Parliament pair- back at last

 July 14th

In fact they came back on the 4th and were seen and heard by many people at Parliament, I had planned to visit on the 7th but the monthly birders drink the night before put paid to that, a sore head no less.
Despite the constant rain I decided to visit, firstly to check and see if they were present and then also clean out the nest box balcony with Tom on Victoria Tower, whilst up there we observed some great action which I will relate later.
I am not going to talk about the weather despite being sick to death of it, much the same as everyone else; we it appears in and around London are getting off pretty lightly. In many other areas around the country people have had their homes flooded and lost much of their belongings. You can only sympathise with them, it seems the climate is changing; it is easily the wettest June/July that I can remember.

I was lucky this morning when I arrived, it was not raining and Big Ben was showing 4.35a.m, in fact the rain held off to around 10.00a.m.Hoping that they were present I waited in the semi darkness, at 4.40a.m no less than 3 juveniles came out from Victoria Tower, one with a pigeon wing, they were present!
They all eventually flew to Westminster Abbey and this was where the 3 stayed for a good hour, during that time I also located the Tiercel on prey feeding whilst one of the juv’s called his hunger to the world, the Tiercel ignored him.

Victoria Palace - 4.43am

Juveniles at play

Despite a good search I could not locate the adult Falcon or the remaining juvenile, Big Ben, Middle and Victoria Tower were all quiet, I suspect that both were at the nest site together.
Presently the Tiercel relinquished the remains of the pigeon, he must have gone out in the dark to get past me unless he was already on the Abbey roosting and the pigeon may well have been stashed prey. The leftovers were taken by one of the male juveniles and he high tailed it towards the river with the other 2 juveniles right on his tail, the time was 6.45am, that was to be the last I saw of them until later around 9.30am.
I searched Victoria Tower but it was quite obvious that they had gone, it was eerily quiet for one thing, anyone who is involved with juvenile peregrines will know that they make a racket.
I watched the Tiercel for a while, he again took another feral pigeon, on landing looking around rather bemused as no juveniles were present, he then decided to stash the pigeon.

Female Juvenile on the Abbey

Male Juvenile

Westminster Abbeys wide ledges - a favourite, Victoria Palace in background

Tiercel stashing another pigeon

I left him there and headed into Parliament and up Victoria Tower.
It was while me and Tom were cleaning up the balcony that we heard a juvenile calling, it came into view below us, a male labouring under the weight of a feral pigeon, it was obviously looking for somewhere to land and feed.
Unfortunately it made the mistake of heading out over the river towards the London Eye, this section is Lesser Black Backed Gull territory as they have young on the adjacent Portcullis House.3 dived at him and he went even lower but turned back for Parliament to my relief. I recalled an incident a few years back when a Falconer lost a Harris Hawk somewhere along the Thames when it was forced into the river by large Gulls. As the juvenile made for Parliament 2 of the Gulls carried on giving him a hard time, this was when the cavalry arrived in the shape of the Tiercel, he came from above and set about and then drove off the 2 Gulls off before escorting the juvenile back to the Tower.
As we both watched, the juvenile followed by the Tiercel flew underneath us pretty close, it was a stunning sight and my only regret was that I could not capture it on the camera, how often do you get to see one underneath you this close.
A good end to the morning, all we need now is sunshine.

The balcony,nestbox can just be seen

Parliament Pair

 Sunday July 1st

So much for predictions, I had high hopes they would defect from the nest site and come back to Parliament early but it looks as if my prediction was a little premature. I visited again at dawn on Sunday morning in the hope that the adults may well have encouraged them over; they are certainly trying too on the Tiercels part.
I arrived at 4.40am hoping that I would initially hear them, and then hopefully come out from roost. Unfortunately it was not to be although the Tiercel did emerge from his roost on Victoria Tower around 4.50am.
I expected him to go over to the nest site building straight away but instead he started to hunt, by now I had decided he was on his own. At just after 5.00a.m he pursued and caught a feral pigeon, I thought that's it, he’s off to feed one of the 4 juveniles, I was a little surprised as he partially plucked it and then stashed it on Victoria Tower. Further to this he then went up to Middle Tower and began to hunt again, unusual behaviour for a father with 4 hungry kids to feed, normal behaviour would be to take it straight back to the Falcon or one of the juveniles if he is not going to feed himself.

