Leicester Peregrines

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.

Thank you to everyone who has already already donated. It is very much appreciated. With your support it is hoped that we will be able to have sound on our middle camera later in the year.

The Next Leicester Peregrine Watch Day: Tuesday 8 July 2025 at 09:30 – weather dependent

The Leicester Peregrine Team from the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society (LROS) will be on hand to help you use our telescopes and binoculars to watch the birds, to answer questions, and to talk to you about the Leicester Peregrines Project. The Watch Point is free and no need to book.

Latest Activity 2025:

23 Jun – UPDATE: A message at 4:40 on the morning of 22nd showed X4F had returned to the Cathedral from its flight the previous evening. It was sitting on a wall of a nearby property. Unfortunately a message received early this morning (23rd) suggested that X4F was stuck in a property but no details were given. Another trip to the Cathedral but there was no sign of the bird. A concerted effort was made to contact the finder and eventually the address was obtained. With the help of a number of local residents (thank you one and all), we were able to gain access and quickly retrieved X4F from a deep narrow courtyard recess. The depth of the recess meant it would have been unlikely that she would have managed to escape without assistance. Thankfully she was captured relatively easily and after checking over was returned to the roof of the Cathedral – hopefully not to return to the courtyard.

Latest News 2025:

17 June – X6F knocks X4F on the back and both birds tumble from the platform.

29 May – the three chicks were colour-ringed under licence this morning. All three looked healthy and were a good weight, especially X6F at just under 900 grams. DNA swabs were also taken and this will confirm the sexes of each chick.

9 May 2025 – the third chick of the season hatched at 9:05, over two days from the second.

7 May 2025 – there are now two chicks and they were being fed at 7:05.

6 May 2025 – the first chick hatched at 18:30.

2025	Laying Date	Time		Hatch Date	Time
4th	6 April	12:10
3rd	4 April	02:30		9 May	09:05
2nd	31 March	05:45		7 May	04:05
1st	20 March	14:55		6 May	18:30

UPDATE on juvenile XRF: the long-staying juvenile that had caused so many issues with the start of the breeding season this year was last seen on camera at the Cathedral on 22 March. A photograph was shown to me at the Watch Day on Tuesday 8 April of a juvenile Peregrine seen in Bradgate Park on 5 April. From the coloured ring on its leg, I was able to identify it as our bird XRF.

31 March 2025 – The second egg was laid at 5:40. Ten days, 14 hours and 45 minutes after the first. The disruption by the over-staying juvenile (XRF) obviously had a significant effect.

20 March 2025: despite the issues surrounding the long-staying juvenile (XRF) who has been trying to bond with the female (his mother), and fighting with the resident male (his father), the first egg of the season was laid today. It is going to be interesting to see the development over the coming days and whether the pair will continue to allow the juvenile to interfere.

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DNA testing of the 2024 juveniles reveal that XRF and XNF are both males. Unfortunately, the sample for XSF failed.

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

Historic Laying and hatching Dates

	Laying Date	Time		Hatch Date	Time
2024
1	17 March	17:15		25 April	01:20
2	20 March	07:50		25 April	07:20
3	22 March	17:45		25 April	18:45
4	25 March	07:20		27 April	18:15
2023
1	28 March	02:35		05 May	06:50
2	30 March	11:50		05 May	17:35
3	01 April	21:15		06 May	04:20
4	04 April	16:45
2022
1	24 March	13:20		09 May	04:45
2	27 March	07:45		10 May	07:45
3	29 March	19:50
4	01 April	09:00
2021
1	17 April	10:30		Failed
2020
1	21 March	05:30		Failed
2	23 March	21:30		Failed
3	26 March	09:40		Failed
4	28 March	20:20		Failed
2019
1	20 March	09:00		01 May	16:50
2	23 March	07:35		02 May	03:30
3	26 March	01:45		03 May	07:40
4	28 March	18:00
5	31 March	12:00
2018
1	26 March	17:30		05 May	22:50
2	29 March	15:15		07 May	15:15
3	01 April	16:00
4	04 April	06:50
2017	First Clutch
1	24 March	?		Failed
2	27 March	?		Failed
3	31 March	?		Failed
	Second Clutch
1	28 April	?		Failed
2	30 April	?		Failed
3	02 May	?		Failed
4	06 May	?		Failed

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.