Up London as per usual at the crack of dawn on what looked like a very promising day, sunny skies had been forecast by the Met, it turned out that they were spot on as well.
I was visiting one of the regular sites which houses not only a pair of Peregrines but also a pair of Black Redstarts, rather surprisingly the Black Redstarts are not only present but are still paired and foraging together. I know that Stonechats for one retain the bond and pairing that sometimes runs right into winter but was not aware that Black Redstarts also did the same. At this particular site they have usually moved on by now with colder weather pushing them further afield to forage, being this late I do not expect them to be continental migrants.
I was very lucky this morning with half decent light to get a few shots of firstly, theTiercel hunting, followed by the Falcon as well, at one point they pair hunted, spectacular stuff.
Twice they were interrupted by the presence of another Peregrine, both times a Tiercel and very likely the same bird, as expected he was seen off by the resident bird. On this site this is a regular occurrence, I would go as far to say daily, having once watched this particular site every day over an 8 day period. During this period the resident pair received visits by other peregrines 7 out of the 8 days.
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| Flat out |
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| The trick was trying to stay with them with the camera |
One thing that I have noted during hunting forays, on this site, is that in brighter weather the success rate for taking prey seems to be lower, the obvious reason I suppose will be that the prey, be it Feral Pigeon, Starling or Ring Necked Parakeet evade them far easier as they see them earlier.
The breeding season is again approaching very fast, in the coming months I have more nest boxes to make, 3 full sizes boxes and a tray, fingers crossed that they will be accepted, nothing gives me greater pleasure.
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