Peregrines late hatching in the West Country

Like many other birds across the UK this year, Peregrines have been breeding later in some parts of the country. While pairs in the London area appear to be on time compared to previous years, those around Bristol are running a week or two later than they were in 2012. By now I would have normally ringed most of the Peregrine chicks available, but this year I am hoping to ring my first today! There are various reasons why this may be happening - it may relate to the condition of the adult birds after a cold winter; the availability of food (ie small birds); the cooler spring temperatures; and natural variation. Despite the late start, the chicks that hatched around three weeks ago appear to be doing well and are growing fast. More photos to follow of this year's young Peregrines. 

Eggs are cooking!

Just in the past week most Peregrines across the UK have been laying eggs (if they hadn't already!), and interestingly they have been incubating, or at least covering the eggs, from the outset. Usually Peregrines wait until the penultimate or final egg. However, with the recent cold weather Peregrines have been keeping their eggs warm and ensuring they don't freeze.

In Bath, the female Peregrine has laid four eggs over the past week (one every two days), and it will be about four weeks before they hatch. Both parents will help with incubating the clutch. The egg timer is running.....

 Peregrine eggs are smaller than that of a chicken, and covered in a brick-red mottled coating. Photo: Dave Pearce

Latest on the Bath Peregrines

Female having a plucking good time. Photo: Hamish Smith

Earlier last week, Hamish and Colin were out watching the Bath pair of Peregrines. Hamish spotted them mating for the first time on Tuesday 19th March, and Colin (Hawk and Owl Trust) checked the camera view on the nest box - there was no sign of a scrape or eggs. 

And on Wednesday 20th Hamish says, 

'No birds on the church at first, but very soon a flock of pigeon lifted from the surrounding buildings as the female came in from the direction of Parade Park, carrying a pigeon which she proceeded to prepare on one of the turrets.  Bath Peregrine Watch veterans will be only too well aware of AA’s (the male) attention to catching and sharing of prey.  In essence, what he catches is his, and what the female catches is his also.  AA flew through a shower of pigeon feathers directly at the female, and amid much vocalising but very little debate, AA was left on the turret with nothing but feathers as the female headed for a gargoyle with her catch.  She proceeded to eat her fill, then flew off to the Abbey, presumably to cache the remains as she returned ‘empty handed’ a few minutes later.  

Female safe on her gargoyle, but keeping a close eye on her mate. Photo: Hamish Smith

Spring movements - little grebe eaten

Little Grebe. Photo: Hamish Smith

As waterbirds begin travel back to their breeding grounds, Peregrines are ready to snatch any on the move. Little Grebes are migrating across the UK at night, and many will be moving back to other parts of Europe. 

This head of a Little Grebe was found in Bath yesterday by Hamish Smith. It was probably a migrant, taken at night as it was flying over the city - city lights mean nocturnal migrants can be spotted by the falcons. Peregrines generally snip the heads off, although sometimes they will open the brain case and eat the brain which is full of nutritious fatty acids. 

And how about the Bristol Peregrines?

Bristol Peregrines mating. Photo: Sam Hobson (samhobson.co.uk)

Sam has been keeping a close eye on the Peregrines which nest in Bristol's City Centre. The pair have been seen mating a lot, and we hope to see eggs soon. They copulated twice within the space of nine minutes on the weekend! When they do begin laying, they won't start incubating immediately - eggs will be laid every two days. They will start to incubate once the penultimate or final egg is laid. Anywhere between one and five eggs (three or four most common) may be laid. 

At least three pairs of Peregrines nesting in London have already laid eggs. However, this is still relatively early for Peregrines. Most lay in the third and last week of March (and perhaps even into April), although laying dates do appear to be getting earlier. 

Female Peregrine in Bristol in flight. Photo: Sam Hobson (samhobson.co.uk)

The photo below by Sam shows one of the Bristol Peregrines on the weekend with a pigeon - this was being used in a food pass. A food pass involves the male catching prey, and handing it to the female in flight.  It is a way in which the male Peregrine shows his mate that he is a capable hunter, and can support her and the chicks over the coming months. 

