Yorkshire Coast Peregrines

Yorkshire Coast Peregrines

It was late winter when the Peregrine Falcons paired up on our coastline. In an area of almost 70 Mile we were lucky to observe Peregrine Falcons in 10 Individual places. Some were just single birds, and in other places they were pairs.

This blog post is about one of those pairs who first paired up back in February. The pair laid eggs in March and incubated through April with 4 tiny white chicks being born in Early May.

Baby Peregrines Being fed By Parent. The Image Was shot at 600mm and is massively cropped (Hence the poor quality). The birds have no idea they are being watched.

Baby Peregrines Being fed By Parent. The Image Was shot at 600mm and is massively cropped (Hence the poor quality). The birds have no idea they are being watched.

As well as the weather and numerous natural threats to the Peregrines we are also very much aware of threats from humans, Egg Collecting apparently still takes place, Eggs or young Peregrines are also known to be stolen and sold for profit.

Its also reported that over the years, Pigeon Fanciers have also been known to harm Peregrine Falcons as its claimed the Peregrine kills their racing birds. Im not too sure if this really is the case though. Perhaps the pigeon is what the city birds eat, but the coastal Peregrines we have watched for the past couple of years seem to feed on nothing but shore wading birds and young Kittiwakes.

With the many known threats to Peregrines myself and a close friend decided to keep as close a watch as possible on the birds whilst not disturbing them at the nest site. For weeks on end we visited the cliffs and watched through binoculars or our tele focal camera Lenses. We made a vow that anyone seen to be recklessly disturbing the birds, stealing or damaging their eggs and young would be photographed and reported to the authorities.

Through May and June we watched the 4 young peregrines grow from white balls of fluff to birds of almost adult size that were ready to fledge the nest. On hot days they would all sit in the back of the nest and on cooler days they would often sit towards the front. Over that time period the male bird brought food to the nest in the early days, then both parents took turns as the young grew larger.

Peregrine Chicks, starting to get their adult feathers.

Peregrine Chicks, starting to get their adult feathers.

When the chicks were first born, the parents would tare up small pieces of meat for them to eat. By the middle of June the parent Peregrines were bringing whole kittiwake chicks back to the nest and leaving them in the nest for their young to tare up themselves.

One day I watched the male bird bring 2 kittiwakes chicks to the nest in quick succession, then he came around the corner again with a third kittiwake chick, this one being swapped in mid air with his partner. It really was a privilege to sit and watch mother nature at work like this.

Adult Peregrine Falcon Arrives Back At The Nest With A Kittiwake Chick For The Young. One of the 4 Peregrine Chick has fledged by this point and is being fed separately away from the nest.

Adult Peregrine Falcon Arrives Back At The Nest With A Kittiwake Chick For The Young. One of the 4 Peregrine Chick has fledged by this point and is being fed separately away from the nest.

What amazed us most was that all four of the eggs had hatched and all four of the young were maturing well. From what we have been told, its quite rare for all the eggs to hatch and for the young to all still be alive and well.

In mid June we noted one of the young was often laid down. The runt of the brood looked ill and walked with a limp. We wondered if he would make it out of the nest alive.

As June wore on, and one by one, the baby Peregrines began to Fledge. It was then that mother nature dealt them a very bad hand indeed, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

With 2 Peregrines now fledged from the nest the weather turned bad, very bad in-fact. A deep low pressure system, unusual for mid summer, was on its way in from The Atlantic. Fog, torrential rain and strong northerly winds were on the cards for 4 days in succession.

It was on the first day of the bad weather that we found one of the Peregrine babies (Not so small now), tangled in a barbed wire fence on the cliff top. It was very upsetting to see and we really didn’t know what to do for the best.

Peregrine Falcon Chick Hit the Barbed Wire On His First Flight

Peregrine Falcon Chick Hit the Barbed Wire On His First Flight

First of all we got the bird upright and sat him in the long grass. The youngster looked shattered and very stressed by his experience. We did wonder if the impact had broke his wings. We contemplated what to do. The options were :

1. To leave him alone and hope his parents found him and fed him before he would fly back over the cliff edge. However we also realised he was very vulnerable with Dog walkers known to pass often with their dogs off the lead. We also thought he may be attacked by a fox or a badger. Although I was certain it would be a brave fox to take him on given the size of his talons.

2. Wrap him up and take him to Alexandra at The Whitby Animal rescue. I wanst so keen on doing this, as taking an animal away from its own environment and its parents would only be a last resort. Although the bird was stressed, I felt if it rested a while it would probably recover and fly off.

3. Move the bird down the cliff side onto a safe ledge where passers by with dogs couldn’t harm it accidentally.

Having sat the bird upright, we opted for option one. Leaving the bird where it was, my friend said he would return at dawn to see how it was getting on.

As we walked away, a couple walked past with 4 dogs which instantly went towards the Peregrine Chick. A quick chat with the dog owners and the dogs were put on leads and led away.

That made our mind up to move the young bird down the cliffside. We wrapped him in a coat and climbed a little way down the cliff leaving the youngster on a perch which we knew the parent birds often frequented. Myfriend returned the next morning and then rang me to say the youngster had gone and was nowhere in sight.

Now the weather turned bad, horrendous in-fact. Thick fog, driving wind and rain meant it was going to be hard times for the peregrine family. Would they still be alive when we went back ? Four days passed and all I could do was think about the youngsters fledging the nest in that weather. Could they possibly survive it. Had the past months and all that hard work of their parents been for nothing. The weather couldn’t have come at a worse time, thats for sure.

To be continued.

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