Leicester Peregrines

The Original female (2014) takes to the air at Leicester Cathedral (c) Jim Graham

The Leicester Peregrine Project is run by the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS) with the help of Leicester City Council (LCC), Leicester Cathedral and King Richard III Centre. The objective is to Identify, Monitor and Promote the Conservation of Peregrines within Leicester and its environs.

Latest Activity 2023:

31 July – It is with great sadness that we have to report that juvenile PBF was found dead below the glass bridge of the Highcross Centre on Saturday 29th July. It seems that she flew into the large glass windows.

Juvenile PBF was found dead after colliding with the glass bridge at the Highcross Centre Leicester on 29th July.

30 Nov – the male lands at 14:10, has a quick look around, then leaves. He is back briefly at 15:35.

21 June 2023 – Video: PBF has a better second flight than her first two days previous.
5 May 2023 – Video: the male takes over incubation of the new chick for the first time. Notice how he places the chick on the other eggs for support.

To see a log of current events and activities please visit the Daily Commentary Page or for older information please the Archive Page.

Breaking News

4 May 2023

Incubation Chart for April 2023.
The percentage of time spent on the eggs by the pair and the total percentage for the day.

30 March 2023

30 March 2023 – Photo: the female just moments after the second egg was laid.

28 March 2023

The first egg of the season was laid at 2:35 on 28th March.

28th March 2023 – Video: the female incubates the first egg, then leaves.

Historic Laying and hatching Dates

Laying DateTimeHatch DateTime
2023
128 March02:3505 May06:50
230 March11:5005 May17:35
301 April21:1506 May04:20
404 April16:45
2022
124 March13:2009 May04:45
227 March07:4510 May07:45
329 March19:50
401 April09:00
2021
117 April10:30Failed
2020
121 March05:30Failed
223 March21:30Failed
326 March09:40Failed
428 March20:20Failed
2019
120 March09:0001 May16:50
223 March07:3502 May03:30
326 March01:4503 May07:40
428 March18:00
531 March12:00
2018
126 March17:3005 May22:50
229 March15:1507 May15:15
301 April16:00
404 April06:50
2017First Clutch
124 March?Failed
227 March?Failed
331 March?Failed
Second Clutch
128 April?Failed
230 April?Failed
302 May?Failed
406 May?Failed

Peregrine Watch Day

The first Peregrine Watch Day since 2020, will take place on Thursday 23rd March from 9:30 in St Martins Square.

December 2022

The report from the two addled eggs from 2020 is now available and indicate that despite considerable size differences, both would have been males.

2020 Addled Egg Report

The embryos from the two addled eggs from 2020.

21 June 2022 – FIRST FLIGHT for TJC

Less than 24 hours after THC fledged, TJC took its first flight which looked strong and steady.

21 June 2022 – Video: TJC follows its sibling with its first flight less than 24 hours later.

20 June 2022 – FIRST FLIGHT for THC

THC was the first of the two juveniles to take flight, leaving the platform at approx. 11:45 this morning watched by TJC. It was later located on the roof of a nearby building walking along the ridge wing flapping.

20 June 2022 – Video: THC is the first juvenile to fledge.

11 May 2022 – Breaking News: despite all the issues with multiple intruders and the unfortunate loss of the resident male, the first egg hatched on 9 May; a second egg hatched two days later – Miracles do happen! See the Daily Commentary page for updates.

4 April 2022 – Unfortunately, the resident male was picked up injured in the early hours. He was take to a specialist vet but sadly his injuries were too severe and he had to be put to sleep. The female is still incubating and there is already a new male on the scene.

1 April 2022 – the fourth egg is laid at 9:00.

29 March 2022 – the third egg is laid at 19:50.

27 March 2022 – the second egg is laid at 07:45 (BST).

24 March 2022 – The first egg of the season was laid at 13:20.

27 March 2022 – Video: the second egg arrives.
24 March 2022 – the egg is seen for the first time – briefly.

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Update 18 March 2022: New Camera

We are delighted to announce that we have installed a brand new PTZ camera for internal viewing of the nest site. All we need now is for the pair to produce an egg or two for us.

Click HERE to go directly to the page.

The Leicester Peregrine Project is managed through the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society – Reg. Charity 254645. If you would like to help in the funding of this project, you can make secure donations online via the LROS JustGiving page; simply click the button below. Please mark your donation “Peregrine Project“. Thank you.

What Happened in 2021:

23 June 2021 – the cameras are back up and running and look to be fairly stable. The pair is still in residence and visiting the box every day. There are bonding sessions and the female continues to make scrapes in the stones although it is much too late for any eggs to be laid this season.

