he eventually released it.

I learnt this morning (Sunday) that it seems to be making up for the last few days and has had 2 feeds along with its sister.

All the juveniles are now getting fed so they should be ok, juveniles 1 and 3 are from Nathalies site, there is a 3rd juvenile in that nest that has not fledged, fingers crossed…..

Falcons,both large and small

2011-06-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

On my travels around London trying to keep up with the Peregrine population I get the chance to visit some unique sites, Factories, high rise blocks, derelict Brownfield sites along with working industrial sites. All are different and offer every kind of habitat going, disturbance on many is high, but on a number of these I have found that Peregrine Falcons and Kestrels do co exist and breed.

Male Peregrine

Male Kestrel

This year on the Peregrine sites that I monitor 4 pairs of Kestrel have bred on the same structure but at a lower level, both species are obviously aware of each other and there is some interaction between the 2 occasionally. It seems due to the abundance of prey in London, Kestrels are only occasionally targeted by Peregrines, the larger Falcon is basically lazy like most birds of prey, and seemingly always goes for the more abundant species.

In many cases this may be down to taste, feral pigeon may be more to there liking rather than Black Headed Gull for instance, the Gull is no doubt easier to take, so it could possibly be taste. Also the feral pigeon is just the right size to carry, I know that some Tiercels fly over a mile to a favoured hunting area, carrying the larger Gull back this far is hard work for the male, especially at dawn when there is no lift. I have recorded Kestrel as prey along with 2 male Sparrowhawks and know of other Kestrels taken as prey elsewhere. The smaller Kestrel will certainly go up and mob the Peregrine, I have seen this, some of this comes down to knowing when you can get away with it, and when not.

On all of these sites where the 2 coincide I have noticed that the Kestrels give the Peregrines a wide berth at dawn onwards when they are 100% hunting, they fly extremely low to and from the nest site, and will not go up high. When the Peregrines have killed, fed and then layed up, the Kestrels will go up higher and even thermal. The Peregrines, although extremely aggressive and territorial do not perceive them as a threat to eggs/young unlike Carrion Crows, these are attacked with relish, laying up or not.

Kestrel

Kestrel in flight

The Kestrels may just see the Peregrines as an occupational hazard, similar to Carrion Crows, they have a territory and a nest site, they are certainly not going to move site due to the presence of a higher authority, no matter how dangerous it could be.

Hopefully the Peregrines will stay with there normal prey

It is good to see the 2 species together, on one site both species have 3 juveniles apiece, that gives the possibility of 10 Falcons in the air, should be quite a sight.

Weekend June 18th-19th Fledging

2011-06-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

For quite a while now I have been thinking, would it be better to advertise Peregrine sites in London, for all to enjoy, in this there is nothing I would like more. Would it be better to get local people and business’s/companies involved in the immediate area, the principal being, the more eyes watching, the safer the site is?

Many sites are obviously already known amongst locals and kept word of mouth, the birds are hard to miss and can be very vocal, especially juveniles.

I belong to a group called the London Peregrine Group, it is made up of individuals, RSPB, Royal Parks, and the Met Police Wildlife, the policy has always been only publicise on safe and secure sites, ie Parliament and the Tate Modern. This comes from a minority threat they face from Eggers and Pigeon Fanciers.

No breeding sites for Schedule 1 species are publicized unless regarded as secure, or in some cases on a Reserve.

On some of the sites the owners do not want the birds advertised due to the threat of security and also the restrictions that Schedule 1 brings, happily there are only 1 or 2.

With the Peregrines continued expansion in London, it is getting harder to keep sites low key and unpublicized, London now has the largest population of any city in the world including New York.

These Falcons are large, high profile birds, very vocal and spectacular, they will get noticed. Perhaps it is better to judge each site on its own merits and locality? There is no doubt that some sites are already well known and could benefit from more eyes watching, especially at fledging time, myself and others at the moment are really stretched due to the number of pairs. In New York every site is known, people get involved with the birds, there also does not seem to be any threat to them?

Parliament

Saturday

Arrived at the nest site after visiting 3 other sites early a.m, if you want to see a lot of Peregrine activity unfortunately you have to get up at dawn, it used to be easy 10 years ago but trying to balance this, and work 5 days a week as a Steelfixer, is getting hard.

Am pleased to say that all 3 juveniles have fledged, in particular a male who is flying very strongly, no dodgy landings, what has helped is the fact that we have had good winds over the weekend.

