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.
An interesting couple of days regarding the prey taken, almost certainly overnight as migratory birds use the cover of darkness, but Peregrines in towns/ cities use the artificial light to their advantage. Yesterday morning the female had a dead Snipe on the platform which she proceeded to eat. This morning most of the feathers on the platform were from a feral pigeon, but there is a Redwing (a winter thrush) on the window sill to the left of the picture, Redwings are very nocturnal when migrating.
The pair on the Church in High Wycombe have their first egg today :)
So the problem of having the cameras streaming in the background when you are working is that if you see something exciting you tend to react. Lets just say that parts of the NHS are now hooked on the peregrine cameras. Today in my 0930 meeting I had as usual the cameras on in the back ground and at around about 0950 the birds were mating on camera. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get a screen shot, however my entire team at work now know the peregrines are active.
Things are looking good for this years season!
We are back live streaming the Peregrines at the top of Bucks County tower. As many of you will know over the years we have always had the support of the Bucks Bird Club (BBC). This time the club have come to the rescue in providing a new home for the cameras to stream on.
So far this year the birds have been very active with the male and female visiting the scrape on a regular basis. Cross fingers this year we will get a clutch of eggs that we can watch hatch and take flight.
Mike and I will update the blog as often as we can and we hope you enjoying watching our feathered residents again this year.
