JUNE 2025
1 Jun – the female lands at 2:05 and sits on the platform. The male arrives at 3:50 with fresh Ringed Plover prey and she feeds the chicks, then flies out at 4:00. The male leaves at 5:05 and returns at 6:15 with fresh Starling prey. The female swoops in to take it from him and feed the chicks; he flies off. She leaves ten minutes later and the chicks walk around the box then lay in the sunshine. There is wing flapping at 7:20 for ten minutes then they settle down again. The female checks the box at 8:30, then quickly moves to the ledge before flying off at 8:45. She is back with some scraps at 9:35 and flies out a few minutes later. The male soon lands and followed immediately by the female. They both quickly leave. The female is back at 10:20, searches for scraps of food then quickly leaves. She returns at 11:15 carrying fresh Feral Pigeon prey. She leaves with the scraps at 11:55, the chicks having been well fed. She is back with the chicks at 12:35 and moves to the ledge at 13:15 and flies off. The male returns carrying the pigeon remains at 14:50 and feeds the chicks. There is nothing left at 15:25 and he moves to the ledge and is joined by the female at 15:40. He leaves, and she goes into the box looking for scraps for the chicks. She flies off at 16:00. The male lands at 17:15 carrying fresh Little Grebe prey. The female arrives to take it from him but flies off with it. She is back with the meal at 17:45 and feeds the chicks for ten minutes before flying out. The chicks huddle together and are joined by the female at 20:35. She flies out at 23:10.
2 Jun – the male lands at 4:00 and remains for 35 minutes as the chicks remain huddled in the corner. They wake at 5:10 and go walkabout, then huddle together again at 5:40 but are disturbed by the female arriving ten minutes later with fresh Feral Pigeon prey. They feed until 6:25, then fall asleep. They are up and about again 20 minutes later and the female feeds them scraps. They huddle together at 7:00. The male arrives 20 minutes later with an unidentified item of prey which the female takes from him. Only X4F takes the meal, and the female flies out with the remains at 7:45. The female is back at 9:35 and remains with the chicks until 10:20. She returns to check on the chicks at 12:35, then leaves. She is back a few minutes later with Feral Pigeon prey. She leaves when they have finished after ten minutes. She is back at 14:25 with part-eaten Little Grebe prey and flies out ten minutes later. The female lands briefly at 15:50 and the male flies in with scraps at 16:55 but she arrives to take it from him and he leaves. It is soon eaten and she flies out. She is back at 18:25 with another Feral Pigeon meal and leaves at 19:05 after feeding the chicks. She is back with the chicks in the box at 20:00, falls asleep and remains with them until flying out at 23:05.
3 Jun – the female flies in at 1:10 and falls asleep on the platform. She is joined by the male at 2:50. The chicks remain huddled in the back of the box. The male flies off at 4:10 and returns to visit the chicks at 5:35 looking for scraps. They beg to be fed, and he leaves. They have a run around the box as the female remains on the ledge, then they settle down again at 5:55. The female takes a very short flight at 6:05 and again at 6:20. She then walks around the box and flies out five minutes later. She is back at 7:00 and the chicks get excited but there is no food, so they go into a huddle, and she flies off. The male returns at 7:20 for ten minutes. The female lands briefly at 8:20 and returns at 8:30 carrying very fresh Feral Pigeon prey and feeds the chicks. The male arrives a few minutes later carrying fresh Starling prey. He plucks it and leaves it in the box near the chicks. X4F turns round and starts feeding on it. It loses interest when the female feeds it directly. She flies out with the pigeon remains at 9:00 but is back ten minutes later and feeds the Starling to X6F. The male arrives with pigeon remains at 9:20 and feeds the two siblings. The female flies out and the male follows after five minutes. She is back at 9:30 and feeds them scraps. She remains in the box with the chicks and looks for more scraps at 11:20 as they huddle in the corner. She flies out at 13:05 and returns at 13:50 with another Starling meal. She flies off at 14:00. The chicks remain huddled in the box until 16:35 when they start wing flapping and walking around for 15 minutes. The male lands at 17:45 with scraps of pigeon which the incoming female takes from him to feed the chicks. He quickly flies off and she follows at 17:55. The chicks do wing stretching exercises and the growth of their feathers can be seen clearly as can the developing facial mask. They huddle together at 18:15 and remain in the box until midnight. The male lands at 21:45 and checks on the chicks, then sits on the ledge and falls asleep until flying off at 23:25.
