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
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Monday, 25 April 2011
April 10th
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?
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?
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Breeding
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.
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.
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Parliament March 17th and only in London
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.
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.
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.
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| Victoria Palace |
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.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
March 5th and 6th and territorial squabbles
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 |
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.
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| Tiercel |
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| Intruding pair |
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| Intruding immature female being driven off |
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Site visits - February 23rd
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.
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....
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.
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.
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.
Will now be checking these 2 sites, amongst others with the breeding season now nearly on us, fingers crossed for a good year.
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| New nestbox about to be placed |
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.
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| Nestbox in position |
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| Before - substrate with plywood showing |
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| After - fully covered |
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Sunday February 13th
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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| 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.
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| The chase begins |
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.
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| Trying to take the prey, photo's below show the quarrel |
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| Making a grab |
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| Trying again |
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| Nailed and hanging on |
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| Still hanging on, she will not release |
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| Hanging.... |
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| 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.
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| Tiercel returning |
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| Back on Victoria Palace |
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