Parliament Peregrines Diary

Monday December 27th

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Slightly warmer weather on arrival although the recent trend of bleak grey skies looks as if it is here for a while, bring on the sunshine.

Usual pre dawn start trying to locate the birds in the semi darkness, wind was coming in from the west, so the east side looked favourite, so it proved. The Tiercel was the first out at 7.48am, he flew a couple of circuits round Victoria Tower and then alighted back on the east side, as he did he started to call. He was staring intently at something and was obviously agitated.

Suspecting that the Falcon was round there as well from his actions I headed round to the Park for a better view, as I did the Tiercel flew north. As I set up round by the river and scanned I located the Falcon already feeding on a kill, this explained the Tiercels actions a short while ago, as it was still very early, and I knew that she or the Tiercel had as yet not hunted, it was likely a stashed kill, or possibly a nocturnal kill.

As I watched through the scope I could see that it was not the usual feral pigeon , but was very brown all over. Eventually she turned round whilst feeding and it was then that the head of the prey came up briefly, it was enough to confirm that the prey was either a Common Snipe or a Woodcock, I had seen a very long narrow bill. Looking again and going by size of of prey, I was 95% sure it was a Woodcock, this almost certainly meant it had been taken during the nocturnal hours as Woodcock are mainly nocturnal.

More and more in watching Peregrines in London, it is coming to light that many pairings are hunting nocturnally in London, on one particular sight, most times when I turn up at dawn, one or both birds are sitting there with full crops. This is not prey that is being taken the previous afternoon and stashed, it is birds being taken during the dark hours, and the peregrine(s) are then feeding there and then on the kill. For the last 2 winters I have visited this particular site, which is illuminated, at various times throughout the night, 10.00, 11.00am and on one occasion 1.00pm,( I know what you are thinking, I am nuts, you are right, my wife tells me so). On a number of visits, I have witnessed one or both birds slipping away from there roost position, twice it has been to the sound of invisible calling Redwings going over in the darkness. Prey remains collections have also shown the nocturnal movers.

Anyway, back to the Parliament pair, I watched the Falcon for another hour, during this time she fed, and then laid up to digest prey.

Of the Tiercel there was no sign so he may well have taken prey further afield. Unfortunately, during the visit, the light was so bad that the photo's I took were only fit for the bin. Below is a series of photo�s taken from Victoria Tower at an earlier date showing the landscape of London and how the Parliament pair see there surroundings.

Looking East with the 'Shard' and Canary Wharf in the distance

Northerly - Big Ben and the London Eye

Still Northerly - Post Office Tower in the distance

South - Victoria Gardens Park below

South west - Battersea Power Station

West - Westminster Abbey below

The Asahi Shimbun

On July 10^th I met up with Yuki Takayama, who is the staff writer and Ebara Kotaro, the staff Photographer for the Asahi Shimbun, Japans leading newspaper. Will Blathwayt, who also works for the newspaper was present and translated.

All 3 had been in London for a few weeks and had taken some photographs of some Peregrines at various sites around London, they have very kindly provided me with a link to the Photographs. The photo�s are excellent, especially the Parliament and Tate photo�s and well worth a look. Link below:

http://doraku.asahi.com/lifestyle/earthphoto/101213.html

How the article looked when it was published, would be good to know what it says��

Thursday December 9th

Called in at dawn en route to West London where I was supervising the placing and fixing of a new nestbox for a pair that failed last year due to flooding.

Middle Tower on right with Big Ben to the left

At 7.10am I located the Falcon roosting on the east facing side away from the westerly wind, Peregrines are not silly, they always roost on the opposite side to the wind direction. Could not locate the Tiercel so presumably he may have slipped away very early. At 7.17 the Falcon hunted, straight out over the Thames, low and very fast, obviously on to something. She was lost to view for a good while but returned at 7.25am and alighted on the middle tower, it was then that I could just barely make out the Tiercel resting slightly to the side.

As I got on to him he went north west, non hunting flight and looking as if he was going somewhere distant, this was indeed the case as he never returned.

Settled back to watch the Falcon.

Looking around, I could not help noticing the extra Police presence and crowd control barriers and realized today was the Student protest day, knowing that I had to come back this way after placing the nestbox in West London, I made a mental note to avoid the area.

