The Peregrines Are Back At Winchester Cathedral

[OurCreature]

But they are no longer Winnie and William; it's best explained by this quote from the Cathedral website dated 13 March.

Winnie and her partner William returned to the Cathedral three weeks ago, but after a few days a different female arrived on the scene, and clearly she was interested in taking Winnie’s place. This happens quite often and is how the younger birds replace the older ones.

As you may have read, Winnie was found dead the next day, and although we don’t know what happened exactly, it is obvious that both females clashed and Winnie was not the winner on that occasion. She was at least 15 years old and had nested in the city since 2011, and raised at least 27 chicks to fledge.

Life goes on, and the new female is getting on well with William. The Cathedral have given her the name Mel, and you can see the background to this in the announcement (on the webpage) below.

Both birds are visiting the nest tray more and more as we get closer to egg-laying in the coming weeks. At this stage, they can occasionally be seen bowing to each other, but in particular look out for them making a dent in the soft shingle. Either bird (but mostly Mel) will push their breast against the shingle and push forward to make a dent. They do this most days – and apart from making a dent, it reinforces their relationship with the nest. We are hoping that Mel will lay eggs in the next two weeks.

https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk ... eregrines/

[OurCreature]

I 've just had a look at the webcam; one peregrine was in the nest box finishing off a titbit and when it looked as if it had finished the other one, perched on the gully wall, started leaning forward and raising its rear end in the air. At this, the first peregrine took off and returned seconds later and mated with the peregrine on the gully wall.

So it was William eating the titbit while Mel watched, waited, and seduced him!

Now Mel is in the nest box - you can certainly see the size difference between her and William. The latter didn't eat all of his titbit so Mel is finishing it off for him.

[Furby]

I feel sad that Winnie has been killed. I suppose her days were numbered only having one big chick last year.

[OurCreature]

I feel sad that Winnie has been killed.

So did I, Furby. Especially as she had been a successful mother for many years. I wondered in my last words for the peregrines' 2023 season:-

So that's the end of the peregrines' breeding for another year and next year who knows? Will Winnie still have her nest box or will it be a new female?

However, as the bird man says in his regular posts on the Cathedral website, it is nature's way of the young birds replacing the old though it's clearly unusual for the losing bird to sustain fatal injuries.

[Patience]

Peregrines in Cathedrals seems to be a thing.

This tweet amused me greatly.

https://x.com/jayhulmepoet/status/17733 ... 34308?s=46

[eccles]

St John's Church in Bath has a nesting pair.

In Bristol the peregrines use a more traditional site, that of the Avon Gorge at Clifton. A friend of mine has regularly photographed them by standing on the edge of the gorge on the wrong side of the fence
Not for me. Unlike Merry I'm not bothered by bridges but that goes too far.

[OurCreature]

Over in Leeds a pair of peregrines are nesting in the Parkinson Building clock tower (on the outside) at the University so they have a wonderful view of the city.

I often climbed those stairs from the road, passing through a massive central hall on my way to the Brotherton Library which was at the back of the Parkinson Building. It was a huge library and you weren't allowed to take briefcases etc inside to discourage theft of the reference books that had to stay in the library. Everybody left their briefcases by the door, including me; remarkably mine never got stolen though I suppose a few of them did. However, I made sure that mine was as empty as it could be when I left it there.

[OurCreature]

Still no eggs in the Cathedral nest box.

[Furby]

Still no eggs. Serves them right for killing poor old Winnie doesnt it.

[OurCreature]

I think Mel has laid an egg. I saw her on the nest box earlier today looking like she was brooding. She's on the gully wall now, so I can see the egg which is very well camouflaged against the gravel in the box. She's a bit late - I think most peregrines started laying their eggs a month ago.

[Furby]

There's two brown eggs this morning.

[OurCreature]

Thanks, Furby. Mel has been brooding them both times I've looked.

Mel is now having a late lunch so I could see the two eggs. The Diary has been updated and they think she will lay one more egg, perhaps tomorrow. Meanwhile the last chick reared to fledge by Winnie and William last year has been spotted in New Milton; somebody took a pic of Rosie being seen off by a resident male so she had got too close to another peregrines' nest. Rosie is still what they call a juvenile, and won't start breeding until 2025.

[Furby]

Ah that is nice. With Rosie being an only chick we go to see her more didn't we. Only a dead pidgeon for a friend for days on end it was quite sad. Glad to read she is alive and well. I did wonder if chicks return to their baby nests but I suppose not will have been taken over by others by time old enough.

[Furby]

In the write up it says there are three eggs now down from four as one fell out the nest.

I can only see two today.

[OurCreature]

They must have corrected the write-up since you saw it, Furby, because for today they don't mention four eggs - they just say that the third egg fell from the nest box and they show a pic of it in the gap between the nest box and the cathedral wall on Mel's left. They also say that perhaps Mel will be content with two eggs.

It would be good if she is content with two eggs, because it's very late now and a 3rd egg chick might not survive to fledge through lack of food and competition from the other two chicks, assuming both the earlier eggs hatch. Rosie hatched last year on 1 May.

[Furby]

They said one egg fell off but she would lay another one to replace it but maybe she didn't bother. After laying an egg and it falling out the nest seems a good plan to be content with 2 eggs.