Parliament - August

It's looking as if we still have 2 juvenile Peregrines on site, as of last week, noisy as ever giving the adults a hard time and chasing them everywhere trying to be fed.

One of the juveniles I know for sure is 'ABB' , he is a male and not surprisingly the other juvenile, a female, is the injured bird, I have nicknamed her 'Peggy'.
Remarkably the leg looks better and is tucked in tighter on flight, even landing/standing up seems more controlled by her, whereas previously she had struggled to stand and feed herself.

Whatever has happened she has hit something so hard, it has smashed the white colour ring off so it must have been a very heavy impact.

Being a bigger stronger female, she is dominating ABB when prey comes in from the adults, even when he gets there first, she just muscles in and takes it from him.

Now we are into September I would suspect that the little fella will go very shortly, I have little doubt that he may have already taken his own prey, but I suspect it's hard to leave if you know you have guaranteed prey everyday from the adults.

During August also I have also been recording what is in, or over Victoria Park and the Parliamentary Estate.

Highlights have been Sparrowhawk, male and female most days, 6 Common Buzzards over, a flock of Greylag Geese past the Eye, and rather bizarrely 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers on the stonework of Parliament.
One flew through over the Roof but the 2nd landed on some stonework, I would suspect it was looking for Spiders.

                                                         Common Buzzards over high

                                                                Great Spot - unusual

                                                                         Greylags

A rather unusual setting for a Woodpecker, both were lucky that all the Peregrines had fed, otherwise I would suspect that they would have been targeted.

Battersea Latest - August

 

My main priority from a recent visit was to check on the Peregrines, the current female had not been showing for a good number of days, over 9 days checking on the CCTV. To my mind, I wondered if she was ok, or indeed she had been replaced as she sleeps daily inside the nest box.

On arrival however at dawn, neither was on show roosting so likely slipped out to hunt in semi-darkness to a hotspot somewhere, given this I had a good look round the Northern Park and the Gardens aloft.

Pied/Grey Wagtails were evident as usual on the grass/riverside and also recorded a couple of gems in the shape of a Little Egret and the UK's smallest bird, a Goldcrest.

The Little Egret, a flyover, is only the 2nd site record and I got on this late, hence no photo, and the Goldcrest was contact calling over in the eastern area.

A couple of Goldfinch's were on the Feeder aloft but failed to see any others, if you recall there is usually a good flock post breeding, of course I could just be missing them, or possibly they may turn up in colder weather.

Eventually the Peregrines did turn up, both at the same time, she, presumably the same female, came in with prey and by the looks of him, he had already fed, he had obviously eaten well.

It took a while before I could see clearly, but I got to see her right leg and the ring was clearly visible, so still the same female, markings matched as well.

As we know, she is a minimum age of 14, despite her years she is holding on well, no doubt receiving challenges from other younger females, it seems she still has the strength to repel all of them.

Recent stuff

 

Lots going on at the moment, Peregrines as ever need looking after and fledging has now more or less finished other than a couple of late ones. It’s been an up and down year, literally with grounders, but thankfully most were returned back where they belong.

In terms of the new ringing project Paul, Shaun and myself started last year, it has gone very well this year with 27 chicks/juveniles’ colour ringed. A really good return and well done to my amigos for the effort put in, looking forward to where they show up in the future.

Showing the trend for late breeding Peregrines this year, basically breeding has been all over the place, 2 juveniles went back to their respective sites last Friday/Saturday after grounding.

                                                         Typical stroppy Falcon

                                                               Very laid back Male

One sustained an injury and as ever, Sue/Tom and the team at South Essex Wildlife Hospital did a fantastic job with her considering 3 weeks ago, she had a broken Clavicle. A good release for her on Friday, the adult Tiercel immediately seeing her, flight was strong and sustained as both flew to a local pylon.

The 2nd release was from one of Stuart’s monitoring sites, another good release by him as I understand it and pretty straightforward.


On another note, Paul and myself are installing 2 more Barn Owl Pole Boxes, sorely needed and targeting a specific pair.

Instead of making the boxes as I usually do, we got 2 RSPB Flat pack Barn Owl boxes, not cheap at £170.00 each but flatpacked, easy and quick to install.

As of today, 1 is up with the 2nd due to be installed by Friday.

Watch this space…….hopefully they will take to them.

 

 

 

 

Peregrines and Kestrels

On a couple of sites over the years, I have been lucky enough to observe close proximity breeding, of both Peregrines and Kestrels to each other.

Like Feral Pigeons, Kestrels will not move from a traditional nest site just because Peregrines are present closely, it can obviously be dangerous/hazardous for the Kestrels as I have recorded them, along with Sparrowhawks at a few sites as prey.

Battersea Power Station was where I first came across both species nesting within 40 metres of each other in an urban scenario ,since then, although not common, I have seen it on at least 4 other Peregrine sites that I monitor.

                                                                    Kestrel Young

                                                                       Mobbing

                                                                        Mobbing

I visited one site recently, which fledged 5 juvenile peregrines, this coincided exactly with the nearby Kestrels – 60 metres between each nest site, the Kestrels fledged 3 juveniles at the same time.

Obviously, the last thing you want to see is the adult Tiercel/Falcon targeting the Kestrel young, a couple of times they received the full attention of the adults, but thankfully no response even fairly close.

Its quite obvious the adult Kestrels are aware, plenty of alarm calls every time a juvenile peregrine flew near, also some mobbing but thankfully no targeting, although at times all 3 Kestrel young appeared to be pushing their luck in front and close to the adult Peregrines.