As they say, the best laid plans� later that day it took me 3 hours and 40minutes to get from West to East London, hard to be sympathetic with the students with all the damage and violence that occurred.

Falcon watching feral activity below

Back to the Falcon, as I was watching her, I could see that she was watching something below her very intently, no doubt a Parliament feral pigeon, this was confirmed when she suddenly dropped off the Middle Tower and went into a dive. She was then lost to view but appeared shortly after with a feral pigeon, she then made straight for Victoria Tower, probably the 1^st time that I have witnessed a feral being taken low down on Parliament itself.

Dodgy picture in bad light showing the Falcon about to nail the feral

Watched her feeding for the next 20 minutes and then headed for West London to place a nestbox.

Feeding on Victoria Palace

Side view

Prey Remains

On October 5^th I helped out on Autumnwatch at Parliament and provided some prey remains from another site in East London. At the time myself and Chris Packham went through them and identified as much as we could.

I have now got the results of the whole bag which has been identified by a friend of mine in Bristol, Ed Drewitt.

He has identified prey for me for a number of years, which I am very grateful for. He has a great website and it is well worth having a look to see what features on a Peregrines menu, website below;

www.eddrewitt.co.uk

Prey

Feral Pigeon � 20

Wood Pigeon � 1

Collared Dove � 1

Teal � 3

Fieldfare � 1

Ring Necked Parakeet � 2

Starling � 3 +

Redshank � 1

Ringed Plover � 1

Moorhen � 1

Unidentified Wader � 1

Juvenile

One of the orange colour ringed juveniles has shown up in West London and seems to have found itself a territory to hunt and roost on. It is being regularly watched by Nathalie Mahieu and Stuart Harrington of the LPP and has now been present for a good number of weeks.

Good to see juveniles relocating in London, hopefully the other 3 will show up.

Peregrines and Crows

The event below is not the Parliament pair but another pair in East London, thought it may be of Interest.

Peregrines are incredible hunters and at the top of the chain when it comes to Birds of Prey in London, I have seen many stirring sights whilst watching them , quite recently I witnessed a confrontation between a pair of Peregrines and 4 Carrion Crows.

Carrion Crows are the bully boys in the bird world, big, intelligent, full of attitude and quite a formidable adversary, they will mob many raptors especially Kestrels and Sparrowhawks but rarely mob Peregrines. The Crows know that the Falcons are very aggressive and mobbing can become dangerous to the health of the Crow. The Crows will � bait� Peregrines when they have prey and are feeding on a structure, always 2 or more but rarely seek them out up in open sky as they do with Kestrels and Sparrowhawks. In open sky Peregrines are in there element, they are also extremely territorial and hold to territory all year round, much of this is due to the threat of losing there territorial site to other Peregrines and also losing prey remains to Crows.

Recently, I arrived at a regular site at dawn as I normally do and watched the pair come out from roost from the �core� structure, looking at both, I was aware that both Falcon and Tiercel were showing full crops. As I knew that this pair hunted at night, it was very likely that they had hunted and fed during the nocturnal hours. Both birds flew to a nearby structure, the Tiercel to the top with the Falcon slightly below him, I call this �profile� perching, it is more or less advertising territorial presence on his part to other Peregrines. Shortly after this 4 Crows appeared, they could obviously see the Peregrines on the nearby structure but additionally, it was likely that they could see prey remains on the �core� structure, they circled highish but none landed. This carried on for about 5 minutes, in the meantime the Falcon had started to call whilst watching the Crows, I have seen this before, it signals agitation and usually aggression .As it looked like all 4 Crows were going to leave, 2 suddenly broke off and landed on the far side of the structure, near the top, they could not see the Peregrines and vice versa.

It was too much for the Peregrines and as one they attacked, flight was direct and powerful, the usual scenario was that the Crows would see them coming and they would dive straight down low to the ground where they know the Peregrines are unlikely to target them. In this case the Crows were not aware of the approaching Peregrines, as they cleared the top of the building, both flicked over and went for the Crows.