Bristol Peregrine with a pigeon as part of a food pass on the weekend. Photo: Sam Hobson (samhobson.co.uk)

Sam also discovered Golden Plover feathers on the 14th March (see below). Golden Plovers have been wintering around the west, and many will be moving north to begin setting up territories on the moors in northern England, Scotland and Scandinavia. As they move overhead, they make for an easy target for the Peregrines. Sam also found the head of a Chaffinch on the weekend - a common prey item. 

Golden Plover feathers. Photo: Sam Hobson (samhobson.co.uk)

Chaffinch head. Photo: Sam Hobson (samhobson.co.uk)

What are the Bath Peregrines up to?

View from the Peregrine nest in Bath. Photo: Hamish Smith

Peregrines have been breeding in Bath since 2007 after the Hawk and Owl Trust (HOT) put up a nest box a few years earlier. The current breeding female is paired with her son who hatched in that first year.

Hamish Smith, who keeps an eye on the Bath Peregrines gave us the latest update as they prepare to lay eggs later this month.


"There hasn't been a huge amount of interaction between the pair in the past weeks, but more recently there have been some interesting behavioural changes.  

Both birds have been going through the motions of individually perch hunting from the church, but there has been little hunting activity in the vicinity.  It has become routine for the pair to head off in their favoured directions, and to return some time later with a kill.  In the time that I have been watching, there has been no evidence of prey sharing.

Fledged chick from 2011. Photo: Hamish Smith

In the past ten days, it has been clear that greater attention to detail is being paid to stamping ownership on the nestbox, the church and the surrounding airspace.  Within minutes of the HOT renewing the gravel in the nestbox a few weeks ago, the female entered the box and appeared to be shaping a scrape to her liking.

While the birds have in effect been ignoring one another in past weeks, in the week of Mon 11 March there were increased levels of activity:

• On a number of occasions with no birds initially on the church, the female flew in, landed on the roof of the nestbox and started calling.  She then has flown off.

• Wed 13th: Female spotted on the south side of the church on a gargoyle with a kill; male flew in, landed on the structure above her, and immediately started calling and looking down to her; she gave a cursory glance in his direction and carried on eating; female settled down on the gargoyle with a full crop, and the male headed off in the direction of Widcombe.

• Thu 14th: 08:00 to 09:00, female on north side of church, very alert and watching the wildlife go by; male sitting on the edge of the nest-box. 10:00-ish, female gone and male sitting inside the box. At 11:30 the top of a Peregrine head was visible in the box, assumed it to be the male.

Juveniles tassling in Bath in 2011. Photo: Hamish Smith

• Today, Sun 17^th: Male flew in to the church calling as he came in.  He flew off in the direction of Lansdown then circled over the Rec and returned to the church.  After preening and lightening the load he spent some time staring skyward and calling at a wolf-pack of gulls that were circling the tower.  He then lifted, scattered the pigeons on the church in so doing and headed off after one of the gulls.  They dropped below roof-top level and climbed on several occasions.  He either came very close or actually hit the gull then headed off towards Widcombe."

Teal wing feather, 5th March. Photo: Hamish Smith

Various prey items have been brought in over recent weeks - between us we have found  a fresh Snipe head, various pigeon legs, a pair of pigeon wings, Teal feathers, Brambling feathers and Skylark feathers. 

Sex on the Peregrines' minds!

It is that time of the year again - Peregrines are thinking about sex.

Bristol Peregrines: Sam Hobson

Peregrines in urban areas have already been spotted mating, although eggs won't be laid until the middle or end of March. In Bristol, Sam has spotted the city centre pair mating over the past few weeks. It is a great way for the pair to strengthen their bond, and for the male to make sure that when the eggs are laid, he is the daddy! 

While Peregrines usually nest in pairs, they will sometimes nip off to mate with other Peregrines - this is known as extra pair copulations, and is common in the bird world from Great tits to Swallows. So, a female's clutch of eggs may not always be fathered by her mate.  For her, it is a great way of making sure her young have the best genes possible, while also having a devoted partner to help her rear them!

