Guest blogger: Laura Reynolds, South Wales Date with Nature superstar
The female peregrine chick in Cardiff was taken by surprise the other day. With her juvenile feathers coming through nicely, she was having a good practice at flapping her wings when she was taken by surprise by a great gust of wind that came from the side of the clock tower and took her clean off the ledge. Lucky for our peregrine chick, she landed on city hall roof and sat tight up there for over a week!
After she'd taken her tumble we went up to search her out and ensure she wasn’t injured. After traipsing around for some time, she was located and found to be quite happy. From her new vantage point she has had the space to run around without the dangers of falling off the ledge which was always a problem where her parents had chosen to build their nest site. There has been plenty of activity for visitors to see with dad dropping food down to the chick and both parents diving at gulls, who are being a little too inquisitive about this new arrival in their breeding space.
Over at Cwmcarn, the three goshawk chicks have left no room for the parents in the nest – they are massive!!! Although we were unable to ring them we are certain from their sizes that we have one female and two male chicks. Feeding time has become great fun to watch, especially when it's squirrel on the menu. The chicks should be fledging any day now so keep checking back and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest.
Good news for both then:)