One of the Crows soon appeared with the Tiercel on its tail, his usual tactic is too hit the Crow too reinforce the territorial message and send it on its way. As I was watching this, I heard a Crow calling in alarm, into view came the 2^nd Crow but unfortunately for it, the Falcon had caught it and was attached to its back! As both were losing height rapidly, I could see Falcon bending her head down through binoculars trying to give the neck bite. The Crow was now screaming with fear and trying hard to defend itself from the enraged female, she had a good hold and was obviously intent on killing it. Having felt myself the strength and depth of the talons, I sympathized with the crow as I knew that those talons were around � an inch long and very likely doing damage.

The ground was now rapidly approaching with both birds still locked together, at the very last minute the Falcon disengaged and gained height, the unfortunate crow was moving too fast and hit the ground quite hard. As I got the telescope on it, it righted itself and stood upright, it was quite obviously in shock, it was not calling but was rooted to the spot and staring. It stayed this way for a good 3 or 4 minutes before I took my eyes off it, when I looked back it had gone, it did not look as if it was in any condition too fly, I suspect it may have moved to cover.

Crows so often dominate other species, this time they were on the receiving end.

Monday November 15th

After filming Autumn watch on the top of Victoria Palace, a separate company, Passion Pictures had arranged for filming to again take place on the Tower, for the Peregrines, I was to narrate as to what the pair were up to. Tom Mahert who is a good friend, works in Parliament had also come up at dawn, he is the man responsible who had made everything regarding the birds happen.

Spot the Peregrine

The trouble with Peregrines is that they are so unpredictable and unfortunately they never read the script. The plan was to arrive and be in position on the Tower by dawn so that hunting activity could be observed and filmed. It was a very bright morning, the visibility and landscape of the London skyline was worth being up there just for the view.

Falcon refusing to hand over prey to Tiercel

We were in position by 7.10am, unfortunately with good light, the pair had come out earlier and had already taken prey, a feral pigeon, and were well into feeding with the Falcon dominating and the Tiercel looking on and waiting for her to finish. They were on a wide ledge on Westminster Abbey, looking through binoculars, I suspected that they may have taken the prey in darkness, the main reason being that there was little meat left on the kill. Also , if it was a stashed kill, they would be feeding on Victoria Palace, the Abbey is to far away to defend prey remains from Carrion Crows, so all stashed prey is kept on the Palace.

Whilst we were not filming, myself and Tom walked round and looked for prey, some could be seen far below and out of reach, but Tom came across a recent Black Headed Gull kill.

Falcon can just about visible on left hand side

In the City, mainly due to the feral pigeons abundance, Black Headed Gulls are not that often taken, I have put this down to taste, although B H Gulls are bigger prey. Feral Pigeons are far harder for a Peregrine to take being fast and agile as opposed to the far slower and less agile Gull. It may also be that the feral is lighter and also easier to carry, especially for the smaller Tiercel, one other reason could well be down to the taste of the meat.

With filming commencing we kept an eye on the pair, even though the prey remains left were very little, she would not release to the Tiercel, who on 2 occasions tried his luck and approached the Falcon. On both occasions she dropped her wings and mantled the prey, I could see the Tiercel calling in frustration, not a happy Peregrine.

After a good while she did release to him, what was left was tiny, and she then flew over to the Middle Tower to retire and rest up, likely for the duration of the morning. I also had my camera with my long lense up there and had seen her go, managed to get some half decent shots, although quite distant.

Falcon arriving at Middle Tower

We eventually finished filming and we left the pair in peace, the Falcon resting on the Middle Tower and the Tiercel had layed up on the Abbey.

Falcon

As I had a last look round the London skyline, which was now stunning in the bright sunshine, I could see the buildings/structures of another 5 pairs of Peregrines in the distance, couldn�t have said that a few years back, Peregrines are here to stay!

Full crop and ready to lay up for a few hours

Sunday October 31st

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Had arranged to meet Jules Cox at dawn, he is a professional Wildlife Photographer, the plan was to see if we could get some shots of the Peregrines. Right from the start the weather was against us with overcast grey skies and then persistent rain. The rain was heavy enough to dampen and �ground� both Peregrines unfortunately, both appeared from roost at 6.50am, the Tiercel making straight for the middle tower, and then moving to a stashed kill on the west side. Tiercel with stashed kill It is possible that they actually plan for bad weather knowing that there is not going to be much activity by the no 1 prey species, feral pigeon. Then again I think it is more likely that it is just opportune feeding with prey left over from the previous afternoon, or possibly migrant prey taken during the nocturnal hours. At this time of year it could be night time Redwing or Fieldfare flocks going over or even Woodcock coming in.