Juvenile male fledged

Another juv, possibly a male is up the top with the adults, flying but not so confidently. The 3rd juvenile, looks like a female is lower down and for the duration of my visit, 3 hours, she did not move.A lack of confidence in trying to fly may be down to a dodgy 1st flight, both adults tried to encourage her out, but I later found out from Rose Farmer, she monitors them as well, that she did not move all day.

Adult Tiercel

I also managed to find a spot where I could not be seen by the public, in a private area, consequently I managed to record a few photos.

A spectacular sight was a Common Buzzard going over highish, both adults alarm called, took flight and immediately began to climb up after it. Typically I had packed the camera away. Fortunately they both gave up on it, they can be very aggressive whilst breeding, Herring, Lesser Black Backed Gulls and Grey Herons are all seen off.

Sunday

I located all 3 juveniles more or less as soon as I arrived, the strong flying male was seen to land on the roof and was lost to view, another juvenile was sitting near both adults.

The strong flying juvenile male

Was also pleased to note that the lower level juvenile female had regained some height to a higher point, this must have happened early a.m.For the next 2 hours the Tiercel hunted, 2 small prey items were delivered to the higher level juveniles.

When I left, all were roughly in the same position, the weather again was ideal for flight, hopefully the weaker flying female will take advantage of it.

Parliament Juveniles

2011-06-16T11:55:00.000-07:00

June 10th and 11th

Nathalie has again very kindly sent me some photos of the juveniles progress, as you can see, it will not be long before they fledge, very likely around 16th onwards.

Not far to go ( all photos Nathalie Mahieu )

Developing well

Waiting for an adult with prey

Exercising for that all important day

Last year there were a number of us monitoring them from dawn to dusk, fortunately in 2010 there were no serious mishaps of grounding of the Parliament juveniles. This year many pairs have got there act together, myself and others of the London Peregrine Partnership are going to be stretched covering all the sites, all seem to be coming out on the weekend of the 18th onwards. Fingers crossed that there is some wind over that weekend to give them some lift, at the moment the weather is ok as long as it doesn’t get too blowy.

Preening

Chilling out

With the Parliament pair likely to fledge earlier, it is on the cards that they will return to Victoria Palace even sooner than expected, possibly before the end of June. When they return I will again be able to get some photos of the family, updates, hunts etc…. as mentioned earlier in the diary it is not wise to do it at there nest site.

Must admit this a favourite, taken by Nathalie, all 3 juveniles sound asleep at night

Will update again over the weekend, hopefully with fledging news.

June 11th - out and about in London and a relocated pair

2011-06-12T04:56:00.000-07:00

First stop was to check on a site on the other side of the river, a previous visit revealed 3 well grown juveniles.

Arrived on site at 4.40am, located the juv’s on the east side of the structure well sheltered from the brisk south westerly wind, all 3 had the ‘ hungry ‘ look and were searching the skies for an adult. At this time of morning the light and the cloud cover were not good, the fact that they were scanning all the time made me think that an adult or both had slipped away in the darkness.

So it proved with the Tiercel returning with prey just after 5.00am, they saw him a lot earlier than I did and there was a frenzy to get in the right position, the noise was quite incredible.

Looking at the juveniles showed it to be 2 females and a male, even at this stage the smaller male was a loner, the 2 sisters seemed to be sticking together, as expected the prey was taken by one of the females. The male will likely be the 1st to fledge, female dominance seems to start at an early age, I suspect he loses out in the food stakes quite a lot. It was interesting to note that when the Tiercel came in with prey, he called but did not move, unlike his sisters who fairly terrorized the adult Tiercel.

Juvenile male

At 5.44am the Falcon arrived and was quite obviously carrying heavy prey, her tail was fanned out for maximum lift as she circled and bought in the prey, again the young male did not get a look in, the remaining sister claimed the spoils. Eventually the little male did get the left overs of one of his sisters.

Falcon coming in with prey very early a.m

Looking at them showed they were ready to fledge in the next 2 or 3 days, hopefully none will ground, the windy weather at the moment is ideal, still windless days make it difficult for fledging.

Relocated pair

After this I decided to check an old site that bred very late in 2007, no Peregrine activity but as I was driving away about a mile up the road I saw the unmistakable outline of a Peregrine on a structure. Closer views were warranted and eventually, through a maze of streets I was able to scope the bird.

