Red Kite Poisoning - more persecution

This unfortunately involved an Irish Red Kite which was found dead recently in Vartry Reservoir, Roundwood, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, it has been confirmed as being poisoned with alphachloralose.
The bird, only 14 months old was wing tagged and known as Blue Red 42 was part of a reintroduction project to restore Red Kites to Ireland being formerly extinct in the Country.
For more news on the story – see

http://www.thejournal.ie/red-kite-poison-1091169-Sep2013/

It is quite obvious the laws regarding Birds of Prey in this country are not and nowhere near strong enough, trying to bring the culprits to justice is very hard and proving it is another matter, you only have to look at some events in other parts of the British Isles. This Red Kite was found, imagine how many are not, or are ‘disposed ‘off, look at the plight of the Hen Harrier, 1 pair in England an absolute disgrace.

For an up to date view of the amount and levels of persecution Birds of Prey are facing click on Raptor Politics and Raptor Persecution Scotland on the right, both are doing a remarkable and sterling job highlighting the oppression against Birds of Prey. In this modern age it is unbelievable that this is still happening, you have to ask why the Government has not put in stronger measures to stop it.
With recent events including the licensing of an Estate to cull Common Buzzards so that more Pheasants can be shot,( a non native species) it doesn’t give you a lot of faith in the powers that be.                                         

Hopefully they will catch the person(s) responsible for this latest event in Ireland, looking at the photos below is a very sad sight.

Thanks to Jim Wells and Marc Ruddock of the Red Kite Project for allowing me to use these photos.

Another juvenile still present

September 17th



I think there all getting in on the act of proving me wrong, this one in particular I am very happy to see, she is the female (no 3) I released after grounding and a subsequent visit to the Wildlife Hospital( see A very busy week in June)
Although I did see her on the weekend of July 21st since then I have visited the site on at least 6 occasions and only seen her brother once early on, after this I presumed both had gone. Of course she may well have gone and be occasionally returning to beg for prey, but on observing behaviour the adult Tiercel fed her quite willingly. I have seen adults mantle the prey to keep the juveniles off, the message is clear to the juvenile, time to go.

Whatever it is, it is very satisfying seeing her and knowing that despite her ordeal, and the stress that she went through from grounding, I found out later that she had been grounded for a day and a half, she has come through it. A lucky Falcon considering the abundance of urban Foxes.

Record shot of the juvenile female feeding

Before I know it the time will again come round to clean the nest boxes up, peregrines as some may know are not house proud, boxes are great but they don’t get cleaned out ‘naturally’ by the weather. I usually do them all in January leaving it as late as I can so that they do not mess them up too much again, adults with prey mostly. After removing the old substrate I scrub them all inside with a wire brush, at least 3 this year will need weather coating paint on the outside as some are over 4 years old.

In regard to nest boxes I visited a site a month or so ago, and looked in an area which I know they have a fondness for, low and behold I found an old infertile egg, as peregrines eggs go it is rather pale than the usual rusty colouring.

Rather pale for a peregrine egg

I will now send it away for analysis, amongst many checks they will look at the thickness of the shell.

My main aim on Tuesday morning was to see if I could refind the 2 hybrids, I have had recent reports from the block they were last seen near of roof activity by calling raptors. Presuming it may well be them or indeed if they are still not present, peregrines, I staked the block out at dawn.
Watching from 6.15am to 7.30am revealed nothing which is when I went to the other site. Hopefully I will pick them up again soon; both are quite breathtaking to watch in flight.

Juvenile

After recently saying that all of the juveniles have gone from the sites that I cover, to prove me wrong, and not for the first time, a female juvenile made an appearance on Sunday morning.
This is the site where the foster female was released so good to see that one at least was still around, she was ringed so definitely not the foster, John will know of this site as she has an orange ring.

It was quite an eventful morning watching the site from dawn, the adult Tiercel was first out, as per usual first up was clearing the local Crows, this done he settled down to hunt.

I was in luck to see him head out on the first hunt, no doubt on something as he climbed for all his worth, I tracked him with binoculars. Presently another raptor came into view, smaller and more agile than him who evaded his 2 passes quite easily; I was then able to confirm that it was a Hobby. Whether or not he was just being territorial or actually going for it is hard to say, I suspect just moving it on as he would a Crow as he is still pretty territorial. I have recorded 2 male Sparrowhawks personally before from another site and also recorded a male Kestrel so it is not stretching the imagination too much if a Hobby was taken as prey.