Falcon laying up

In the meantime the Falcon had appeared from roost at the same time as the Tiercel, she flew straight out, flew a few circuits and alighted on the south side.

Around 30 minutes later she was joined by the Tiercel and this is where both birds remained for the duration of our visit, rain stopped play unfortunately.

Despite the weather we both managed to get some photo�s sheltering under a tree, Julians photo�s were very impressive even in bad light and rain. I have listed his website below, well worth a visit, especially for the photo�s of Golden and White Tailed Sea Eagles.

http://blog.julescoxphotography.co.uk/

Wildlife Photographer � Jules Cox

Can now also confirm that the last remaining juvenile has at last got the message and has departed, I last saw her on October 2^nd apparently living off the adults scraps with both refusing to feed her. Hopefully she will make it, all the juveniles are carrying an orange leg ring, it will be interesting to see where she and the others turn up if they are seen, I expect Outer London, Inner is getting a bit crowded these days with Peregrines, great to see.

Julian photographing the pair

Autumnwatch - Parliament October 5th

I had been asked by the BBC a short while back to assist in filming of the Parliament Peregrines and also provide some prey from one of the other sites that I monitor. I had recently removed 2 sacks of prey from an East London site and it was this that was used for filming. They had also kindly asked me if I would like to participate in the filming with Chris Packham, this I was very happy to do as I found his approach to wildlife refreshing, also he is quite a funny and very likeable chap.

Chris Packham and myself on Victoria Tower

I arrived at dawn to see if I could locate the pair and also see if the remaining juvenile was still present and had not left. Originally there were 4 juveniles, 2 females, a male and an inbetweenie that I could not sex as its size was between Falcon and Tiercel.3 of the juveniles had left, with a single juvenile remaining with both adults refusing to feed it, it appeared to be existing on the adults left overs. I had also visited on Saturday and the juvenile was repeatedly begging the adults for food relentlessly, neither bird would relent and release prey, the message was clear, it was time to go.

During the course of the morning I managed to locate both adults as well as the juvenile, obviously it had not got the message yet, if it does not go of its own accord soon, the adults will likely �persuade� it to go. The chaps from the BBC arrived around 8.30am with others shortly after, they were able to get straight on to the birds, both adult Tiercel and juvenile were still present, the juvenile could be heard above the din of passing traffic quite clearly.

Juvenile living off adults leftovers

The remainder of the day was spent filming at the top of Victoria Tower with Chris and the camera crew and then descending to Victoria Park to film prey remains identification. Must say I really enjoyed it, as I opened the 2 sacks it was quite obvious that some of the prey was still ripe to say the least. Birds identified were

Many Feral Pigeons

Moorhen

Ring Necked Parakeet

Blackbird

Ringed Plover

Teal � 2 no

Starling

The Ring Necked Parakeets are quite interesting, as mentioned earlier, the prey was taken from an East London site, there was also an additional bird on top of Parliament. From what I can gather Peregrines are one of the few species that will take them as they are quite an aggressive species and have a formidable bite. I have heard of a number of people in London who have seen Sparrowhawks chase them but give up, I have seen this also myself, would be interesting if anyone has seen a Ring Necked Parakeet taken by a Sparrowhawk. The Sparrowhawks may just consider it wise not to risk injury, they are easily capable of taking them, especially the larger female whose speciallity is Wood Pigeon.

Finished the day early afternoon, the prey was taken to Bristol after filming to a friend of mine, Ed Drewitt, he identifies everything, bones, skulls, feathers and all.

Tiercel on middle Tower

Saturday October 2nd

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With half decent weather forecast I decided to visit in the hope of getting some decent photo�s of the adults, and if present, the juveniles. In the half light I searched all the regular roosting spots of the adults and also checked Big Ben for any juveniles, could not locate any birds, much the same as my September 24^th visit.

