Battersea Power Station

 

They like it!



Age it seems has finally caught up with the long serving Falcon and sadly the 2 eggs laid on March 30th and April 9th, failed to hatch being infertile, however it was not for want of trying.

As you know she is on camera up a purpose built 55-meter tower, incubation continued for a marathon 86+ days on the Falcons part and slightly longer on the Tiercels part. The norm being 29 – 36 days incubation to hatching, above was way over and shows the pairs commitment to incubation and breeding. A good distance in, I made enquiries to see if the eggs could be removed under licence, one of the reasons being to let them get back to a more normal life. Extended incubation would also mean a loss of condition, especially to the Falcon who undertakes the Lion’s share, hence the enquiries, however the consensus was from the powers that be, was that they had to stop naturally.

Thankfully they did stop eventually, and they have now returned to normality, a pity regarding the eggs but we know she is around 12 having arrived as a ringed adult in the winter of 2012.

Also with the incubation finally stopping, we were able to remove the 2 eggs under licence and these were then sent to the Predatory Birds Monitoring Scheme for analysis.


I know I am biased, but they are quite an incredible resilient species who seem to adapt to just about anything, since 2013 the Power Station has been a major construction site, not only did they adapt, but they adjusted, thrived and bred. Indeed, the construction period of breeding from 2013 to date has been there most successful.

Preconstruction – 2000 to 2012 - 13 breeding seasons = 14 juveniles

Construction – 2013 to 2022 – 10 breeding seasons = 22 juveniles

Since construction began in 2013, they have fledged an incredible 22 juveniles amid a full-blown major construction site, at its height boasting 21 Luffer Cranes, every one of these Cranes was used by the Peregrines. Even when they were working and a peregrine was hunting from the top, they often stayed on board for the ride, adjusting position as the Crane traversed/jibbed to make sure they were facing in the right direction. Very amusing and it always put a smile on my face.

                                        The dot on the centre chimney is one of them hunting

The purpose-built Tower was erected in 2013 as mitigation to maintain their presence on site, it has been an incredible success and with all the works progressing, it also shows just how strong and powerful the bond to the ‘core’ nest site is.

Over the 22 years I have been monitoring them at Battersea Power Station, this pair above all and, this Falcon, have provided me with so much information/knowledge regarding urban breeding peregrines. CCTV gives you an incredible insight into their world, one thing that came to light in the early days of the camera, just how much she liked to rest up and sleep, often 5+ hours in the afternoon flat out!



Permanent Nest



As mitigation for the very successful Tower and to make sure they stayed at the Power Station for the future, a new permanent nest site was designed for them a few years back in the northeast wash tower, this was put together by Battersea Power Station Development Company, Wilkinson Eyre, Mace and myself.

This went live this year, and I was hoping that they, more specifically the Falcon, would likely show an interest/activity as 2023 breeding approached. In the bird of prey world, most females are bigger and wear the trousers being dominant over the males, for it to be accepted, it was down to her.

Released from long term incubation, they obviously became more active, it was then I started seeing an increase in activity on the motion tracker at the new nest site.

I had seen a Feral Pigeon on the landing ledge of the new site occasionally, so wondered if it was this, however when I next looked from the park there was pigeon prey on the ledge!

On checking the camera, remarkably it was the Falcon, not only was she inside the box, but she had also made a very early scrape and was spending a good number of hours sleeping/resting inside. The pigeon may well have paid the price in attracting them to the new nest site.

                                                                            Tiercel

                                                                  She does like a kip!

                                                                     Egg scrape made

                                                                             Falcon

                                                                            Falcon

                                                                            Tiercel

To date she has been inside the new nest site, every day of July, totally bonded to this new position, at times even undertaking ledge display with the Tiercel inside and renewing the egg scrape and rim often already.

A massive thanks should go to Battersea Power Station Development Company for their fantastic commitment to the Peregrines and Black Redstarts, above all for listening to my many requests and demands over the years.

Great to see everyone’s hard work paying off, as I said, such an incredible resilient species.

 

 

Fledgers

 

Following on from ‘Kestrel Update’, I visited both sites, Beckton Sewage Works and the Quarry site recently and both have fledged ok.

All of them lost height not surprisingly on fledging, with no natural awareness of danger as yet, some even came down to road level like the Quarry site, 2 fledgers in particular sitting in the middle of a road.

Approached these and they then flew quite well and got themselves aloft.

Watched the Beckton Thames Water birds also, all 5 of them, I had thought there was only 4; all flew well eventually from low positions and relocated higher.

Another good year from both these very productive nest sites, 9 juveniles.

                                                             Quarry Site - 2 in the road

                                              Beckton - came down low but flew ok after a while

                                              Adult female keeping the Crows/Magpies away

                                                         Male keeping an eye on them
 

Juvenile

 

Over my 22 years of getting hooked on peregrines and then subsequent involvement/ monitoring of a number of nest sites, currently around 17 pairs, I have took thousands of photographs.

I was recently watching a juvenile who was pressurising the adult for the prey, or at least to be fed, in London on the side of a building.

It was pot luck, that as I grabbed a few photos of him, he spotted something behind me and went for it.

As he gathered speed, closing his wings at times to increase it, it was a monumental challenge for the Auto Focus on my D7100 with a building in the background.

Most I had to bin, these are the ones that came out.

Kestrel Update

 

I again visited both Kestrel nest sites on June 11th, of the 2 it looks like the Quarry site is slightly ahead of the Beckton Works site, both have 4 juveniles apiece.

Prey on both sites has been mainly mice/voles and the occasional lizard, I hope to visit both sites again on Sunday, fledging is not that far away.

Having watched both sites extensively over the last few years, fledging at the Quarry sites seems to go smoothly, the Beckton Kessies, despite a larger exercise/wing strengthening area do ground more, as per last year. Luckily the staff at Beckton got to them before the Crows/Magpies did and a couple were placed up on the high roof.

                                                              Quarry site - more advanced

                                                                  Beckton - younger

                                                         Cached prey being retrieved

Staff are again looking out for them at Thames Water and hopefully it will go without a hitch, watch this space……

Kestrels

I am lucky enough to be able to monitor 2 nesting Kestrels sites, one is in a nest box and the other is a natural hole in the side of a quarry.

The Beckton Sewage works pair, have been in the box for 4 years to date if my memory serves me correctly, they are resident all year round and roost in/near the box outside of the breeding season also.

They do not face any challenges to the nest site, other than from Feral Pigeons, a couple of times I have seen one of the Kestrels, turf them out after the Ferals showed too much interest.

Crows/Magpies are a problem, especially on fledging if juveniles ground, thankfully there are a lot of Thameswater staff keeping an eye out for them.

                                                                      Beckton female

                                                                      Male with prey

                                                            Female clashing with a Crow

                                          Female fluffing herself up to make herself look bigger

In contrast, the Quarry Kestrels have their hands full when it comes to approaching breeding; this is in the shape of Jackdaws.

The Beckton birds hold to the nest box all year round, in contrast the Quarry birds turn up when the breeding season starts, although I suspect they do roost there.

Jackdaws are feisty and can hold their own against the Kestrels, over the last 3 years I have seen some right scraps between them; a nest hole is worth fighting for.

I would turn up sometimes and find Jackdaws in the nest hole and then at other times Kestrels.

There are other Jackdaw pairs along the cliff face and bickering often occurs, if they get too close, especially from the male Kestrel.

                                                                    Defending the nest hole

                                                                 Jackdaw in nest hole

                                                                          Incubating

However on both sites they have again succeeded and have young with fledging not too far in the future, hopefully it will go smoothly.