1st summer Hobby - not from here but Rainham RSPB

After this he disappeared and just as quickly the juvenile showed up calling, the Falcon was in view, the juvenile female then landed nearby calling for all her worth. It appears that she has inherited her father’s dislike of Crows, no sooner had she landed than she took flight again.

Half a dozen Crows came into view, these were intercepted and scattered to the four winds eventually chasing one and giving it a torrid time before returning. She then claimed the remnants of a kill and proceeded to feed, in all this time the adult female had not moved or attempted to take the prey back. No doubt the juvenile has not left entirely and the adults are still feeding her, it will be interesting to see how long she stays, or how long the adults will continue to feed her.

Juvenile - rather persistently seeing off the Crows

She has some primary damage very likely from a hunt but from observations it is not affecting her flight, I will visit the site again mid-week.

Juvenile

Primary damage but flying ok

Review

With the current climate involving Birds of Prey a season review should be straight forward, as much as I want to list success/failure of the sites that I monitor, I do question it due to a small minority perhaps using the numbers against peregrines.
I know if people want to find out how many there are in London they will do, in an ideal world I could put the numbers and sites down here without thought or hesitation. Obviously due to the Capitals size and numbers of high rise buildings and structures, it was always going to be a magnet for peregrines, much the same as New York.
I have to say It has been a good year, as I have said in the past, if they all get their act together at the same time I would have my hands full, from recent posts this year you will know, not only were they full but many got their act together.
Of the sites that I can name, Parliament as you know failed; from earlier posts you will know that for some inexplicable reason they changed position on the nest site building. Poor nest site location, exposure and egg rolling was there downfall. The nest building is also due for demolition so it looks as if an alternative site will have to be found. So far they have ignored the nest box on Parliament, there are 2 other buildings that I know they use which are possibles for a new box.
It looks like the building which will replace the current nest site building is not going to be peregrine friendly so unless they accept the Parliament box it’s got to be a new nest box /tray on another building.

The Parliament nest box

A peregrines view

Nathalie’s site at Charring Cross Hospital fledged 3 juveniles but one was lost quite early on but pleased to say the other 2 made it.The real good news is that one of the juveniles has been relocated after leaving the site; it has now turned up in Brighton! A real success story.
Juvenile numbers this year were my highest, 2 broods of 4 were also noteworthy, I am still waiting for that elusive 5 brood in London although I have had one in Kent. This year 3 sites were ringed with the plan next year to ring 4 or more obviously depending on the success rate.

This year has also seen a pair of Peregrines at the centre of a dispute on a Tower block, it looks like there presence and the Schedule 1 laws has resulted in a legal battle between 2 parties, the tenants and the block owner. This is on-going so I can’t comment too much on it.
I was fortunate enough last week to also grab a long weekend away in Brixham, Devon, when time allowed I walked the cliffs in search of peregrines and another target bird, Raven. Raven was seen distantly but would not give themselves up for the camera but I did catch up with an adult female and juvenile male peregrine.
She seemed darker than the urbanite peregrines that I am used to watching but it is possible that this was down to the early morning light. Whatever it was, it was a pleasure watching her thermaling with a number of Herring Gulls with the juvenile down lower, no stress or aggression from either species so no doubt a regular occurrence. Photos below of both.

Unmistakable outline, an approaching female

Juvenile male

Parliament

August 17th

Back at last!
From past posts you will know that the pair have stayed faithful to their nest site despite failing relatively early, I for one was surprised that they didn’t return earlier to Parliament. My thinking at the time was that there has been a change of Falcon due to her ignoring the nest tray, and subsequently failing due to poor site selection.

5 Egyptian Geese going by, very likely heading for St. James Park

 Why change position after 3 successful breeding seasons in the nest tray and the same spot?
Very odd, disturbance is not an issue as far as I know so you can understand the thinking of – a new bird, new idea’s.

Well after getting a good look at her on Saturday, it looks as if we have the same female; she is still carrying the same ring on her right leg so out goes that theory. Unless there’s another female around with a single ring on her right leg it looks as if we have the same bird.
As soon as I arrived on Saturday I walked straight round past Big Ben to get a better look, no birds visible, the time was 6.00am,looking east showed the promise of a good morning.

A good morning

Victoria Tower

Retracing my steps back round to Victoria Tower and I could immediately hear a peregrine calling, the agitated stress call of a Tiercel waiting on prey and so it proved, the Falcon was feeding.
I have been back to Parliament a number of times over the last few months so it was good to see them back at last, as I have said before photography is not ideal at their nest site so more than happy to be able to try and get a few shots of them at Parliament.