At 6.35am a female juvenile came out from Victoria Tower from the east facing side, I was not able to check that side as the Park was still locked. She was very vocal, fooding calling from the word go, no adults were around,or it appeared, any other juveniles. At 6.50am the juvenile went for a feral pigeon but gave up the chase halfway through, she returned to Victoria Tower where she continuously food called whilst scanning the sky for the adults. During the next 40 minutes or so, she made 3 half hearted attempts to take prey, everytime it was a feral pigeon, none of the hunts were pressed home and she returned to the Tower every time.

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By now I was sure that 3 of the juveniles had gone and I was looking at the sole remaining juvenile, to me, the fact that she did not show any determination in the hunts showed that she was still reliant on the adults for prey.

At 7.40am her calls suddenly rose in pitch and she flew towards Westminster Abbey, I suspected an adult may have arrived, walking round there, this was confirmed with the adult Tiercel on a ledge with prey. What immediately became apparent was the fact that he was not going to release the prey and had �mantled� it and was looking directly at the juvenile who was going bananas. She even fluffed herself up into threat posture with wings held down low trying to intimidate the male who had probably seen it many times before and just ignored her. Normal behavior for him would be to release the prey to her immediately, his behavior now was telling her it is time to go. The same scenario has very likely been played out with the other 3 juveniles, they had most likely already left going on the adults behavior.

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The message was pretty clear to the juvenile but presumably it was hanging on for the chance of a meal, if it continues to remain the adults will likely drive it off.

It is not going to be easy for the juvenile, there are many pitfalls to becoming independent.

1.At least 30% of juveniles will not make it to there 1^st year.

2.If it has not learnt to hunt successfully from the adults it will likely starve.

3.In London, due to the numbers of pairs that are present all year round, it will be attacked by other Peregrines as it passes through there territory. Eventually it will find a Structure/Building where it can build a territory of its own. This could be in London in the �gaps� between pairs or even further afield. Its natal site will always give it a strong incentive to nest in an urban area.

4.After 2 or 3 years she will be able to breed, it is rare that they breed in there 1^st year.

It will not be easy but you only have to look at the growth of the London population to realise that many do and are returning to the City.

Friday September 24th

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I had not visited since Bank Holiday Monday due to other commitments, work etc, and also Londons growing Peregrine population keeping me on my toes. With the growth in the population, it is now a lot harder trying to keep tabs on the pairs, let alone single birds, each year seems to produce 2 or 3 new pairings. As many will undoubtably know urban Peregrines cannot be left to there own devices, especially at fledging times, London is a dangerous place for a youngster who is about to make his or hers maiden flight. I, along with members of the London Peregrine Partnership work in shifts trying to cover as many sites as possible, with the increased population in Peregrines it becomes harder every year. Dawn found me walking my usual transect, have now got into a pattern so that I can visually cover Victoria Tower, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey for any birds leaving from roost, the weather was awful. Overcast, windy and patchy rain was to be the norm all morning, I would be lucky to get any photo�s.

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At 6.58am, the Tiercel came in with prey from the north, by this time I had convinced myself that the juveniles had gone as they are very vocal and I can usually find them, up until the Tiercel came in, there was not a peep. As soon as he landed, a juvenile female flew out from the west side of Victoria Tower and relieved him of the prey, she then headed off to Westminster Abbey. This site with its wide ledges is becoming the favoured feeding structure, I followed her round there and found not one but 3 juveniles. Quite surprised to see them still in attendance, many do leave the adults a lot earlier. Looking through the scope I decided that of the 4 juveniles, I was looking at the male and 2 females, the other juvenile, not sure of its sex due to its size, I could not find. Despite a thorough search afterwards I could not locate it. It was possible that it had a kill and was feeding somewhere else in the pairs territory, or it may have moved on of its own accord. Sometime very soon, I expect the adults to stop feeding them so that they will have to leave, failing this, the adults will �encourage� them to move on.

The adult Tiercel is still doing the lions share of hunting and it was again interesting to note that all of the juveniles on the Abbey were on prey, the adult Falcon appeared at 8.37am from the north. All the action is taking place pre dawn and then the first hour or 2 from then, could really do with getting up higher over the roof tops and seeing how far they go to take prey, they seem to have an abundance at dawn. Even allowing for stashed prey taken the previous day, I cannot see the adults being allowed by the juveniles to store it for the next morning, they would hassle them non stop, they are always hungry and food calling.

