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.
Breaking News
21 June 2022 – FIRST FLIGHT for TJC
Less than 24 hours after THC fledged, TJC took its first flight which looked strong and steady.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
Latest Activity 2022:
Breaking News
15 August – You may have noticed a lack of updates in recent days. We had become concerned about the health of the female who was spending more and more time in the box and didn’t appear to be feeding particularly well, despite the opportunities. She was becoming lethargic and very sleepy. Whilst initially this was considered to be due to the extreme temperatures we have been having, her posture was beginning to look strange and unnatural. Unfortunately, she fell from the platform in the early hours of 15 August. Her body has been found and will be collected by DEFRA to determine the cause. We have had notification that there is an outbreak of Avian Influenza in the city, and it is very probable that this will be identified as the cause. This is yet another dramatic twist in the history of the Leicester Peregrines, but it is only through the monitoring of sites like ours that show how precarious the life of a Peregrine is. Our fingers are crossed that both the male and juvenile TJC will remain healthy.
To see a log of current events and activities please visit the Daily Commentary Page or for older information please the Archive Page.
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 – 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.
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.
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:
This is the first confirmed sighting of him. (c) Jim Graham
Keep Up-to-date here: Daily Commentary
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.