The hardest thing in London is not trying to draw attention to peregrines or yourself, on secure sites it is ok, Parliament etc… but walking round with a telescope, camera and binoculars is downright dodgy in some areas. Another problem is that some people think you are up too no good, unfortunately using binoculars and a camera on a building looking for peregrines does get you labeled as a potential terrorist or a peeping Tom. I have lost count the number of times I have been approached by the Police, tipped of by the public no doubt, good to see though, security is a big thing in London.

I eventually found a location tucked away and had a look, a Tiercel greeted me, about 10 minutes later a Falcon came in with prey. Scoping her showed it to be the female from 2007, so a very pleasant surprise.

Re located Falcon bringing in prey

Eventually the prey was stashed and she disappeared on another section of the structure, hopefully breeding behavior as she was lost to view. Given the fact that the Tiercel looked to be on ‘guard’ duty, the signs looked good.

Falcon

Territories are getting smaller every year in London, this pair are only 1 ½ miles from another well established pair.

Fledging tragedy

I received a phone call mid week regarding a site in London with the news that a juvenile had been killed whilst making its first flight. The site in question successfully fledged 2 juveniles last year and having visited the site on earlier dates this year, it was quite clear audibly that there were juveniles up there again. The nest site has never been visible to the eye so it has always been best guess when they lay and fledge.

There were a number of people involved with the site, companies etc… who had worked round the birds all through the breeding season and were tracking there development and keeping a watchful eye on them.

As the juveniles were being watched and monitored, it was one of the reasons that it was seen to fledge, quite an early date for London, Tuesday June 7th.

It was seen to clear some flats and was then lost to view, shortly later it was found dead in a small park.

After picking up the bird I had a look when I arrived where it had come down. It looked like it had come in at speed, probably out of control and hit a large overhead ornamental 6x6 timber, some of the breast feathers had gone from the impact, the neck was clearly broken.

Mercifully it would have been instant and it would not have suffered, a sad end for a magnificent bird.

There is a remaining juvenile, this has fledged ok, it looks like a Tiercel, presumably both juveniles came out on the same day, on Sunday (5th) there was only one bird on show.

Unfortunately it is not a rare event for a peregrine to ‘ ground ‘ they do seem to make a habit of it, especially when there is no wind to give them uplift. In 2010 at this same site I had a juvenile come down to a 3 storey roof top, on landing it food called but being lower down, the adults will not come down to feed it. For the next 3 hours it stayed there despite the adults trying to make it fly with overhead passes with prey, in the meantime also, a pair of Crows and a pair of Lesser Black Backed Gulls had also found it. The Crows ended up confined to a nearby tree, every time they tried to leave the Tiercel was on them, the Gulls received the same treatment as they tried to mob the juvenile, this time from the Falcon. The juvenile eventually made it back up high under its own steam thanks to its very aggressive parents, but for these it would have been in trouble.

Parliament pair - June 5th and recent photos

2011-06-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

I have been logging on to the web cam at all hours trying to gauge the juveniles progress, especially over Sunday when the persistant rain started and continued on into the night.

On Sunday after visiting another nearby pair, unfortunately these have failed for the 4th year running, I popped into the parliament pairs nest site to see if I could see any of the young from the outside. Both adults were present, the Tiercel arriving as I drew up with the Falcon resting higher up.

From behavior everything looked well, could not see the young, they will now have a good covering of feathering that will protect them from the elements, at this stage they will certainly be too big and will not need brooding. Whilst watching the pair I stayed in the car, it would be good to get some photos of them outside but unfortunately it would very likely draw some attention to the pair. I will have to wait until they return to Parliament, last years return date was for me, July 10th, this year they seem more advanced so it could possibly be earlier.

All photos kindly supplied by Nathalie Mahieu, thankyou.

As you can see growing fast

Resting

The 3 young, 1 just about visible on the left

There return is being eagerly awaited, with a number of people wishing to film and photograph them against the backdrop of Parliament, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I have been asked by the site Parliament Police when they will arrive back, last years noisy adults and juveniles have made a lasting impression.

Calling for food

Looks like a male

Developing well

The pair it seems are becoming quite well known, they have even been mentioned in parliament and have also featured in the in House magazine, Focus.

Parliament official Thomas Maher has named the birds after the architects who built the House of Commons and the House of Lords, Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin.

The Falcon has been named Charlie and the Tiercel has been called Augustus, a fitting name for a male Peregrine.

Also whilst visiting a few sites in London early a.m on Sunday I came across a Kestrel family, by the look of them it wont be long before they fledge.I must admit the little mouse 'hawks' have always been a favourite.