4 Jun – the chicks remain huddled in the corner until the male lands briefly at 5:35. They walk around the box wing flapping and exercising until the female lands at 5:50 with very fresh Feral Pigeon prey. The male lands a few minutes later with fresh Starling prey. He sees the chicks are being fed so leaves with his meal but returns with it at 6:05 and feeds X4F. He leaves after ten minutes, and the female continues to feed all the chicks. She flies out with the remains at 6:35 and is back at 6:50 and feeds scraps to the chicks. She flies out at 8:05 as the chicks lay around the box. They huddle together in the corner at 9:00 until 11:00 when they go walkabout. The female checks the box at 11:30 and returns a few minutes later with fresh Feral Pigeon prey. She flies off with the remains at 12:00 and is back with the chicks 15 minutes later, then leaves at 12:25. The male flies in at 13:40 with the Feral Pigeon remains. He leaves at 14:10 and is replaced by the female. They have finished feeding at 14:25 and lay in the box sleeping until 17:30 when they walk about wing stretched. Both adults arrive at 18:00 but the male quickly leaves. The female checks the box and leaves after a few minutes of harassment from the chicks. At 18:15, the chicks find some scraps in the box and feed themselves. They are back laying in the corner together at 18:55. The female flies in at 19:15 with fresh Feral Pigeon prey and feeds the chicks. There is nothing left an hour later and they huddle together in the corner. She moves to the ledge and remains until midnight.
10 Jun – the female remains on the ledge from the previous evening. The juveniles wake at 4:20 and walk to her looking to be fed. X6F bites her foot, and she flies off and the siblings do wing flapping exercises, then return to the box. The female is back an hour later with Feral Pigeon prey and feeds the juveniles. There is nothing left at 5:45 and the female flies out. The juveniles space themselves around the box and platform. The male arrives at 8:15 carrying fresh Magpie prey. It is taken from him by X6F and the female quickly arrives to try and take control and feed the chicks; the male flies off. X6F has other ideas and mantles the prey from the female but she eventually grabs the meal and feeds all the youngsters. She leaves at 8:40 and they do their exercises, then settle down until 10:55. They lay on the platform at 11:25 and return to the box at 12:00. The female returns at 14:15 with fresh Feral Pigeon prey and feeds the juveniles. She moves to the ledge at 15:10 and flies out ten minutes later. The juveniles do wing stretching and flapping, and X6F spends time on the platform looking out over the city. At 17:35, X6F lays on the platform with its head on the ledge – too close to the edge for my comfort! The female is back at 18:05 and looks for scraps to feed the juveniles. The male lands briefly at 18:25 and the female leaves ten minutes later and the youngsters do their wing flapping exercises. They are back in the box at 19:00 and remain huddled together. Neither adult visit before midnight.
10 Jun – Watch Day – both adults are seen sitting on the spire at various times during the morning giving good views to our visitors.
11 Jun – the juveniles waken at 5:25 and do their exercises. X4F is first to sit on the platform and is quickly followed by its siblings. The male flies in with fresh Feral Pigeon prey at 6:30 and the female arrives to take it from him and feed the young. She leaves at 7:05 as there is nothing left to feed on. They settle in the corner of the box before gradually moving onto the platform with X4F being the first, followed by X6F and finally X7F at 8:15. They are all back in the box at 10:05 and return to the platform at 11:50. The female is back at 12:05 with a small scrap of a meal. X7F snatches it from her and takes it into the box and mantles the meal. Each sibling snatches it from the other and feeds. They lay around the box and platform until the female is back at 14:05 with fresh Feral Pigeon prey and feeds them. She flies off with the remains at 14:40. The male returns with another Feral Pigeon meal at 15:35 but the juveniles do not want to feed so he flies off with it. The siblings do some exercises then lay on the platform at 15:55. They move into the box at 16:25 and return to the platform at 16:45 returning to the box at 17:50. The female is back at 18:10 with more fresh Feral Pigeon prey. There is nothing left at 18:50 and she flies out. They do exercises then settle on the platform and in the box. X6F joins its sibling in the corner of the box at 20:05 and they remain there until midnight.