Stashing feral pigeon at 5.04a.m



Hunting again from Middle Tower

Middle Tower

During the course of the morning, I stayed for about 3 hours he took another pigeon, had 6 more failed hunts and narrowly missed taking a Mistle Thrush, the Thrush was very lucky as it went for the ground and just about made it I am glad to say. The other pigeon was again stashed and he then repeated the earlier action of going up, this time to Big Ben to hunt again.
It could be that the hunting is better from Parliament and he is making the most of it by building up a ‘larder’ for the juveniles as dawn is always the best time to hunt.
His behaviour was a little odd with no prey taken over to the nest site juveniles while I was there, one reason could be that he is doing it to get the 4 juveniles over to Parliament, it is basically ' if you want to feed, you have to come over '

Big Ben - Tiercel just about viewable

High Flyers

I dare say that the juveniles with their incredible eyesight may well be able to see him; the Falcon will be on 'guard duty ' watching over them, it will only take one to fly to Parliament and the rest will likely follow. The Falcon will also be hungry so it is odds on that she will go as well, again they may well follow her, hunger is a great motivator.
I will stick my neck out and say they will be over by the 8th; as usual they will likely prove me wrong again.

Searching for Gold!

Parliament Pair

Saturday June 23rd


From others, namely Rose, Morg and Stuart from the LPP who had monitored them over the last week or so doing a great job, I knew before I arrived at 4.45am that they had fledged and were on the wing. Even better all 4 were safe and sound and were flying strongly.

The adults getting in on the frivolities

If you watch peregrines, dawn is always the best time to watch them, as I am getting older, just turned 55 no less, getting up at silly o’clock is getting harder. It is the best time to watch them, all that is on the adults and juveniles mind is FOOD! This makes them very very active and such was the case when I arrived, I could hear them a 100 metres away from the nest site, the noise was unbelievable, the sight even better.
Briefly all 6 were in the air interacting, a staggering sight in anyone’s book, even for me who has watched them for over 12 years, seeing this in the heart of London make all those early mornings worthwhile.
As expected as soon as I disembarked from the car, all had dispersed around the structure. The weather was not too bad, not great, a little overcast but possibly good enough to get some half decent photos. I decided to have a look round to see if I could find myself a spot out of the way so not to draw attention to the birds, mind you the racket they were making they were impossible to ignore.

I found myself a spot on a little private factory estate, not viewable from the road so I tucked myself away around a corner and waited. At this stage in there development the juveniles are still flying low, they are not street wise like the adults who will only come down so far, with the juv’s there are no boundaries as yet.
Staying in one position is limited but I did get to record some excellent behaviour, I was facing the light/dark stretch of sky for most shots but not too bad otherwise.
Watching the juveniles, as usual it is a first come first serve basis when it comes to food; basically this means that if the Tiercel is spotted far out bringing in prey, it is who can get to him first. He bought in prey on 3 occasions, he was intercepted on all, sometimes by up to 3 juveniles, airborne food passes took place. After this the trick was to get back to the structure without your brother or sister nailing you from underneath and then losing your meal. On one such time a feral pigeon was dropped, all the Tiercels hard work undone by two scrapping juveniles.

Juv on Juv

While I was watching it looks as if the juveniles are already following the adults and travelling further afield, on one such foray, the direction they were taking would have took them straight to Parliament. If they have not already been there, it is only a matter of time, possibly this week hopefully. Watching these juveniles compared to last year’s juv’s seems to show that these are more active and adventurous. Much of this is very likely down to the weather, at the moment we have good winds, sometimes too strong, it makes flying effortless for them and they can roam more, all the time building up wing strength.
I decided after to go to Parliament to check to see if any peregrines were present, lo and behold the Tiercel was there, very likely having a breather from the kids.
I will check again next weekend, I have a feeling that they may be at Parliament.

Tiercel back at Parliament

Art at Parliament, very nice too.

Last weekend - will they or won't they?

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


Saturday June 9th

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

The same juveniles taken this week, sunshine at last!

Sunday June 10th Parliament birds

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

Ups and Downs

Having just returned from Bulgaria, as a birder it is a must, 16 species of bird of prey no less, it was again catch up time with the Peregrines in London.
As you can imagine it is hard trying to keep a diary going as you cannot name sites, especially if the diary participants (Parliament birds) move site every year. Due to their nest site location I am reluctant to take photos of the birds and draw attention to them; I have taken photos in the past but nothing that hopefully gives the game away. As mentioned before it is not an ideal area to be walking round with optics.
If they were at Parliament it would no doubt be easier, this may well happen in the future as the nest site building may well becoming under threat from Contractors.
This year they have 4 juveniles, hopefully all will make it and fledge without mishap, I expect them to start visiting Parliament around the 1st week in July, the adult Tiercel may well start visiting earlier to get away from the ‘ kids’.

