Well, they had us fooled. Due to a limited amount of hunting witnessed and very little food seen going into the nest, all of us observing on top of Symonds Yat rock were under the distinct impression that we had one, maybe two, young Peregrines in the nest. Oh ye of little faith. We were wrong.
Last Tuesday, one of our eagle-eyed volunteers Gavin walked below the cliffs where our Peregrines are nesting and looked up at the eyrie and directly into it from where he was standing. (Eyrie being the correct name for a bird of prey’s nest, built high in a tree or on a cliff.) Soon after, the male came back from hunting with a kill and went directly into the eyrie. Three hungry heads popped up, with possibly a fourth! Gavin is going to have another look next week, so we hope to confirm numbers soon. Nevertheless, very exciting and I can’t help but admit that I was certain the Peregrines would be successful on my watch!
Further confirmation of hungry young birds came yesterday morning, with what could only be described by a seasoned Peregrine follower of many years on the rock, Steve Watson, as one of the most exciting day’s viewing he’s had in twenty years. Both Peregrine adults spent the best part of four hours on Saturday morning, launching stoop after stoop on the pigeon population flying within the vicinity of the rock. It was a joy to behold and an impressive exhibition of their aerial talents. A particular highlight was both adults pursuing one Woodpigeon in a vertical dive, the latter successfully dodging them both and escaping the spectacular attack intact.
I personally didn’t see a kill, but I was reliably told that they were just killing and caching, i.e. going out and killing a pigeon, bringing it back to the cliffs, storing it for later and then going out for another. This method of ‘making hay whilst the sun shines’ ensures that they have a reliable source of food if things get tough later on. Another interesting observation made was that the adults were taking whole birds into the nest without plucking them beforehand. This would indicate that the young birds are big enough now to shred their own supper.
In other news, the River Wye below us has great gaggles of Canada Geese on it. They’ve had a good year, as have the Mallards and Mandarin Ducks, with dozen of duckling on view. There is a pair of Mute Swans nesting on the riverbank below us too. We can make out five eggs, but there may be as many as seven. Our resident Blue Tits on the rock have fledged their young and the hungry youngsters are still in the vicinity. Their noisy calls are emanating from the bushes around us as the adults continue to feed them. Young birds are a very easy target for predators this time of year, but I think it’s safe to say that they will not end up as a Peregrine snack!