Aylesbury Peregrines
You are looking at the nest site of a pair of Peregrine Falcons, situated on the 12th floor of the Buckinghamshire Council building in Aylesbury town centre.
Peregrines are the fastest animal on the planet and can reach speeds in excess of 200mph.
They are an apex predator who catch and kill live birds on the wing - as such the footage here may contain gory images.
Peregrines first appeared on County Hall in 2007 and the nest platform was erected in 2010. They first attempted to breed in 2011 and birds have been present ever since.
The female is larger and greyer than the male. Our current male has a metal ring on his leg but we don't know where he is from.
Peregrines are awesome and exhilarating birds! We are very lucky to be able to watch these wonderful birds up close and personal.
Our pair continue to incubate the 4 eggs, it must be very boring, especially for the fastest animal on the planet who just loves to move !
They've still got a way to go, but you can see them changing over periodically and that they don't leave their precious eggs alone now.
The High Wycombe pair have 4 eggs and are much closer to hatching than our birds in Aylesbury.
The pair inside StadiumMK have also got 4 eggs, this is great as new pairs (it's a new female) sometimes have less. Interestingly the 4th egg laid in the Stadium appears to be pure white !!
So it has been a very busy period, the peregrines at Wycombe have eggs and i'm really pleased to report we have at least one as well. In fact the pairs have just done a swap and we have three eggs in our clutch.
We have had eggs probably for the last four or five days. I'll get Mike to work out when they are likely to hatch and we can keep a close eye on them.
The camera's are running 24/7 so we shouldn't miss anything
Are we ready ?
The 2025 Breeding Season is upon us. The platform had a good clean over the winter and new gravel is in place in the 'nest area' . Our pair have been very active in the last few weeks, with lots pf pair bonding going on - like the male bringing the female a meal at times. I watched a little last weekend, and again today and the pair are copulating (mating) a lot ! This is a good sign, as the more copulations increases the chance of more eggs.
The male was also in 'the scrape' today, doing a bit of scraping and tidying things up, so they look pretty set. Unusually this pair seem to like plucking lots of the prey on the platform, hopefully this habit will diminish as the season progresses. When I was sorting the flatform last month I found the remains of a Ring-necked Parakeet, an invasive species that just appears to be getting a toe hold in Aylesbury.
You've still got chance to witness our Peregrines in courtship display/ flight, it is breath taking, so an early morning trip to town before eggs arrive puts you in with a good chance.
Enjoy watching the fastest animal on planet earth - bird number 1 !
Mike
Our chick successfully fledged (took it's first flight) on Monday morning, and managed a strong enough flight to land back on the building. He then interrupted meetings as he sat outside a meeting room on the 6th floor for much of the day.
There was then some concern that he'd gone missing, but he hasn't :)
Early yesterday morning I paid a visit to County Hall to see if I could locate him, initially it wasn't looking good when I could see both adults but no chick. But then I heard and saw the chick fly in and land on the very top of the building on the East side on the lift tower at the north end where he stayed. He was calling to the proud parents who were both on the nest platform.
So whilst it's still a dangerous time for our chick, he has completed his first few flights and with each flight he'll get stronger and stronger and more agile.
It's a spectacular time to watch these birds live, in the field, as the chick interacts with his parents, so try and get to the town and enjoy.
Mike :)