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.
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LATEST NEWS
27 April – Unfortunately, the nesting platform was invaded by an intruding female Peregrine. The dual that lasted for over 2 hours. Despite the male incubating the eggs on the morning of the 28th, it would appear that they were left uncovered for too long to be viable. A fascinating insight into the lives of the birds and it will be interesting to see what happens next. Here is a snippet of the fight:
Keep Up-to-date here: Daily Commentary
23 May – the pair fly in at 00:25; the male goes into the box and she falls asleep on the ledge. The male flies out at 1:50, returning at 4:25. She flies off at 4:50 and he runs to the platform, looks around then returns to the box. A few minutes later he sits on the ledge. He takes a short flight at 5:25 and goes into the box when the female flies in at 5:40. She joins him in the box and there is calling and posturing. She is back on the ledge after 10 minutes whilst the male remains in the box. She flies off at 6:00 and he follows. He is back 20 minutes later and picks at some scraps left on the platform. He takes a short flight at 6:45 and again at 7:00. He is off again at 7:20 for 10 minutes, returning to the ledge until 8:15 when he goes into the box on the arrival of the well-fed female. He moves stones and one of the eggs before flying out at 8:25. The female goes into the box at 8:55 moving stones and preening until going onto the platform at 9:25 and back on the ledge at 10:05 when the male flies in. He leaves at 10:50 with the female sleeping on the ledge. He is back in the box at 12:05 but flies out 15 minutes later. The female flies off at 12:35. The male returns at 12:45 and the female 10 minutes later. He goes into the box and is joined by the female at 14:20. There is calling and 10 minutes of close-quarter posturing until the male flies off. The female sits in the scrape preening. The male is back at 14:55 for 10 minutes whilst the female remains in the box. She moves to the ledge at 15:10 and flies off 25 minutes later. A Stock Dove walks across the platform at 15:40. It is back in the box at 16:00 and sits in one of the smaller scrapes. It makes a dramatic exit at 16:20 when the male flies in and makes an attempt to catch the Stock Dove but fails. He sits on the ledge until 17:55 when he flies off. He is back 20 minutes later and goes into the box at 19:10 when the female flies in. He falls asleep in the box whilst the female sleeps on the ledge. The male flies out at 21:15 and the female takes his place in the box. The male is soon back and picks at scraps on the platform before leaving again. She moves back to the ledge at 21:30 and falls asleep.
To see a log of current events and activities please visit the Daily Commentary Page or for older information please the Archive Page.
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.