Elsewhere on the pairs that I monitor, there have been successes and failures, the regular sites mostly coming up trumps but worryingly 2 pairs have gone off the map from their regular nest sites. These are the 2 pairs mentioned earlier in the blog, I have spent the last 2 month’s trying to locate both of these pairs to no avail, it is easy to read more into it with the persecution they face in other areas of the country. It could be simply a case of moving site but knowing the area and basically every suitable building within their territory it does make you wonder, why move from a successful nest site location? Both sites offer no disturbance issues so you do tend to think along more sinister lines unfortunately, this is the England we live in, raptor persecution is a threat, especially up north.
This weekend I am hoping to get to the Parliament birds to see how they are getting on, fledging is now very close, 2 of the 3 Charring X birds have taken the plunge, see below for the link.

http://www.wildlifewhisperer.tv/live-cams/1326

I have also dug up a photo taken last year of a hybrid that I think possibly may be the same bird that was seen recently in April holding to a Peregrine site. Looking at both photos I would say it is likely the same bird, the moustachial cheek markings seem the same as does the plumage and jizz of the bird.

This photo was taken in 2011

Catching Up

Since returning from Spain last Sunday I have been out and about checking on the peregrine sites that I monitor. With all the recent bad weather it was likely that some would fail, sadly this proved true unfortunately. The exposed sites succumbed to the relentless rain and winds and goes to prove the case for a nestbox, it is no coincidence that the successful sites had boxes or trays or were covered by some part of a structure.
Having an insight into the webcam at Charring X both inside and out shows the extremities that Peregrines have to deal with, I know this is true of other species as well but very few will lay eggs in such exposed positions with little or no nest site drainage. The fact that they will just make a scrape in a ½ of dirt is always going to be perilous with egg chilling/rolling a constant threat in bad weather.
It also make you realise just how many nests, not only peregrines but other birds as well, which must have been lost to the weather.
Tragically Nottingham lost 3 of its 4 chicks this year, the weather played a big part again unfortunately; it was also not helped by the Tiercels disappearance for a day.

A flat out Tiercel, wings folded for maximum speed is an impressive sight

With prey, this time a Starling

So far this year of the ones that I keep an eye on, 2 have been lost to bad weather with 2 others moving site for one reason or another; plans are already afoot to give each of the failures a nestbox. Of the other 2 I simply cannot find them, both have moved from their traditional nest sites, and with a 2 mile or more radius for their territory they can be hard to find. Hopefully they will come to light.
I have not commented on the Parliament pair for a while, but after a visit this morning at their breeding site, I can confirm that they have chicks judging by the adult’s behaviour. I will be visiting the site for another look on Tuesday.

Falcon

Falcon putting the brakes on

With all the warmer weather earlier in the year it appears that not only did Charring X lay there 1st egg early(March 14th) but another site also did, this site’s chick are even more advanced than the CH X juveniles and I would age them at around 3 weeks.
If this is the norm for this year in the south and London, it could be that the Parliament birds may well have followed fashion, we will see on Tuesday.

London Wild Bird Watch

Saturday April 21st


I attended the London Wild Bird Watch Live event on the date above being held at Barnes Wetland Centre, Simon King and Kate Humble were hosting and going live to a number of web cams during the show.They really did put on a great show and hopefully it will be repeated next year. One webcam which I have been involved in was the Charring X Peregrines having made and placed the nestbox.The whole event involving the installation, a new camera was fitted, was undertaken before the breeding season, below is a series of photos taken by Nathalie showing some of the work involved.

Planning the strategy

Removing box to send up for new camera

Going up

Starting the clean up

The technical stuff

Simon checking on progress

Back in position and a clean balcony

New camera, substrate and a ready made scrape

Rawbolted down, just as well with the winds we have been having

4 eggs were laid in it; unfortunately 1 was lost to what appears to be a clumsy Tiercel but the remaining 3 all hatched on the 24th despite our atrocious weather at the moment. The broken egg itself was taken out of the box and eaten by the Falcon. Peregrines are pretty bullet proof when it comes to the weather and will deal with most extremities, having said that I think a nestbox gives them and the juveniles especially an easier time of it in our climate. I don’t always place a nestbox, if a structure has a ‘natural’ roof over it, a tray is sufficient.
As I write this I am watching the Tiercel having just relieved the Falcon (see weekend March 17th/18th for the web cam address), he in particular is very clumsy with his feet, little surprise that he smashed an egg. The pair have now become celebrities in London and are being followed not only on CCTV but also Twitter and elsewhere, the images portrayed by the HD software have been stunning.

Nathalie Mahieu has been monitoring them night and day http://fabperegrines.blogspot.co.uk/ most of the cracking video footage on the balcony comes from the time she puts in, it is a big commitment and well done to her.Without her enthusiasm and hard work the pair would likely still be getting washed out on the balcony every year.
With all the recent bad weather the pairs without a roof or nestbox are having a hard time of it along with all other species, many will be lost unfortunately, the Nottingham Peregrine site I understand has sadly lost 2 chicks to exposure.
One of the chicks at Charring X is weaker and smaller than its siblings and is not always getting fed unfortunately; it has been like this for a number of days now and seemingly does not always have the strength to lift its head. He/she appears to be a little fighter and is hanging on in there at the moment and is occasionally getting fed, it is enough to keep it going, the little chap deserves to make it.