2 of the 4 juveniles

Waiting for food

Hybrid

2011-05-30T03:15:00.000-07:00

May 29th

Decided to get out early to check up on some sites that have been rumored to hold Peregrines and also visit some known sites in East London.

I arrived at my 1st port of call around 4.45am and found a Tiercel on territory, I 1st saw this bird about 2 months ago, initial thoughts were it must be a visiting Tiercel favouring the location due to the density of the local feral pigeon population. Since then I have seen him a number of times and have confirmed that he is a single bird, as yet with no mate, holding to this particular structure.

Tiercel (click on photos too enlarge)

Looking at him showed he already had stashed prey on a ledge, so I left him in peace and moved on.

Next stop was a Church that might have Peregrines on it, this was the 1st time I have visited this site, a bit low, but looked ideal for Peregrines. Although there was no guano staining or prey remains aloft or lower down I made a note to keep an eye on it In the future, it was also bang in the middle of pairs east and west.

There are some sites, especially past breeding sites that I always visit whenever I pass them, this was the case today when I found the hybrid.

As I arrived at the location I could see the bird straight away and realized it was not a Peregrine, its colour also gave it away, a very striking looking bird with greyish plumage. On looking through the scope, my 1st thought was Merlin/Peregrine hybrid, the head especially reminded me of Merlin, its size was equal to a Tiercel Peregrine, possibly a tad larger.

Hybrid

The white undertones to the chest pointed towards Peregrine but the small feet and talons seemed more suited to Merlin, the moustachial sideburns also looked good for Lanner/ Merlin. Additionally the grey plumage may point towards Lanner Falcon.

The barring to back and mantle area showed Peregrine heritage, have to say, although a hybrid it was a cracking looking bird, just a pity I did not get to see it fly, would have been good to get the wing shape and colour.

Would welcome any thoughts on its Id, and also if anyone has seen it around before.

It was also interesting that the bird was at an ex – peregrine site, coincidence or could have possibly followed a peregrine in.

Parliament Pair - Ringing

2011-05-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

May 28th

Good news in the fact that not only have the juveniles been ringed, 2 males and a female, the camera position has also been moved, the footage is now a lot better with adults coming and going being observed. As I write this at 3.30pm, I have just been watching the Tiercel feeding the juveniles.

The footage is great and shows how all 3 juveniles are given an equal share, when they have had enough they simply reverse up or turn there back. They are now getting very big , exercising small wings is becoming very important now as they grow towards full size.

Old camera position - young now getting very big.Photo Nathalie Mahieu

For those not aware of fledging Peregrines on there 1st flight, they have a habit of grounding, in particular on days with not a breath of wind, they need this to give them uplift on there maiden flight. Last year at least 5 people covered the site at different times of the day from dawn to dusk, although 1 or 2 of the juveniles came down low, they eventually found there way back up after a day or 2, hunger is a great motivator. This year will be no different and a watch will start around fledging time, probably around the 2nd week in June.

I have picked up a few juveniles over the years that have grounded as have members of the London Peregrine Partnership, we have returned them to high points near the nest, without assistance many will fall prey to urban foxes or become road casualties. In the wilder rural areas many juveniles are lost on grounding and the mortality rate is around 30%.

With the new camera position, it will also give us an insight on prey species, although predominately feral pigeon in London, this time of year produces hordes of juvenile Starlings, I was at a site this morning and the Tiercel bought in 2.

Falcon bringing in prey at another site.

Parliament Pair

2011-05-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

May 24th

The young are growing very fast now and are becoming mobile, they are now around 18 + days old. I have been watching the CCTV quite a bit lately, it is a bit frustrating as much of the behavior and actions are being missed due to the nest scrape position.

The above footage shows the young hatching with prey stashed nearby.Courtesy of Nathalie

I would like to give updates and photographic progress from outside, on ground level, but this will unfortunately draw attention to the birds, also it not an ideal area to walk round with equipment. I will wait till they fledge and return to Parliament, last years return date was July 10th.Having spoken to a number of people at Parliament, it looks like there return is quite eagerly awaited due to the spectacle and noise of up to 6 Peregrines gracing Parliament. I must admit it is a spectacular sight to see 4 juveniles buzzing Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Victoria Palace, even amongst all the traffic and noise they cannot be ignored.

