An adult female peregrine corpse was discovered and retrieved from the roof of the cathedral recently.
It was long dead with just bones and feathers remaining. It was unringed. It is not possible to age the bird or gain much if any further data from it though we are still exploring who if anyone may be willing to analyse it.
The large talons and wide tarsus were indicate of a female (males are smaller in every respect)
Some of the bird's primary (flight) wing feathers
This bird may be the female which has been breeding at the cathedral since 2006 but which went missing earlier this year. Or perhaps it is one of possibly two new females that were seen during lockdown.
The suspicion is that these females had been fighting for control of the tower and that, in the process, one might have killed an other.
If it is our resident female, then she has done us proud over the many years she has 'ruled the roost' and raised so many young.
I guess we will never know.
Nick B for the Project team