Bristol Peregrines in the act: Sam Hobson

On sunny days, Peregrines will also be displaying overhead - lots of soaring, circling, and spectacular dives may be in the offering. While at the nest, the female may be testing things out by shuffling around where the eggs will be laid. You may also hear the pair calling to each other - recently described as 'ee-chupping' by the Derby Peregrines Project, the pair may cheap away, giving the odd light grunt in between.

In terms of prey, the Bristol Peregrines have been feasting on Feral Pigeons, Woodpigeons, and the odd Teal throughout February. As we get into March, prey species migrating back to their breeding grounds, such as Redwings, Woodcock, and Water Rail, will begin to appear in the diet again. The male may even impress the female by bringing her some food, and transferring it to her in the air. It is his way of telling her that he is a good provider, and that he will make sure her and the chicks will be taken care of when they need to be fed. 

January Round-Up and Winterwatch Feature

Bristol Urban Peregrines Feature on BBC Winterwatch

The first series of BBC Winterwatch aired this month, including a feature on the Bristol peregrines. At just after 17 minutes, I discuss their winter behaviour and some of the finds myself and Ed have made.

Bristol and Bath Peregrines - January Round-Up

Peregrine with a feral pigeon
they were passing between them

An unseasonably mild start to 2013 saw the Bristol town centre peregrines starting to get excited about the forthcoming breeding season. On the sunnier days, they were pair-bonding, with ledge-displays on or near their scrape and on the morning of the 9th (so warm I saw my first red admiral and bumblebee of the year), they made 3 food-transfers. They were suddenly spending a lot more time on their scrape - ready to defend it from un-paired adults that are moving around the country at this time of year, looking to set up territories.

By mid-January, cold weather from the east had started to move in, bringing a considerable drop in temperatures, and already the pair-bonding in early Jan seemed like a distant memory. On the 16th, I visited the Bath pair and found woodcock, snipe and male and female teal feathers, which with the flock of 80 lapwing I saw overhead heading SW, was a sign of things to come.

Male at Bath clutching skylark

By the 19th, heavy snow had dumped across the region and hard weather movements of birds caused a sudden increase in unusual items to turn up in the prey remains. This time it wasn’t just nocturnal migrants the peregrines were hunting either - whilst watching the Bristol town centre pair, I saw flocks of lapwing and golden plover moving SW in the middle of the day and groups of starlings, winter thrushes and skylarks passing through in an almost constant stream.

Skylarks seem to be a particular favourite of peregrines, as I not only found the remains of at least 5 individuals (including a whole wing), I witnessed the Bath tiercel catch one and the Bristol pair bring in 2. They were feeding on the skylarks for over a week, as when the SW passage had finished and the snow was beginning to melt, they had the opportunity to stock-up on them as they were making their return journeys NE.

Bath pair calling at intruder

By the 24th, the snow was nearly gone and temperatures were returning to their seasonal average. In Bath, an intruding flyover adult falcon caused a bit of commotion. Neither resident left their perch, but both were looking skyward and calling at the intruder for a good 10 minutes.

By the end of the month, things have gone full-circle and the Bristol pair are increasingly back on the building they nest on. On the 31st, myself and Ed had a good look around under their perches in town and found snipe, fieldfare and a nice jack snipe skull.

So far in 2013, remains include juv. moorhen, woodcock, snipe, jack snipe, fieldfare, golden plover, skylark, dunlin and many male and female teal in Bristol and woodcock, snipe, skylark and m and f teal in Bath.

Jack Snipe Skull

A Wigeon in town

The Peregrines have been a little quieter in recent weeks - with the mild weather there has been plenty of food around for them. And during the rain they tend to just sit it out!

As I was on my way home from work yesterday, I suddenly noticed a few feathers on the ground close to where the Peregrines sometimes eat. I picked them up and realised they were from a duck. As I scanned further, I realised there were lots of breast feathers from the duck tucked against various steps on the path. I collected them up and checked at home - they were from a female Wigeon. 

