A Peregrine Returns To Winchester Cathedral.

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 8:35 pm

A milestone for chick Rosie - I've just seen her up on the wall with Winnie!

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Wed Jun 07, 2023 8:43 pm

Getting ready for her first flight?

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Thu Jun 08, 2023 8:29 am

She was flapping her wings a lot as well, I was surprised at how fast she could flap them. According to the accompanying blog on the Cathedral website her first flight probably will be in a few days time.

Last year the 2 chicks liked to take it in turns to jump/fly up a few feet and perch on a window ledge near the nest box before they properly took to the wing.

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Thu Jun 08, 2023 7:34 pm

The parents are giving chick Rosie food to deal with by herself.

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Fri Jun 16, 2023 7:23 am

Last month I was bothered about a dead bird at the door end of the gully. Apparently this was a food cache.

The website has explained that if a peregrine brings home some food that their little family doesn't actually want to eat just now they leave it to be dealt with later and, as Furby and I observed, the chick was very interested in the dead bird. I'm not sure that the peregrines ever got round to eating this cache. The latest article on the website also mentioned that most of what William caught was cached to be eaten later; he rarely fed the chick directly, leaving that job to Winnie. Sometimes he took food from the cache, but always let Winnie know that he was about to do that.

There's usually a fair bit to tidy up after the peregrines have left the gully and nest box.

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Fri Jun 16, 2023 9:27 pm

I've learned from the Hampshire Chronicle online that Rosie made her first flight on Tuesday this week.

https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/ne ... irst-time/

Furby · Post by **Furby** » Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:00 am

I wondered if it had flown off because hardly ever see it now when I look on the camera.

Good news that though only one chick hatched its had a happy ending. So far anyway its quite sad most of them don't survive the next year but aren't on camera for the next stages.

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:19 am

As Furby says, Rosie rarely perches on the gully wall now, and her parents will be teaching her how to catch her prey and I suppose starting to roost away from the Cathedral. 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?

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Sat Jun 17, 2023 5:38 pm

Great news that Rosie has fledged. Thanks for all the updates.