5th April - Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire

I have been aware of the Peregrines that have nested over the last few years at Winchester Cathedral for some time, but it was only last year I had the opportunity to have a look and fond out where they were nesting.  After that I didn't visit again in the year.  

Peregrines have faced many challenges over the years, during the war they were shot to stop them eating pigeons carrying messages, and then after the war the side effects of organochlorine pesticides caused a further decline by thinning egg shells and increasing adult mortality. In fact, until the 1980s Peregrines had disappeared from southern England completely.  When I started birding, the only Peregrine you might see was along the cliffs in Cornwall and South Wales.

After many years of these challenge, the Peregrine started to recover following the banning of some pesticides in the 1980s, and breeding was confirmed in Dorset and Sussex. Sightings in Hampshire grew in line with this expansion and in 1993 a pair nested on the chimney of the now demolished Fawley Power Station. In 1995 a nest was built on a pylon near to Southampton and by 2008 there were nine pairs nesting in the county on a variety of structures and natural sites.

 A pair nested twice on the Police Headquarters in Winchester in 2011 and 2012, but they suffered from exposure to bad weather. The Hampshire Ornithological Society decided to install a nesting box on the roof in 2013, which proved successful.  The pair then nested each year until early 2017 when the building was demolished. Knowing that the birds liked sitting on Cathedral it was thought that they might try to nest there, and indeed they did – in a gulley in 2017. Sadly, heavy rain flooded their nest. In 2018 HOS recieved permission to install a raised nesting tray in the same gulley and within weeks of this being installed the birds laid eggs in March, and fledged three young birds.

This year I had more time and decided to pay a visit.  When I arrived there was not any sign of either bird and a check of the web cams showed they were not on the nest box either.  I walked around the cathedral and picked up one bird above the cathedral, it flew around, then swooped through the trees and up to the nest area.  I walked back to the path and railings to get a closer view.

I moved a bit more head on.

The regular pair were known as William and Winnie.  This March though there were three Peregrines around the cathedral.  An unattached bird was in the area, a female and unfortunately this bird fought with Winnie and a few days later Winnie was found dead.  Winnie was thought to be around 15 years old, and had been one of the pair that nested on the old Police Station.

The male, William stayed around the Nest box and the new female, now named Mel had also been seen scooping the gravel in the nest box.  It is now a case of waiting to see if eggs are laid, they have been seen displaying and mating.  Winnie has always laid eggs by the middle of March, but it could be that the new female Mel is on a different schedule and she may also be quite young and uncertain what to do.

At this stage of my visit I wasn't sure who this was, but it looked a big Peregrine so maybe it was Mel.

It then started to call, quite loudly.

Then the other Peregrine flew in and this was clearly the male, a much smaller bird and it was about to do the male's duties.

Then he flew off, the female, Mel, calling after him as he dropped from the ledge.

After a few fly arounds he settled on the top of the roof above the nesting area.

Then he flew from the roof and was carrying what looks like the remains of a Blackbird.

The female continued to call from her position on the edge of the nesting area, then turned to look to her left.

I scanned across and there was the male with the prey.

The male then called back.

Then made its way to the female, a short flight at first.

Then hopping on one foot while clinging onto the remains of the Blackbird.

Then presenting it to the female.

They then appeared to share the meal.

The male then flew off and headed away around the cathedral.

After finishing off the remains of the blackbird the female settled down to engage in some post coital and meal preening.

She is there.

Some scratching.

I watched her for about an hour, she would preen and watch the Feral Pigeons that would fly past and also perch on the roof and the wall near her.  Passers by would comment that they were taking a risk, but the Peregrine would not attack like that.

After about an hour the female started to call once again

Then she flew off calling and out of sight.  I could hear the calling and eventually found her again on the gutter of the roof.

Initially I thought she was alone, but looking closer could see the male to her right on the same gutter and he had more prey, this time a feral pigeon.

He then started to pluck, vigourously. 

The head was gone, but he continued to pluck.

The female then became tired of waiting for the male and started to make her way towards him.

The male continued to pluck, there goes the tail feathers.

As she came close she was giving him quite a bit of verbal.

The male wasn't prepared to give it up to her just yet, or maybe he wanted to do it with style.

He flew off with the pigeon and eventually out of sight, both birds were calling but I couldn't see them.

Then the female appeared with the remains of the pigeon and flew around the roof.

She then headed for the nesting area and finally settled on the flat area just above the nest area on the left hand side as you look at the area.

All I could see now was the occasional head movement, so I decided to leave.  I had two hours of amazing entertainment.  I hope that at some stage the pair manage to lay eggs and  that they are successful with the young.

You can follow their attempt to breed on the web cams set up above the nesting site, links to the cameras is here