Wigeon are not unusual prey items out in the countryside, and often Peregrines will bring them to the ground and eat them there and then. So it was a little surprising that this duck had been eaten in the middle of Bristol where Wigeon are not found. Perhaps the Wigeon was flying over in a flock, or hanging out on the River Avon near the Avon Gorge. Or maybe the Peregrine caught it closer to the Severn Estuary. Either way, it would have been a good, hefty meal for the Peregrine, and will no doubt keep it going for a few days or more! 

Peregrines eating Golden Plovers during cold weather

With the recent cold weather, many species of bird, particularly wading birds and ducks, have been moving around the UK and beyond to escape the cold grip of winter. The frozen water bodies and soil means there is no food for them.

Golden Plovers are scarce around Bristol – the nearest places to spot them are on the southern Somerset Levels, high regions around Bath, and sometimes the odd one on the Severn Estuary. So, it was a surprise to find some taken recently as prey by the Peregrines in Bristol. Sam found these on the 13th after a night of sub-zero temperatures. They are by no means a rare prey item for Peregrines – but over the past decade or so, Golden Plovers have been choosing to winter in the east of the UK, with fewer visiting the west. Studying the Peregrines is a great way of finding out what their prey species are up to.

Golden Plovers have beautiful yellow spotted feathers which keep them camouflaged on moorlands during the summer and in lowland fields during the winter. This photo shows some of the body feathers from the back of the bird.

What is even more remarkable is that last week, around the time this bird was eaten, another Golden Plover was caught by a bird ringer in mid-Wales and released with a satellite tag attached to its body. On the weekend just past, the ringer checked the location of the bird – it was in Madrid, Spain! It just shows, that when these cold weather movements occur, many ducks and wading birds literally exit the UK and move south within a few days. I remember being on the Somerset Levels last year during a very cold spell and it was absent of many ducks, Lapwings and Golden Plovers. Remarkably, as soon as the temperatures rose, the birds magically reappeared (see photo above) – presumably moving north again from southern climes. How they know when the ice has suddenly gone is a mystery! 

Fancy a Woodcock or two for tea?! Peregrines certainly do.

I have been excited by, and interested in Peregrines now for 14 years - and what sparked my interest was looking for what they had been eating. I loved finding various wings, heads and legs of birds below office blocks in the middle of Bristol, and often right outside Pizza Hut! It was an adventure, and I often had to think like a detective to work out what the prey items were from. 

Whilst I have less time to actually do the searching these days, Sam has been regularly visiting the Peregrines in Bristol's city centre, and as a result, he has been finding lots of prey (see previous blog). 

On Thursday evening, Sam was down near the Peregrines' roost site and discovered three Woodcocks on the ground - they had no doubt been blown down by the winds from a Peregrine cache. To ensure they have enough food during cold periods of weather, Peregrines store food. With the recent cold spell, it is likely there was a surge of Woodcocks in the region - escaping colder places further east. Many Woodcocks arrive from the Baltic states and parts of Russia. Sadly, modern buildings are not great for a cache - the dead birds just get blown down like these ones did! In more traditional haunts such as cliffs, they would be hidden in crevices and cracks in the rocks. Its' a remarkable find which not only tells us what the Peregrines are feeding on, but also that Woodcocks are in the area (even though we may never normally see them around). 

The cold weather movements by wading birds are common at this time of the year. As wet, muddy woodlands and meadows become frozen across Europe, birds such as Woodcocks head west, where they can find moist and, in relative terms, milder conditions, to feed on worms and other invertebrates. Cornwall, Devon, and even the Western Isles of Scotland are hotspots for Woodcocks in the winter because they are relatively ice free, meaning plenty of worms to feed on!

Here you can also see three Peregrines together taken by Sam over Bristol, near where the Woodcocks were found - we reckon this is the city centre breeding pair and their youngster (left), haggling over a half eaten pigeon! 

Images by Sam Hobson. 

Waders on the menu for Bristol peregrines

Since the temperature has dropped in the last week or so, the Peregrines that are often seen around Bristol city centre appear to have become increasingly active. They must have been hunting and caching around the clock, as recently I have found the remains of a much wider variety of prey species under their perches than I have for months - many of which, would have only been flying over the city under the cover of darkness.

