Battersea Power Statin - March

 March 2026

I visited on Saturday 14th in superb weather and it will go down as a barmy, and quite incredible morning regarding the female Peregrine.

Where to start, at the grand old age of 16 she has got herself a mate! Remarkably it is a male that Paul white colour ringed(ABB numerals) on May 28th 2024 at Parliament from a brood of 4. This was also the over staying juvenile Peregrine who stayed into 2025 at Parliament, the last time I saw him was at the end of April 2025 at Parliament.

He has bonded with her and is already in the nest box a number of times, displaying as well as attempting copulation, however at 16 she refused him.

On top of this there is another male trying his luck and challenging the new male, often going overhead and displaying to the female cutting some shapes, he is spending a lot of his time over on the Thames Water Tower. The 2 males are clashing which is to be expected.

It then got even crazier, as our resident, now paired female was arriving with very large Pigeon prey, she was then attacked by another Peregrine, by size another obvious female.

This female was consequently then driven off by ABB, at the same I checked Thames Water Tower and the 'intruding' male was still in situ resting up. So quite incredibly 4 Peregrines all in view at the same time, how this will all pan out remains to be seen.

When our resident female was attacked by the other female, she dropped the prey, the intruding female could possibly have been after this, the prey landed on top of Jurassic World.
This was eventually retrieved by the resident female and she cached it on one of the lower ledges on the North East Wash tower.

It ties in with all the recent loud stress calling heard by various people, obviously there has been quite a lot going on.



After this I had a look round and can confirm that there were 3 Black Redstarts active together, 2 full adult males scrapping over a female.

A pair of Grey Wagtails were active in the River Wall, no activity in the nest boxes as yet.

With full sunshine, it reflected in the birds recorded, I managed 34 species which if I recall correctly is the most I have had in one day, it usually hovers around 28-30 every month.
Greenfinch and Collared Dove were recorded, both not common here and a welcome addition to the year list.

Getting ever closer, the life list hovers on 99!


However the day will go to the Peregrines, where this new female came from I don't know, I hadn't seen her previous to this. It could be that she was just passing and seeing an opportunity to steal prey, or even challenge the resident female, by April I will know far more. March is the time of year when they look for territories for themselves so all this activity ties in with this.

The resident female is ringed and on camera which is how I know it is the same female, she arrived as an adult in the winter of 2011/12, so it’s possible she could even be older than 16.

Presumably she was colour ringed at some time but likely snapped off, I have some of the numerals of the metal ring but not enough to confirm where she came from.

Even for me who has been watching them for 26 years, it will go down as quite an extraordinary day.

                                                                             ABB

                                                                Male Black Redstart

                                                                              Pair

                                              Female doing her Kestrel bit retrieving prey

                                                                         Jenny Wren

                                                                        Grey Wagtail

                                                                      Intruding male

                                                                              ABB

                                                                      Pair at nest site

 

Battersea February 25th

 

Hi, some very welcome sunshine at last when I visited on Wednesday, makes you feel so much better which reflected on the birds, lots of activity around the Power Station with some already paired and looking for nest sites.

At 16 years of age at least, our female Peregrine is still with us, she took a Feral Pigeon from the Refuse Centre hunting from the north east chimney. She fed on this, had a brief fly around and then settled down to rest, a big meal, unless provoked by Crows she will likely stay there for 5+ hours.

In regard to Crows, one did push its luck too far, going up and mobbing her aloft before she set about it and went after it. A mobbing challenge like this, is possibly down to the fact that she no longer has the male, one of his many responsibilities was to keep Crows away from the territory. Crows are very intelligent birds and will know that the male is not around anymore so will try it on.

The Power Stations other Schedule 1 species were also on show in the sunshine, not only the regular pair in Phase 3/4 but another male singing aloft.
So 3 Black Redstarts on site, fairly early but does show how well all the green roofs are working as well. The male in Phase 3/4 was alarm calling, so no doubt the warmer sunny weather was bringing on early breeding behaviour.

As I have said previously, there are very few places that you can go in London, even the UK, that have both Schedule 1 species together, the Power Station in this is unique, it has been this way since I arrived in 2000.

Both Grey and Pied Wagtails were both also showing breeding behaviour, there are new nest boxes in situ for these, as well as the Black Redstarts, as we know both species breed annually at the Power Station, the nest boxes should give them all a helping hand.

I counted no less than 16 Goldfinches aloft in the Silver Birches, the Feeders as well as the Green Roofs are all playing their part, it is a good sized flock.
Due to having a reliable winter food source, most will stay and breed in the now abundant small trees.

On a couple of the close up Goldfinches, check out the length of the toe nails - impressive!

Unusual bird(s) of the morning will go to Little Egret, outside of London its more common but a bit of a rarity at the Power Station. I got onto 2 together rather late heading down river and then a single heading towards Battersea Park.

A good morning all round, I finished the morning on 28 species, just 2 more species needed to reach 100 for the Life List, hopefully this year!

                                                                  Enough is enough

                                            Will she survive another Spring from challengers?

Battersea Power Station January 18th

The female Peregrine is still with us, she has made a mockery of my predictions in the last couple of years saying that she will soon be replaced.

On other Peregrine sites, due to the singles density in London and outer counties, unpaired/older birds are usually replaced.
It hasn't happened at the Power Station, it is in peregrine terms, a prime London structure so she must still simply be too strong and will not be budged by other intruding females.

In February and March when many unpaired adults, or immatures look for territories, may well test her. Seem to recall saying the same thing last year.


Looking back historically, the pair that were present in the very early years, failed to breed from 2008 until 2012, the female undoubtedly became too old to lay eggs/breed, much the same as what’s happening presently.
The current female took over in the winter of 2011/2012, likely either driving off or even killing the old female, she arrived in adult plumage.
With the male having sadly disappeared last May 2025, it obviously need a new single and hopefully then, a pair.


The Ice Rink has now been dismantled and the ground/grass once again is more accessible to wildlife, Pied and Grey Wagtails were back on it looking for grubs as soon as it was light.

Blue and Great Tits were evident with a couple already showing an interest in nest boxes, as per previous years, I will be cleaning these out in preparation for the 2026 breeding season.

Goldfinches were again evident on the Feeders, these have been an undoubted success given the numbers of Goldies present, a reliable food source gets many of them through the winter, especially older and younger birds.


Phase 4 again proved the hotspot with the resident pair of Black Redstarts very active along with Grey/Pied Wagtails, Robin, Wren, both Great/Blue Tits and Dunnocks.
Nest Boxes are again going up, specifically aimed at Black Redstarts to try and keep them away from Construction.
The fact that this pair of Black Redstarts have wintered shows a really good food source, usually they arrive around early April.

No doubt the Green Roofs are playing their part but also, having seen them at the base of the Feeders, picking off discarded Sunflower hearts from the goldfinches, the feeders are helping also.

29 species recorded which is a good start to the year.