Kestrels and another Pair/Nest Box

 

Both pairs of Kestrels, the Beckton Sewage Works pair and the Quarry pair are doing very well, on both, pretty sure they have chicks, the Beckton pair definitely.

I watched the Beckton pairs nest site recently come to the attention of 3 yearling unpaired Crows, Crows being the bully boys that they are, gave the Kestrels a hard time but good to see the female Kessie in particular responding with her own aggression. She actually caught and held onto the back of one Crow in flight, very peregrinish and great to see the feisty female responding like this. With chicks in the nest to defend, the mindset changes and they eventually saw the Crows off thankfully.

The Quarry pair I think are at a later stage, I plane to visit it this coming Bank Holiday Monday to confirm, by now they should have chicks.

Quite amusingly at the Quarry recently, I watched a nest relief with the male Kestrel incubating with the female Kestrel waiting for him to move, he did not. I have seen Tiercel Peregrines do this on camera, they love to incubate, and I have seen Falcons standing nearby patiently waiting for long periods before he lifts.

This was the case with the male Kestrel, however eventually she just waded in, after waiting patiently for a good few minutes, before physically muscling him off the eggs, great stuff.

                                            Quarry - male being muscled off the chicks

                                                               New Box going in

                                                      Beckton - female clashing with Crows

                                                              Brooding young

On another site, a pair of Kestrels had come to notice and using one of Shaun’s boxes, it was fitted and placed on May 10th. Possibly a bit late now, unless they are really desperate for a site this year, but hopefully 2024 will lure them into it and they will claim it.