Last Sunday, it was a bumper haul, with Dunlin, Snipe, Little Grebe, Teal, and plenty of more common urban birds like Starling, Redwing, Goldfinch, and Feral Pigeon. Mid-week, I found some Lapwing tail feathers, and this weekend, a male Teal, alongside some nice Golden Plover and Woodcock feathers.

It might be that the cold snap has prompted the increased hunting frequency, and they are busy caching extra food, or it could be that the drop in temperature has caused some movement of waders and ducks.

The only other explanation could be that there is a new bird in town, who is more expert at hunting nocturnally. As Ed mentioned in the previous post, it is important to keep an eye on who’s who at this time of year. 

Just recently, I have noticed that a juvenile Peregrine that has been hanging around with the two adults in the centre of Bristol has no colour ring on its left leg. If this was the city centre pair's offspring from this year, we would expect it to be sporting a colour ring on its left leg with the letters FP, clearly visible here. Therefore, this young bird is either FP, and has lost his ring, perhaps after a high-speed strike, or it is a roaming juvenile that has temporarily taken up residence in Bristol. It’s hard to be sure without getting a look at the BTO metal ring on its right leg, but watching its behaviour - particularly its choice of perches that I’ve never seen FP use before - I’m inclined to agree with Ed that it is not a local bird. Frustrating situations like this illustrate why colour-ringing is so important to urban Peregrine studies

Peregrines are on the move - watch out for who's who

At this time of the year, Peregrines are on the move. Young birds hatched earlier in the year will be travelling around the UK, sometimes short distances, perhaps only a radius of 50 miles; others will be moving much further, up to 120 miles or more. 

Urban sites with wintering Peregrines may consist of not just local birds, but falcons from further afield. Of course, they look the same, but with some careful observations of age, sex, and other plumage markings, you may be able to tell the individuals apart. A city centre roost may have four or five individual Peregrines using the site, even though only one or two are seen at any one time. 

Many urban Peregrines are now marked with colour rings on their legs under a Schedule 1 Licence - these allow the birds to be identified from a distance. Others, particularly those ringed in quarries, may only sport a unique, BTO metal ring (which the colour-ringed birds will also have). 

Either way, the rings can tell us a lot about individual Peregrines, from where they have travelled from, to how old they are.  When spotting Peregrines, keep an eye or for their legs and any rings. With a good scope or camera, the colour rings can be read. The metal rings require powerful lenses, but if a bird is close enough, they can sometimes be read too. 

Report any rings and their codes to ring.ac and myself! The colour rings I use in the Bristol and Bath region are light blue with black letters. 

Peregrines wintering in Bristol and Bath

These days you are more likely to see a Peregrine in an English city thank you are a Kestrel or Sparrowhawk. 

As we are head in to winter, urban-dwelling Peregrines are spending plenty of time hunting and roosting over towns and cities. Here in Bristol, various Peregrines are using different buildings as their base throughout the city. One pair which raised one chick in the centre of Bristol this year are still around - just the other day they were spotted by Peregrine watcher Sam Hobson.

During the winter, Peregrines will stay close to their breeding territories, but many younger birds (known as satellite birds) will be roam around the UK, and may turn up in areas where during the summer they would normally get chased off very quickly by territorial birds. 

Over the next few months we will be reflecting on the 2012 breeding season and some of the interesting results we have received from some of the young birds we have colour-ringed over the past few years. I have been studying Peregrines in the Bristol and Bath region since 1998, and with the help of others who watch, study and photograph Peregrines, we are developing a bigger and more detailed picture of how these birds live in our towns and cities. 

I am linking to our previous blog below which followed some of the comings and goings of the Peregrines in recent years throughout the west region in England. We will now put postings on this current blog but didn't want to lose the stories and information shared on the blog below. 

http://swperegrinestudygroup.blogspot.co.uk/

Ed Drewitt November 2012
eddrewitt.com