The young flat out in the sunshine, around 12 days old.Photo - Nathalie Mahieu

The CCTV camera has been down over the weekend and Monday but is now up and running, unfortunately the juveniles have covered it as per last year with guano. Obviously due to licencing restrictions it cannot be cleaned, hopefully if they are to be ringed, the camera can then be cleaned.

Parliament Pair

2011-05-07T01:26:00.000-07:00

May 7th

3 eggs have now hatched, the 4th hopefully will follow very shortly. The 3rd egg hatched between 12.00 and 4.00pm on Thursday May 5th and was recorded by Nathalie who has kindly forwarded the info.

Watching the web cam this morning at 5.56am gave occasional glimpses of the freshly hatched juveniles, but positioning of the scrape makes it hard to see and record the comings and goings of adult birds. I could see by reflection this morning, an adult was feeding the young, as the juveniles get bigger and more mobile, usually around 10 days, behavior and feeding will be recorded a lot more in front of the camera.

Hopefully as the young get bigger we will not have a repeat of last years guano plastering of the CCTV camera.

Parliament Pair

2011-04-30T12:24:00.000-07:00

As I write this the month has flown by and we are nearly into May (tomorrow), I have obtained the web cam address so the pair can now be followed right up to fledging. She is still sitting tight on her nest tray on the 4 eggs, I expect that they will hatch very soon looking at the dates given earlier in the diary. I have been watching quite a lot over the holiday period and as yet I have not been able to see if any have hatched as yet.

The best bet is when she stands up to shift position, having witnessed this a few times I am still none the wiser, she seems to stay too low, hopefully over the next few days I can confirm if any have hatched.
Address of web cam is http://www.rspb.org.uk/datewithnature/146957-peregrines-at-the-tate-modern

April 10th

2011-04-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

There is a Peregrine site in London that I visit pretty regular, obviously more so in the breeding season, the pair are in a relatively unique habitat, there are so many feral pigeons in and on the main structure, the pair have little need to hunt further afield.

At my last count, 650 left the roost starting at dawn, departing over a period of an hour with the main surge happening in the first 30 minutes, at the moment it is the Tiercel who is doing the hunting from the structure, it is truly spectacular to observe.

With this many ferals inside, year round breeding takes place, even in mid winter, recent events have shown that the Peregrines have not only adjusted, learnt and taken advantage of another food source, but have also exploited it.

In 2010 I observed the Tiercel fly into the inside of the structure and he then landed on a girder, I did not think at the time, that his positioning was deliberate and intentional, he had already fed and was going to lay up. By coincidence there just happened to be a feral pigeon nest about 2 metres away at the junction of a girder, inside were 2 ¾ grown juveniles. I expected him to lay up as his crop was full, instead he reacted to the presence of the juvenile ferals. He quite simply waddled over to the nest and grabbed one, it was quickly dispatched and then taken to a stash point, obviously for later feeding or prey for the Falcon.

At the time I thought that it was a one off but recently I have seen him flying round the structure, sometimes low down and landing near likely pigeon nest sites, ie – holes, niches and ledges, he was searching, in short, it looks as if he has learnt to exploit it. Carrion Crows, even Magpies I know have this level of intelligence but never suspected Peregrines could learn and adjust there hunting behavior to take advantage of an easy food source.

Recently after observing a nest relief very early a.m, I watched the Falcon emerge and then for 10 minutes she preened, at the end of this she started to head bob as they do, intently looking around, behavior was obviously looking to hunt. I presumed there was no stashed prey available so suspected that she would go up and hunt. As I watched her she took off and disappeared round a corner, and then emerged 2 minutes later with a ½ grown feral pigeon juvenile, she then landed on a wall. The prey was intact and was not already plucked and half eaten.

This made me think, has she learnt from the Tiercel, or vice versa, the area where she retrieved the prey was not a known stashing point of the Tiercels, they have there points which they use regularly. In short, I do not think she retrieved stashed prey so it is possible that she has adapted to an easier food source also.

Certainly very surprising and I cannot recall hearing of this before, as I have said before, no 2 pairs behave the same and they can be totally unpredictable. New behaviour is coming to light all the time in urban pairings, a few years back, who would have thought that they regularly hunt at night to exploit a food source?

Breeding

2011-04-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

The pair are now on territory on last years nest site and are on eggs, information has very kindly been forwarded to me by Nathalie Mahieu www.nmahieu.blogspot.com who has been watching developments and there progress.

As you have gathered they are on web cam and until today I have not been able to access the site, there is nothing wrong with the link, it is my lack of knowledge when it come to computers, I suddenly hit a brick wall, unfortunately you cant teach an old dog new tricks.