12 Jun – the youngsters remain huddled together from the previous evening. The female lands on the ledge at 3:50 and X6F walks to her looking for food but quickly returns to the huddle. She flies off at 4:35 and the male lands briefly at 5:00 which awakens the juveniles and causes them to start their exercises. The female arrives with fresh Feral Pigeon prey at 5:35 they feed, and she flies out with the remains 15 minutes later as they commence wing flapping. They return to the corner of the box at 6:05 but are restless by 8:00 and go walkabout, exercise and find scraps to feed on, then lay around the box and platform. They are fighting over scraps in the box at 12:00, then lay down on the platform. The female flies in at 13:05 with another Feral Pigeon meal. There is nothing left at 13:30 and she leaves. The juveniles do exercises then settle down at 13:55 but move to the platform looking out at 15:00. The female lands briefly at 15:05 and the siblings watch her fly over them when she leaves. They preen their feathers then rest up at 15:25 but are back exercising at 17:20. They huddle together on the platform close to the edge at 17:50. The female flies in with fresh Woodpigeon prey at 20:30. There is nothing left at 21:15 and she leaves. The male lands briefly five minutes later and is forced out by X4F. They huddle in the corner of the box until midnight.
13 Jun – the youngsters become active at 4:10 with X7F the first to investigate the platform. They are back together in the box at 4:40 and return to the platform at 6:05. There is plenty of exercise and rest over the next 90 minutes until the female arrives with fresh Feral Pigeon prey. She leaves at 8:10 when there is nothing left. There is lots of wing flapping until they settle at 8:45 but their rest is interrupted by the male arriving with another Feral Pigeon meal. He flies off with the remains after 15 minutes, but the juveniles are still looking to be fed. They eventually accept he is not returning soon, and lay on the platform. They get restless and move around the box and platform – seeking shade form the heat of the sun. The rest of the afternoon is a mix of exercise and rest. The female arrives at 15:35 with scraps of the earlier pigeon. X6F grabs it from her but she soon retrieves it and feeds them all. She flies off after ten minutes. There is more exercising and wing flapping in between resting until 19:40 when the male arrives with another Feral Pigeon meal. X6F snatches it from him, and he flies off. The juvenile takes it into the box, but the female arrives and takes over. They continue their running around and wing flapping until 20:50 when they settle down again and remain for the rest of the evening.
14 Jun – the juveniles huddle together but are rather restless during the early hours. X4F is the first to go walkabout and wing flap at 5:15. It is joined by X7F ten minutes later and X6F is forced to join in a few minutes later. The female arrives with very fresh Feral Pigeon prey at 6:00. They have finished feeding 30 minutes later and she eats the remains before flying off at 6:45. X6F in particular, decides to do wing exercises but the other soon join in. The three siblings settle down close to the ledge at 7:15 with X6F actually on the ledge. XxF is the first to return to the box two hours later but is back on the platform after 20 minutes. The male arrives with Feral Pigeon at 9:40 but the female lands to take it from him and feeds the juveniles. They have finished at 10:05 and she leaves. They run around and wing flap until 10:35 when they settle down until 12:40 when they walk around the platform and wing flap. They settle down again and lay on the platform at 13:15. X7F decides to do more exercising at 13:20 and goes into the box, returning to its siblings at 14:00. They become active again 25 minutes later and remain so for the rest of the afternoon until 17:10 when they settle in the corner of the box. They move back to the platform at 18:35. X4F is the first to return to the box ten minutes followed by X6F. They are all together at 19:45. However, at 20:00, X6F decides it wants to do more exercising and split the group. They all return at 20:35 but are back on the platform at 21:05 for five minutes – they probably saw an adult passing and thought that a meal was on its way.