18 April 2021 – Photo: the female notices the crack in the egg and removes it from the scrape.

18 April 2021 – So the drama continues. When the male rose from incubating the egg mid-afternoon of 18 April, a crack could clearly be seen. Despite this, the female took over incubation until she noticed the damage. The egg looked hollow; she flies off with it.

17 April 2021 – after a traumatic 12 months for the resident male, the female lays the first egg for the new pairing. Let’s hope this is the start of a successful season for them.

17 April 2021 – Video: the male is shown the first egg laid by the new female.

24 March 2021 – a ‘new’ un-ringed female has been present in the territory for a couple of days and the resident pair have been repelling her. The competing females were seen talon grappling and were filmed fighting in a courtyard close to the Cathedral. The resident female was bloodied but with the help of the male, seems to still have control of the platform.

10 March 2021 – from current activity, it is obvious that the UN-RINGED female is now in charge of the nest site.

25 January 2021 – Video: the new pair have their first snow of the season.

NEWS FROM 2020

15 December 2020: There is yet another new female in residence. A 2018 bird from central Birmingham first seen on 21 September after the previous female was not seen from 6 September. The new pair are bonding frequently. For fuller details see: Breaking News.

9 July 2020: After many hundreds of hours reviewing recordings, we have now been able to identify where both our birds have come from:

The Male was ringed as a chick in Nottingham on 17 May 2008 making him 12 years old.
This is the first confirmed sighting of him. (c) Jim Graham
The New Female that went missing on 6 September 2020, was ringed as a chick in Warwickshire on 30 June 2016 making her just four years old. Her body was found in November 2020. (c) Jim Graham
27 April 2020 – Video: our resident female (left) defends the nest site against an intruding younger female. Here is a short section from the start of the fight.

Leicester Peregrines – The Story So Far

In February 2014, a collaboration between the Leicestershire & Rutland ornithological Society (LROS) and LCC was formed called Leicester Peregrines to monitor the habits and activities of a known pair of Peregrine Falcons in Leicester city centre. A group of volunteers from LROS started surveying the city and noticed the birds frequenting a number of tall buildings. These included Leicester Cathedral, the Old Lewis’s Tower, the Cardinal Building (BT Tower) and St Georges (Blue) Tower. It quickly became apparent that the Leicester Peregrines were intent on breeding.

Unfortunately, the location of the nest was less than secure and the decision was made to erect a number of artificial nest boxes on various buildings to try and encourage the birds to move to a safer location.

With the agreement of Leicester Cathedral and after the input of an independent Urban Peregrine expert, a 5-star nest platform was erected on the east facing side of the Cathedral spire in March 2016. Unfortunately, this was slightly too late for that breeding season but when the juveniles fledged later that year, the adults immediately brought them to the Cathedral. 

Although the pair did not breed here in 2016, both the adults and the two juveniles could often be seen either on the platform or on one of the spire crosses. This gave us hope that they would return in 2017. And so it proved: they never left the Cathedral and could be seen almost every day either on the platform or on one of the Spire crosses.

14 January 2017 – Photo: the male (left) and female on the platform.

In March 2017, the female laid 3 or possibly 4 eggs (the cameras were playing up) only for them all to fail. A few weeks later a second clutch of four was laid but unfortunately these too failed. Video footage showed the female eat the eggs when she realised they were not viable. The reason for the failure was unknown but not uncommon in Peregrine falcons.

Despite this setback, the pair remained around the Cathedral defending the nest site for the remainder of the season and through into 2018.

In 2018, we were hopeful that they would attempt to breed again and all signs were positive. The first egg was laid on 23 March and the clutch of four was completed on 5 April.

5 April 2018 – Photo: The clutch of four eggs was complete.

On 6 May, just over 40 days later, the first egg hatched at 01:30 in the morning. A few days later a second egg hatched but unfortunately, the two others were not viable.

6 May 2018 – Video: the first chick hatches from the egg.

Both chicks were well looked after by their parents and grew steadily. On 24 May, they were large enough to be ringed under licence from the BTO becoming known as P7D and PCF. It was thought that the larger chick P7D was female it’s sibling a male.

24 May 2018 – Photo: the two chicks ringed under licence at the Cathedral.

Just three weeks later and P7D had taken flight and fledged the nest. PCF followed the following day. Their first flights were not without concern but thankfully both survived and were frequently seen around St Martins Square and on the Cathedral whilst their parents taught them how to hunt for their own food.

15 June 2018 – Video: juvenile P7D takes it’s first flight – not particularly elegant.

Juvenile P7D (always the more adventurous of the two) was the first to leave the area but PCF remained until at least 11 December and could often be heard calling/begging for food. We wish them both well and hope that they may be identified by their rings somewhere in the UK and they manage to set up a breeding territory of their own in a couple of years time.

20 June 2018 – Photo: Juveniles P7D (left) and PCF on the roof of St. Martins House.