After my last unsuccessful attempt to see the peregrines on York Minster, I decided to have another go. Unfortunately, my luck was no better this time around. Yet again, there were lots of pigeons but no birds of prey that I could see.
However, my day wasn't entirely bereft of peregrine falcons. Their frequent nesting in cities means that there are lots of nests which are highly monitored, and quite a few with nest cams which you can watch online. I went into the Hawk and Owl Trust website to see what I could find.
Sadly, both the Norwich and Bath peregrine falcon nests had already fledged by the 19th. However, there was lots of footage from the 2016 season, which you can see here and here. It was lovely to be able to see such intimate footage of birds which are normally only seen high above you. However, if you do decide to look at the Hawk and Owl Trust nest cam footage, I should warn you that the Norwich peregrines didn't get a happy ending to the season.
The Norwich falcons have provided us locals with a soap opera this year - a lone female showed up and chased the mother away from the nest and then attacked some of the chicks (one was killed by her) so they had to be taken into care! All very dramatic - and now the rogue female is courting the original male...
ReplyDeleteHope you're having a great summer! :)
Lucy x