The Falcon on prey

Tiercel waiting

Heavily cropped shot of Falcon - ring on right leg just about visible

Falcon - fed and resting up

I watched them for a good few hours throughout the early morning, initially the Falcon fed, then the prey was relinquished to the Tiercel, both then laid up to rest. Realising that was it for the morning I went in search of the Hybrids…..

Hybrids Update - still looking

The other morning I spent 3 hours searching for the 2 hybrids after John Archer quite recently saw them, they were together again on July 19th over East India Dock Basin as per his entry in the London Wiki. It is without doubt them and the fact that they are still together is very interesting, they have bonded and are no doubt a pairing. Finding them is another matter, I know where to look north of the river, but unless the dynamic duo are holding to a territory, and this may be the case, it is very hard to locate them.

Saying that, and as I have said before, she is very hard to miss due to her size and colour. So where are they and if not territorial how far are they ranging, also the fact that they disappeared bang on breeding time, did they try and breed?
More questions lead to more questions, If there ranging far and wide why are they not being picked up by birders, my thoughts are that they are holding to a south of the river site.
If anyone see's these bird(s) I would appreciate a comment or you can contact me directly on
wwwlondonperegrines.com



Green Colour Ringed birds

One of the sites that I monitor this year fledged 4 juveniles, a good brood, this is the site where the same juvenile grounded twice,’ AL’ see Friday 14th June – Catching up…again.
Of this brood 3 remain, 2 have been identified as ‘AD' and possibly  'AJ' with the 3rd as yet still not identified, is it AL? If it is not maybe he rode his luck too much, unfortunately there will always be casualties as I have said before but by and large it has been a good season for the pairs that I monitor.

Below are some photos taken by Paul Hawkins and Les Harrison of 2 of the juveniles, fingers crossed they get through their first winter.



                               Paul's photos

Paul's juvenile 'AD '

                                Les's Photos

Les's juvenile likely 'AJ '

A good Bird of Prey story

Seeing as we always seem to be hearing of persecution stories involving Birds of Prey, I thought I would relate this story which took place in West Thurrock and concerned a company called Industrial Chemicals Limited.
It shows the lengths people will go to and how high nature is regarded, I found the Companies and employees approach to this absolutely brilliant, they could have just as easy turned round and said it’s on its own and we’re too busy, people care.

On Tuesday I got called out to the Company saying that a Peregrine had become trapped in a Factory, on arrival I found that it was a Sparrowhawk, although not Schedule 1 it is still no lesser of a wild bird. Pale fringing to the coverts, dark brown back, clean feathering and size pointed towards it being a juvenile female.

Trapped

Maitland Wood, the supervisor who had contacted me said that it had been there since yesterday, they had been keeping an eye on it and had left the doors open all evening and night in the hope that it would exit unaided. I suspect that it had entered whilst chasing a pigeon, unfortunately it did not have the savvy to come down lower for freedom, all she could see was the higher level and the glass panes to freedom.

On Monday from what I can understand she was doing circuits from one end of the Factory to the other, when I arrived on Tuesday she was sticking to one end seeking an escape but was still very lively, in short I had no chance of catching her.
We discussed options, there were very few as there were no windows at the higher levels, Maitland then made the decision, get a Cherry Picker and Forklift, we are going to take one of the large windows out, fair play to him.
2 men then got a Cherry Picker and made their way round outside and up to the window, the Sparrowhawk seeing them from the inside moved to the middle of the Factory and waited, it took around 40 minutes to remove all the plastic beading and putty. The problem then was that it had to be pushed out from the inside, a Telescopic Forklift was bought inside the Factory and the window was eased out to the chaps outside. This I might add was done by Maitland sitting on a Pallet on the Forks, not easy by any means and a lot harder when you’re not comfortable with heights.

The juvenile, moved to the middle waiting

Forklift in to ease pane of glass out

Maitland on the end

Glass out

Operation complete, in the meantime the female had flown to the opposite corner and placed herself tight in a corner out of eyesight. Another 2 men then went up and flushed her out and hopefully towards the open window.
As if pre-ordained she flew across and landed on a Girder right next to the open window, a few seconds of hesitation and then she was gone.
A few more workers had gathered behind and a bit of a cheer went up when she exited the window, it had worked perfectly and I know everyone found the whole episode very satisfying, I know I did and I didn’t do anything, they did it all.

Maitland on the left with the co rescuers

The 6 workers and the company, Industrial Chemicals Limited deserve a big pat on the back, there’s always a place for nature, even in a Factory on an industrial estate.