18 Jun – X7F becomes active at 3:55, wing flapping. He sits on the ledge for 15 minutes and returns to the box, then more wing flapping at 5:05 for ten minutes. He is back on the platform at 5:40 doing exercises, settling down at 6:10. He moves back to the box at 6:30 and feeds on scraps then moves to the shade at 7:05. The male arrives at 8:25 and finds some scraps to feed himself on, giving a few morsels to the juvenile. He leaves at 8:35 and X7F finds some shade on the platform. After a few exercises at 9:00, he returns to the shade. He returns to the ledge at 9:50 until 10:05. He is back on the platform, although still in the shade, an hour later but is back in the box at 11:40. He moves to the platform at 12:05 but is back in the box at 13:00 – the heat is beginning to tell. He is on the platform calling for food at 13:25 but is back in the box 15 minutes later. He sits on the platform at 13:50 when the female arrives with a Feral Pigeon meal which he takes into the box and stashes after ten minutes. He is wing flapping at 14:00, then sits on the ledge now that it is in shade. He snatches the stashed pigeon at 14:45, feeds for ten minutes, then sits on the ledge. He has a brief walk around at 15:05 before laying on the platform until 17:55 when he feeds on the stashed pigeon. He moves back to the platform wing flapping ten minutes later until 18:35. He lays on the platform until moving back into the box at 21:20. He is on the ledge after 20 minutes but finally settles down in the box at 21:40. His slumber is broken at 22:00 when the female arrives with part-eaten Feral Pigeon. She flies off with the remnants 15 minutes later.
18 Jun – UPDATE: sorry for the lack of recent updates. So, it has been a stressful couple of days, but here is a brief synopsis of what has happened. I got a call early in the evening of the 17th to say that one of the birds had been grounded in Guildhall Lane. We were at a wedding reception miles away at the time and so one of the team went to recover the bird [X4F]. My grateful thanks to Josh, Charlie and all the staff at the Cathedral. As it was too late to return the bird immediately, it was taken into care until the following morning. Reviewing the video, it could be seen that X6F was exercising and jumping around the platform. One of the jumps hit X4F, who was sitting directly opposite, on the back and they both fell off the platform. After being checked over, it was clear that X4F was not injured and had just left the box too early. We checked the bird again this morning before returning to the Cathedral. However, whilst travelling back into the city to return X4F, I got another message to say that another bird was sitting on a bench in the Cathedral grounds. We arrived soon after and X6F was relatively easy to catch. Again, there were no obvious signs of injury. Thanks to Deepak and a number of our regular Peregrine watchers who stopped an inquisitive public from getting too close and stressing the bird. Our dilemma then was how to put both birds back into the box when X7F was still in residence. After a couple of phone calls and messages, it was decided that the best option was to put them on the roof close to the nest box so that they would call to the adults and could be seen by them. This would prevent X7F from being spooked and flying off before he was ready. Thanks to Carys and the Cathedral staff, we managed to get the juveniles to a reasonable safe height. The adults eventually came over and the two youngsters called to them. The female sat on a cross, flew off and returned a little later with a meal but went straight to X7F in the box. The juveniles looked settled, so we left around 14:00. By this time, we had spoken to a number of local residents who were already invested in the birds. Unfortunately, a message came through at 18:15 that one of the birds had flown down and was sitting on a bench by Café 7. It had flown along the front of the Cathedral but could not get any lift. Thanks to Ben and Rob, Chelsea and Matt, and Lorraine for keeping X6F safe and undisturbed until we got there. She was soon caught, but as it was too late to return her to the roof, we took her to be checked, fed and watered. She will be relocated in the morning. As I write, X7F is still in the box but looking restless. What will Thursday bring?
19 Jun – UPDATE: after the possibility of another grounding by one of the two juveniles this morning, we ventured into Leicester expecting to find it wandering around St Martins Square. Despite searching for an hour or more, it was not located and indeed the remaining bird was also ‘missing’. A trip up to the Cathedral bell tower for a view over the Cathedral roofs was also unproductive. However, a scan over the city roofline appeared to show the silhouetted shape of a Peregrine on a building close to the Town Hall about 300 metres away. A brisk walk to the area and the bird was soon located from the food begging calls. She had gained height and flown a good distance. A cup of tea in celebration and a picture came through that the second bird was back in its original location. It had obviously jumped out of sight and into some shade. Later in the early evening, whilst watching the cameras at home, X6F joined X7F in the box and was now fully fledged – success. It was obviously hungry and was feeding on the scraps left by its sibling over the last couple of days.
21 Jun – UPDATE: after spending over two days on the roof of the Cathedral, X4F made a strong flight towards Southgates at around 3:45 today. Despite spending a considerable time in the area looking for her (thanks Rob & Ben), there was no sign of grounding. X6F and X7F were still in the box, with X7F still to make his first flight. A message at 4:40 this morning (22nd) showed X4F had returned to the Cathedral and was sitting on a wall of a nearby property – hopefully confirming her ability to fly, albeit reluctantly.
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.