Nathalies progress report is listed below.

March 25th – 1st egg laid at 8.30pm, this was witnessed by Lyndon Parker

March 28th – 2nd egg was revealed at 1.00pm

March 29th – still 2 eggs

March 30th – 3 eggs seen at 8.35pm

April 1st - 4th egg laid

There possibly may be more, unless you can see a nest relief or either bird changes position whilst incubating it is very hard to see. Well done to Nathalie for putting the time in and witnessing it. Hopefully everything will go smoothly as per last year.
Last year the 1st egg was laid on April 1st so we are just under a week early, there seems to be no reason for this as other pairs in London this year are late.

I was present at the site on Sunday April 10th and the Tiercel had his hands full with the local Carrion Crows, when a Raptor, especially a large one appears, Crow squabbles and territorial disputes are all forgotten, and mob mentality takes over. None will challenge him in the air near the nest site, being intelligent, they know this is dangerous, if he lands on a building they will land near him and try and intimidate him with numbers.

If all goes well will shortly be putting the webcam on the Blog.

Parliament March 17th and only in London

2011-03-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

A rather misty morning found me standing opposite Victoria Tower at 5.50am.We are now getting very close to breeding so was not that hopeful of seeing the pair, I suspected that shortly they will leave Parliament for there nest site building. For those of you who are not familiar with the pair, they do not breed on Parliament, they move to another structure come breeding season, this has occurred for the last 3 breeding seasons.

A nest box designed specifically for Victoria Palace is shortly to be unveiled but unfortunately has come to late for the breeding season of 2011, time will tell if they accept it, it will be very hard luring them away from a successful nest site. Parliament is there ‘ core’ structure, I have no doubt they would rather nest on Victoria Tower but they fledged 4 juveniles last year on the breeding building, this will be imprinted on them. Additionally in 2010, as soon as they were able, the adults bought the juveniles back to Parliament and there they stayed.

Victoria Palace

Back to this morning, pleasantly surprised to hear and then see the Tiercel emerge from roost at 5.56am, just about seen in the half light, but definitely heard, contact calling very loudly presumably aimed at the Falcon, to see if she is present?

After a brief fly round the Tower he headed off, the direction he was taking left me in no doubt where he was heading, flight was not a hunting flight, so it was very likely the breeding site. I gave it another 30 minutes, with no sign of the Falcon, or the Tiercel before heading off to the other site.

On arrival at the other site it proved the correct assumption with the Tiercel already on a kill and feeding, of the Falcon there was no sign. I gave it another hour, during this time, he finished feeding and laid up with still no sign of the Falcon.

I recently received an e-mail that a pair already had 3 eggs, very early, usually around March 28th in London. With the non appearance of the Falcon, it is not beyond the laws of probability that she could be incubating, time will tell.

There is a web cam being set up shortly, this will give us a lot more much needed information, will also post the link address as soon as I have it.

Only in London

Following on from last years transvestite who waved to me in Victoria Garden Park while he/she was putting her make up on, I had another encounter with a normal looking chap at around 6.40am in the morning.

Quite amusing , especially to my wife, anyone who knows me will tell you I am quite old fashioned,as follows.

Walked into the park and noticed a chap messing around with something on his head on the other side of the park. Ignored him, did think what's he up to and scanned for the Peregrines. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him walking towards me, thought tourist, wants me to take his photo, wrong.

Chap – can you help me?

Me – If I can mate.

Chap – pulls out 2 gold earings

Me – (thinking does he want me to buy these?)

Chap – can you put them on for me

Me – what!

Chap – I cant get them in my ears, can you put them in for me.

Me – basically on yer bike with variations

Chap – Why?

Me – because I’m a man and you’re a man and men don’t put earings in to other mens bloody ear holes, fullstop . Can just imagine a copper coming around the corner asking what you are up to, just putting his earings in for him PC, yeah they’re really going to believe that aren’t they.

Chap – stormed off

Me – standing there sniggering to myself thinking why do I always attract them.

March 5th and 6th and territorial squabbles

2011-03-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

An excellent weekend relating to the site visits of February 23rd, both nest boxes have been accepted with both Tiercel and Falcon encouragingly occupying there respective boxes. The early signs are looking good, hopefully in 2011 we will have a good breeding year.