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I left just after 9.00am, both adults and juveniles had settled into there rest positions so it looked as if there would be no more activity Migration is now well under way with 17 Barn Swallows and 9 House Martins seen going north, also came across 3 calling Chiffchaffs in Victoria Park Gardens, seems to have been a good year for these as they seem to be everywhere.

Bank Holiday Monday

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With decent weather forecast for the Bank Holiday, I decided to visit to see if the juveniles were still around at Parliament or had moved on to pastures new.

Arrived at 5.30a.m, bought my wife Christine with me as well, she likes the birds and also the history of the area, she was just about functioning at this time of morning. Clear skies promised a good morning so hoped to get in some photography and some decent photo�s. English weather these days seems to be constant westerly winds and grey overcast skies, as any photographer will tell you, you have got to have decent light.

In the half light I had already scanned the north, south and western sides of Victoria Tower trying to locate the adults, no luck with either bird, with a strong north westerly it was possible that they had roosted on the eastern side facing the Thames to avoid the wind. This proved the case with both adults emerging from this side at 5.55a.m, both flew straight to Westminster Abbey, the Tiercel landed but the Falcon carried straight on west towards St. James Park. A further 20 minutes elapsed with the Tiercel still in position on the Abbey, by th time I had convinced myself that the juveniles had indeed dispersed to find there own way in the world.

Tiercel from roost

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At around 6.25am the Falcon came in with prey to the Abbey, a feral pigeon, and as if by magic, a hungry horde appeared. 3 juveniles came in from the direction of Big Ben, the Falcon immediately handing the feral over to a female juvenile who mantled it to keep the other juv�s at bay. The noise was quite deafening, even the road noise could not drown it out. What the attraction is with Big Ben, I do not know, the obvious noise every hour does not seem to put them off, as mentioned earlier in the diary, they do roost on it.Why not roost on the Abbey? It may be that they possibly prefer there own space rather than roosting on Victoria Tower with the adults.

With one of the juveniles now feeding, the remaining 2 started to food call which the Tiercel could not ignore, he immediately headed off north, the Falcon in the meantime had already departed west. Shortly after this the remaining juvenile showed up so bringing together the brood of 4, all on Westminster Abbey. The juveniles have now been present since July 10^th at least, this is when I first saw them at Parliament, so they have been present for around 7 weeks, in this time I have not seen them take prey for themselves. Such is the abundance of feral pigeon in London, the adults are not having any trouble keeping prey supplied, if there was a prey shortage, they would very likely be weaned earlier and sent on there way. Without doubt they will go in September some time, in all honesty I thought the male(s) would have gone by now.

Juvenile with prey

Juv waiting for prey

Juvenile with feral pigeon prey

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At 6.43a.m the Tiercel came in with another kill, again feral pigeon, this again was claimed by one of the juveniles and the Tiercel flew to the upper ledges of the Abbey. Shortly after this at 7.02am the Falcon came in with prey, this was taken by the juvenile male. Again the Falcon departed, this time in the direction of Victoria Palace, as I watched her go the adult Tiercel started to �chack chack � repeatedly. His agitation soon became apparent when a Grey Heron appeared flying towards the Abbey, it was too much and too close for the Tiercel who immediately attacked it and mobbed it until it left the area. Grey Herons are seen as a threat by many species, namely Birds of Prey, Crows especially and also Gulls. Grey Herons take many small bird species right up to Blackbird size. As I watched the Tiercel return he suddenly turned in to the wind and gained height with rapid wingbeats, I looked up and there was 3 feral pigeons going over. As soon as he had gained the height he went in to a fast � power flight � catching them quite easy but failed on 4 attempted takes, each time latching on to a different target as he cast up after his dive. After the 4^th attempt he gave up, energy will not be wasted on continued chases when he will know that prey is plentiful. This is the first time I have seen him chase prey, with so many large buildings around, he just disappears out of eyesight.

He returned to Westminster Abbey and that is where I left him, still waiting for another passing feral pigeon, he has endless patience, he knows that others will be along.

Magpies catching some rays

Juvenile on the Abbey

Juvenile

Resting

Friday August 13th

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Not the best day to be visiting if you are superstitious but none the less arrived at dawn to catch up with the adults and, hopefully the juveniles.

