Falcon found dead in Derby

Yesterday morning (12th) we were contacted by Derby Cathedral who had been handed the corpse of a peregrine falcon.

It had been found dead below the cathedral's tower, near seating on Irongate. It weighed 1.04kg which makes it a female. The smaller males always weigh much less.
She looked to have been in good shape before she died. There were no obvious signs of injury or feather damage which might have suggested she had been involved in a fight with another falcon or collided with the tower.

An X-ray carried out today for us by Blenheim Veterinary Centre in Ashbourne showed no signs of any gunshot or broken bones. (An X-ray of a male peregrine found dead near a nest site in Belper a few years ago showed clear evidence of shotgun pellets in the bird's body.) So perhaps she died of a disease, even of bird flu. 

Meanwhile, so far there's no clear evidence from the webcams, or from the ground, that there are still two birds present. So currently we are working on the assumption that this is the female from our Derby pair, rather than an intruder which has been fought off, injured and died. 
If so, this is very sad, but it won't spell the end for Derby's peregrines falcons. This situation has occurred before over the years and, thanks to conservation work like ours up and down the UK, we now know there will be unmated birds moving through the area in due course, which could be enticed by our resident male to form a new pair. This could happen in weeks or months - we will have to wait and see.

We initially intended to collect the corpse in order to send it on to the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme who undertake analysis to look for signs of disease, poisoning or other injuries. However, that scheme has been put on hold at the moment because of the current bird flu epidemic. Instead, we have arranged for DEFRA to collect the corpse from us and conduct a series of tests which will show whether bird flu was present and, if not, what other disease symptoms were present. The results may well take quite a while to come back to us.

You, as webcam watchers, can also help us by keeping your eyes open for signs of two birds together and by leaving a note in the comments section of this blog post if you do.

Obviously, we appreciate how hard it can be to distinguish the smaller male from the larger female when there's only just one bird in view. But knowing whether people online or shoppers out walking in Derby city centre have seen two peregrines at the same time would be immensely helpful. Two of our most regular watchers, Kate and Wendy, have already sent us some screenshots which we'll be looking at to see if it changes our initial ideas of what's been happening.

And, meanwhile, for those of you wondering about the state of our nest platform, and what we're doing about it, be assured that we are currently looking at the best way forward to ensure that peregrine falcons continue to nest and breed on Derby Cathedral for years to come. 

The Project Team (currently Nick M and Nick B)

This project is managed by DWT in partnership with The Cathedral and the City Council's IT team.