The potential in London is enormous if they all succeed , but due to a number of factors, they are not reaching there full capabilities, unstable weather, egg rolling, poor nest site selection and in some recent cases, infertility. If they can get past all this, the success rate would be far higher, and until recently, It did not occur to me that there could be other factors in London that could effect them to the extent that it would interrupt breeding.

Tiercel

I recently covered a pair in London, every day for 5 days, 2 days, then a gap and then 3 days in a row whilst activities took place.

In this period of time, the resident pair were kept extremely busy defending there site and territory as not only singles tested them but also another pair on the edge of there territory. For the full 5 days, they were challenged no less than 4 times a day, on one day, they received 6 visits by other singles/Immatures and pairs, I am presuming it is just one pair. Saying that, on at least 5 occasions they came in so high they could have come from anywhere in London, they were dots, the only reason I saw them was due to the reaction of the resident pair.

Tiercel

I know from visits in the breeding season of 2010 that, occasionally when I was monitoring them, they received challenges from other Peregrines, this at the time I thought was only sporadic, I am now thinking that this may be the norm in London. This may well be attributed to the high density of Peregrines in London, checking out your neighbour, so to speak, but it could well be singles/pairs looking to take over a site and testing the strength of a pairing.

Intruding pair

On this particular site the pair disappeared every day for an hour or so, without fail, even in not ideal weather, it was not to hunt as they had already killed and fed, so I wondered are they doing the same and checking out the opposition, it appears from the 5 days that territorial boundaries were not observed by other Peregrines.

Intruding immature female being driven off

One other reason may be that this site is a ‘ prime site ‘ and as such, is in demand and will be constantly challenged, whether it be from neighbouring pairs or migrant/singles looking for a ‘core’ structure or territory of there own.

Site visits - February 23rd

2011-03-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

A very productive and satisfying day with a new nest box placed at one site, after this I visited another site and topped up with substrate ready for the coming breeding season.

New nestbox about to be placed

The new nest box was absolutely essential after visiting this site in January, although I had placed a tray in position, its location, where ever I placed it, allowed water to drip into it, hence the box. On top of this, the site has a number of feral pigeons and it had been ‘ guanoed’ a number of times. Have they done it on purpose, It would be amusing if they had, but I do not think that pigeons are that clever, or are they!
The Peregrines had been in the tray and the Falcon had made a scrape, it is also quite well known that Fieldfares guano Goshawks when threatened....

Guanoed Tray, coincidental or intentional ?

I have high hopes for this particular site, the people that I deal with are brilliant and love the Peregrines, they will get as much pleasure from successful breeding as I will, fingers crossed.

A misconception with the public regarding Peregrines, is that feral pigeons will move out once Peregrines are holding territory on the same structure, they will not as they know they are in no danger from perched birds, additionally it is there home and they were there first. Open sky is a different matter, even then the ferals carry on normal behavior but are obviously more aware of the watching Peregrines, especially at dawn when they know that is ‘prime time’ for hunting.

Nestbox in position

The 2nd site substrate top up came from an inspection in January/February, the Falcon had made the scrape in the box, but had unfortunately moved all the shingle aside and had hit the bottom of the box. Plywood was showing, obviously no good for a clutch of eggs as they would very likely break on movement of the incubating bird and contact with the wood.

Before - substrate with plywood showing

The thickness of the substrate at the time was around 60mm, so she had created quite a deep depression, to play it safe I topped it up to 80- 100mm, hopefully it will do the trick.

After - fully covered

Will now be checking these 2 sites, amongst others with the breeding season now nearly on us, fingers crossed for a good year.

Sunday February 13th

2011-02-13T23:16:00.000-08:00

Right from the start I knew the weather was going to be ‘orrible’ the forecast the night before had given grey skies, quite a fresh southerly and rain. They were right, I have also noticed that as I am getting older, now 53, all I do is talk about the bloody weather, must be an English thing.

Given the weather, I was not expecting much from the pair, that was even if they were on site and had not moved to the nest site along the river.

Arrived at 6.40ish, still very dark, but enough light from the streets and Parliament to pick out any outlines. As I was setting up the scope I saw a bird slip away from Victoria Palace, on flight and outline a Peregrine, it went north west, very lucky to see it, just happened to be looking in the right direction.

At this time of year I suspected it was the Tiercel as he will be doing most of the hunting, and so it proved with him returning in the half light with a fresh feral pigeon, time was around 7.00am.I have seen him go this way before at dawn, he obviously has a feral pigeon roost site that he favours. On arrival back at Victoria Palace, he came in calling triumphantly, the usual happened and the Falcon took the kill from him, she started to feed, whilst he sat above her watching patiently, or so I thought.