The first sighting was of a male juvenile straight from roost on Victoria Tower at 5.20am, he flew the short distance to the Abbey, flight was very labored owing to the overcast and rather cold conditions, rather surprised it was not the adult Tiercel. Shortly after this 3 juveniles appeared from Big Ben�s upper structure, again roosting on the clock, as mentioned before how they can put up with the nightly noise is beyond me. I have also noticed this in other London pairs, some pairs do have a very large tolerance to anything audible.

Juv on Victoria Tower

Juvenile on Abbey

Juv male on Abbey

Juveniles

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After a while all 3 set off over towards the Embankment, calling loudly, much too the dismay of the small Lesser Black Backed Gull colony, usual panic even though the Gull juveniles are fledged and full grown.

Scanned the Abbey again and the juv male was still present.At 5.28am I heard the juv�s coming back again, they were following the adult Tiercel who was carrying prey, all made for the Abbey where the prey was taken by a female juvenile, usual feral pigeon.15 minutes later the adult Falcon turned up, she also had prey with her, this was again taken by the 2^nd female juvenile. All in all , from 5.28 to 6.50am both adults hunted and took 3 definate feral pigeons and a 4^th bird that may have been a Starling. Both adults had not fed themselves as far as I could see, crops were not full,if they had, I would very likely have noticed them. What was unusual was the fact that both adults were not present at dawn, so they had either roosted elsewhere or they had left the roost in darkness. With Londons illuminated lighting and also other pairs hunting at night, there is the possibility that they had set off in pre dawn and waited at favoured hunting spots.

One of the juveniles has got me puzzled as to its sex, there are 4, 2 are definitely female and the other single is a male. It is very apparent when they are together but one juvenile seems like an � in between��size is between male and female.

Westminster Abbey

The Abbey

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Both adults are excellent hunters to take prey in that short time period, I have seen other pairs/Tiercels go for hours and hours, hunt after hunt before they finally took prey.

The wide ledges of Westminster Abbey�s upper structure is the favoured place to feed with the adults making a bee line for it every time, and having spoken to some of the Abbey staff, everyone is aware of the Peregrines since the juveniles arrived. As yet I have not seen any of the juveniles take prey, all are still reliant on the adults for food. As there seems a never ending supply of feral pigeon, it could well be that the adults will tolerate there presence for another 2 or 3 weeks, possibly more, if there was a shortage of prey, it could well be a different story. Hopefully they will stick around a while, there low level flying around Parliament early morning is very spectacular and a pleasure to watch.

Young male

Juv female arriving at Victoria Tower with prey

Sunday July 25th

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The usual dawn start in the half light at around 4.40am had me searching for any roosting birds. Victoria Palace has so many niches and small alcoves the birds including the juveniles can tuck themselves right in and they can be very hard to find. This was the case on Sunday morning, try as I might I could not locate one Peregrine out of the 6 that were possibly present. I t was also possible that they could be roosting elsewhere (juveniles) but the adults I expected to locate.

Weather was not ideal with light rain so I was not expecting much activity early on. At this time of day, Victoria Park is closed so it was not possible to check the east and south sides of Victoria Tower so I waited.

First to emerge was the Tiercel at 5.00am on the dot, he came from the east side, with a westerly wind ,his roost position would not be exposed to the elements. Falcon out, again from the east side at 5.02am, straight to Westminster Abbey, in the meantime the Tiercel went north, flight was powerful. At 5.12am a female juvenile came off Big Ben closely followed a male juvenile, how they could spend the night roosting there with the noise is beyond me, as usual they started to call straight away. With the arrival of the juveniles on Parliament, the constant calling and low level flying means they are getting noticed more than the adults. The security police stationed all round the area along with some tourist�s are watching the juveniles antics at times and I must admit it is very entertaining and spectacular. Believe it or not but the tourists start to appear at around 5.00am, they are just suddenly there.

At 5.22am another juv came off Big Ben, am beginning to wonder what the attraction is to the juveniles, obviously noise is not a problem, maybe one goes there and the rest follow as they may still act loosely as a family unit. Possibly they feel more secure being nearer to each other even though it has been a good few weeks since they fledged.