Quite some female and news of some juveniles

Our female peregrine has done very well over the years that we have watched her.
She was first seen in 2004/5 and has been present ever since, along with her trusty mate.
As we wait for her ninth clutch of eggs to hatch, here are some statistics about her:

• The first year she bred (in 2006, soon after we put the platform up) three eggs.hatched.

Our successful female......photo: Colin Pass

• In the subsequent eight years she laid four eggs each year, making a total to date of 35 eggs.
• Obviously, this year's eggs have yet to hatch but in the previous eight seasons, only two of the 31 eggs she laid failed to hatch (in 2007), though we don't know why.
• Of the 29 eggs that did hatch, 27 chicks went on to fledge (leave the nest)
• In 2010, two small chicks died in the nest.
• Of the chicks that fledged we know rather little. All we do know is as follows:
• In 2009, one female broke her neck by flying into glass screens on top of a nearby building. She's now been set up as a museum specimen and we use her at events to show people what a peregrine looks like.

Our taxidernied juvenile female, complete with rings

In the same year, another newly fledged female damaged her wing and could not be released back into the wild. She is called 'Cathy' and she has been looked after for us since then by Colin Pass, a local falconer, to whom we owe many thanks.

recent picture of Cathy, now in adult plumage 

At the moment we are looking for a new keeper for Cathy since Colin doesn't have sufficient room to house her properly any more. We'll let you know when we have found someone willing and suitably experienced to look after her...she's very tolerant of people so if her new owner is willing, perhaps they could bring her to the cathedral occasionally when we have events there. Watch this space!

Last summer we were contacted by a bird watcher in North Yorkshire who had seen a colour ringed female peregrine at a nest up there. We strongly suspect this bird is 002, a female ringed in 2007 and we hope to get a decent photo of her leg sometime this summer to clinch this.

Ringed female peregrine photographed in Yorkshire 

This would be the first of our juveniles which we have proved to be breeding somewhere else - exciting for her and for us!
Finally, a juvenile from our brood of 2012 was recently found injured near Alfreton and is now in the care of a very experienced falconer. This bird, a male, is now almost two years old. He seems to have a damaged elbow joint and another vet will be checking him out shortly. Apparently he's now eating well and putting on weight - but it looks possible that he will never be able to fly in the wild again.
More information about him will follow as soon as we get it.
Clearly, our female has been a successful bird - even if she lays no more eggs in her life, her record so far is very good. We know that the first year in the life of any juvenile is fraught with dangers and that many, probably most, don't survive into adulthood. But having fledged 27 young so far, we would hope that at least a handful are still alive and breeding somewhere else in the UK....the Yorkshire bird being just one of them!

Whilst we celebrate these breeding successes, the sad fact is that parts of northern Derbyshire and the Peak District are still no-go areas for all birds of prey - indeed, for any species that is deemed by shooting interests to interfere with the management of grouse moors, even on land owned by the National Trust. Our National Parks should be full of  raptors, but they are silent. And questions are being asked as to how this has been allowed to continue. More on this later.

Nick B/Nick Moyes