Falcon feeding with a very hungry Tiercel awaiting

After about 10 minutes of her feeding he started to call again, the persistent rehk rehk rehk call, some times signaling agitation, in short he was getting the hump. To reinforce his intent and message he flew out, came around and landed next to the Falcon, who totally ignored him and carried on feeding, but she did open her wings and mantle the prey more. His response was to call even louder and edge closer trying to weasel his way in, it didn’t work, she took off with the prey, not to be outdone he took off after her.

The chase begins

He was not giving up and chased her round Big Ben and Victoria Palace, continually calling all the time, on a couple of times as he closed with her I could see him trying to grab the prey whilst she was doing her level best to evade him. Usually the Falcon will, after feeding just leave the prey and then the Tiercel will just take over, I have seen Tiercels before try and take prey from Falcons, but 9 times out of 10, they sit and wait. Patience to a bird of prey is second nature,they will sit in the same spot for hours waiting for prey.

On about the 5th attempt he got his talons into the prey and held on, I expected her to release but she did not, they were all now connected, I must admit it was a bizarre sight to see a Peregrine on top, prey in the middle and another Peregrine hanging sideways trying to take the prey. They stayed like this for a good while, I have seen prey aerial exchanges before with Peregrines in London and also with Marsh Harriers elsewhere, the difference here was that she would not release and they were all losing height, both calling repeatedly. Just as I was thinking, bloody hell, there going into the trees of Victoria park she relented and gave up her prize, she flew to a rest point on the Palace and he took the prey to the opposite side and began to feed.

Trying to take the prey, photo's below show the quarrel

Making a grab

Trying again

Nailed and hanging on

Still hanging on, she will not release

Hanging....

And on....

All though females are dominant the intensity of the Tiercels chase and taking of the prey from the female was surprising, neither wanted to give up and she was not going to relinquish the prey in a straight food pass. A good old fashioned domestic quarrel.

Tiercel returning

Back on Victoria Palace

Left them both to it as the rain got heavier, the Tiercel tucking in to the left overs. As you can see the photo's are very dark, with decent weather they would have been quite good, there I go again...

Saturday Jan 29th

2011-01-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

First visit of the year, I would like to be able to say that the weather had improved, but again freezing cold at dawn, 1 above with a brisk north easterly wind and the usual dull grey skies. All this combined to give me naff photo’s, so apologies, camera has been stuck permanently on ISO1600 F5.6 no matter what time of day.

Dawn at Parliament

Statues in Victoria Gardens Park, not sure what they signify?

Located both birds at 7.25am roosting on the western side of Victoria Tower, they will always roost away from the wind, good to find them this early, of late they have been giving me the slip in there roosting positions. Neither Tiercel or Falcon looked as if they had fed so was hopeful of some hunting.

Falcon, with the light, just an outline

As it was a Saturday there was a lot more people about, you do tend to get some strange looks when you are tucked up under some trees in Victoria Gardens Park, looking through a Telescope and Tripod. Most ignore you but on occasion I have had a couple of people come up and ask what I was doing, there thoughts have ranged from ‘ Peeping Tom ‘ to ‘ I thought that was some kind of ‘ Rocket Launcher ‘.Many have showed an interest in what you are looking at, when they see the Peregrines through the telescope, they are really pleased , many have never seen a Peregrine before. It is good to spread the Gospel, its just a pity that all the sites cant be publicized like Parliament, everyone should be able to enjoy these stunning birds.

Whilst the Falcon started to preen the Tiercel slipped away at 7.53am flying strongly north, possibly looking to hunt, I was hopeful that he would come back in with prey or show some early courtship behavior when he returned. The Falcon hunted shortly after 8.10am but returned almost immediately without prey, in the meantime the Tiercel had returned and flew up and down in front of the Falcon in a semi display flight, good to see, thank god Spring is on its way, my feet were bloody freezing.

Tiercel with some primary wear

With no reaction from the Falcon inviting him in for copulation, they do start quite early, he flew to a stashed kill on the east side, this appeared to be a Feral Pigeon. After feeding for 25 minutes he then flew back round to the Falcon, as he did she headed out and he followed in tow.

Falcon looking to the Heavens

Tiercel on stashed prey

I had a strong suspicion where they were going, it was in the right direction, possibly to last years breeding structure, will know more in February, hopefully the weather will be better.