Tag: falcon

Little and Large

Unfledged youngster on the right, fledged bird eating prey brought in by adult on the left

As I may possibly have previously mentioned ( see this post, or this post for example) I’m a bit of a raptor nut. My favourite species is the peregrine. In 1979 I did my first species protection contract for the RSPB, keeping watch on two peregrine eyries in north Wales that were regularly robbed by falconers. The nesting sites were very distant and I barely saw the birds themselves! Most of my work consisted of driving a particular stretch of road looking for dodgy characters and checking off car registration plates against a list I was provided with. However things improved in the early 1980’s when I monitored peregrines (and other species) on the Isle of Mull and northern England for the RSPB; then in Ceredigion as a volunteer in 1983, and the following year just inside the Arctic Circle in Greenland. My activities then gradually shifted towards a full-time photography career and I soon had no time for birding. Now I have more time again and I’m spending more time watching and monitoring raptors.

Enough of the background! My point is that I know my peregrines.

I was surprised to discover in 2021 that peregrines had returned to nest in inland Ceredigion and I began occasionally visiting two cliff nesting sites near my home. In 2023, one pair reared three young and did so again in 2024. This year I visited the cliff at the beginning of May, then again at the end of the month. It was clear from the latter visit that they were using the usual ledge (an old raven nest) and probably had small young. By June 19th two young were visible and the interesting thing was that one appeared to be up to 14 days younger than the other. One looked full grown although it still had flecks of white down adhering to its body; it was exercising its wings vigorously. Comparing its appearance to the illustrations in “The Peregrine Falcon” (Derek Ratcliffe) it looked about five weeks old. The other was small and downy all over with stumpy little wings, and looked about 3 weeks old. .

My next visit was on June 30th. When I arrived both young were on the nest together; they were pretty much identical in appearance. It looked as if the younger bird had “caught up” with its sibling. Very soon one flew from the nest and landed clumsily in the ivy above the nest. After some time it flew and visited a number of different ledges before landing in full view of the other youngster, as seen in the main picture. In flight it looked confident and skilful. How long ago it had fledged I couldn’t tell. The nestling was clearly desperate to fly, standing on the edge of the nest, screaming and flapping its wings furiously. Several times it appeared to run from the back of the ledge to the front, and then slammed on the brakes. It just wasn’t confident enough to take the plunge into the outside world. After a while one of the adults arrived carrying prey, ready plucked and glistening bright crimson in the sunshine. It dumped the prey on the ledge next to the fledged youngster, leaving its poor sibling flapping and screaming even louder!

I was able to document this photographically, but I must emphasise that I was very distant from the cliff to avoid causing any disturbance. To have done so would have been illegal and also pointless, because natural behaviour patterns would have been disrupted. The photos themselves are not great, having been taken from afar and then cropped drastically. But they do the job.

Derek Ratcliffe’s masterwork “The Peregrine Falcon”, published in 1980, is a superb and comprehensive example of a monograph on a particular species. But there is no mention in it of such a wide age difference between peregrine youngsters, so I wonder how common this phenomenon might be and how it happened. This snapshot in the life of a peregrine family was absolutely fascinating. It might seem that the adult behaviour was cruel. But it is typical bird of prey behaviour designed to encourage the youngster to leave the nest if it wants food. The little thing was desperate to go but this most momentous event in its short life was yet to come.

NB. I haven’t added images of the nestlings individually or together (showing the age difference) as they would be too small. However if anyone would like to see them, just let me know.

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Peregrinations (part two).

Part of the remains of the Cwm Coke Works, near Beddau

A couple of weeks ago I drove down to Cardiff with my mate Jonathan to see Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets at St David’s Hall. Nick was one of the founder members of Pink Floyd. A few years ago he put together a band to play music from “the Floyd’s” earlier and arguably most creative years, prior to Dark Side of the Moon. No Roger Waters dirges here, thank you very much! The gig, originally scheduled for spring 2020, was postponed, postponed again, and then again. You had to hope that Nick would still be fit enough to eventually play. That Wednesday, it finally happened, and he was. I don’t think he could be described as the most original or inventive drummer in the world, but he sets a rock-solid foundation for the other musicians around him. At the age of 78, it is astonishing that he is still able to undertake gruelling sequences of one – night stands, and to keep alive some of the most compelling rock music of all time.

I won’t say much more about the music, other than this : both Jonathan and I are of the opinion that the 22-minute long track “Echoes” (on the album Meddle) is one of the most sublime pieces of rock music ever created. I personally believe it should, and eventually probably will, be considered alongside the great classical music of its era. I had been worried that I wouldn’t be able to cope with experiencing it live. But as we left the venue we agreed that the version of Echoes which ended the second set was a bit of a let-down. It was as if the band were wary of reproducing the space and tranquility which so permeates the studio version. Or perhaps they were unable to do so?

But I digress. My next encounter with peregrines, on the way back from Cardiff, was in a very different setting to the previous one; from the sublime to the ridiculous, you could say. I have briefly visited the Cwm Coke Works site twice in recent years. It only finally closed down in 2002, so I must also have seen it in all its working glory on earlier visits to the Valleys. I just wish I had given it the time it deserved as photographic subject matter, because this extensive site is now derelict and rapidly being demolished. Last summer I heard the unmistakeable calls of peregrines there so vowed to re-visit the site during the breeding season if at all possible.

The Coke Works bar and coffee shop, Beddau. (Mural hand-painted by Jenny Ross)

At first it was very quiet. A raven was calling and song birds singing from the woodland which is rapidly regenerating around the site. Then came the sounds of two peregrines in conversation. I spotted one bird circling low around the building in the main picture and shortly later J. picked out the female hunched down in the dirt on an inaccessible part of the site. Later the male brought her some food, and when she stood up you could see two tiny white downy bundles beside her. It is worth mentioning here that at the time Derek Ratcliffe wrote his masterwork The Peregrine Falcon (publ. 1980) it was virtually unknown for the species to nest on man-made structures in the UK : now it is commonplace. I suppose this site gives the birds all the security they need, but it was strange to see such dignified creatures in such delapidated surroundings.

A group of naturalists appeared on the coal tip behind us and I discovered that one member of the party was Carys Romney, who I had also met by chance on a previous visit. She is an ecologist and the leading light behind the Cwm Tips Appreciation Society. She told me about her new venture – a peregrine- and cwm tips-themed bar/coffee shop in the ex-mining village of Beddau a couple of miles away. As you can see from the picture above, there are some fabulous murals there by the artist Jenny Ross, and I can certainly vouch for the quality of the coffee! So why not give the Cokeworks Bar a visit if you find yourself in the area?

NB : I hesitated before posting details of the peregrines, but it should be noted how well-known and valued the birds are locally; and how they are protected by some very keen site security staff.

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