Peregrine FAQs

Peregrine falcons are wild birds; they choose their own nesting sites. They have been nesting in the Bell Tower at the Town Hall in Leamington for a few years now.

Traditionally Peregrine Falcons nest on cliff faces where the female will scrape a shallow hollow in the loose soil, sand, gravel or dead vegetation where she will lay her eggs. We suspect that they are choosing inland sites because all their rural, cliff-nesting haunts have become saturated and so urban locations, often replicating cliffs, are the next best thing. There is also plenty of food in towns/cities and on the outskirts. 

Now that more birds are choosing to nest in land on high buildings they are unable to make their scrape meaning that sometimes these nests can fail due to eggs rolling or getting very cold.

The nesting tray was placed in the bell tower in 2016 and enables the female to make a deeper area (known as a scrape) which will hold the eggs, stopping them from rolling and preventing them from getting cold.

The male is smaller with dashes on the wings and a clean, white breast. The female is much larger, heavily barred on the wings, flecking on the white breast and, if seen well, you can spot a ring on her right leg.

Male Peregrines are known as Tiercels. This comes from the latin word tertius, which means “one-third”. Female falcons are referred to as Falcons. Young Falcons that are still in the nest are referred to as Eyasses.

Yes, unless one dies or a stronger male/female takes over. 

As far as we can tell from markings it is the same male as last year however in 2022 it would appear that a new female has taken over the nest site.

Sadly we don't know the circumstances as to what happened to our previous female 'FA'. 

Peregrines will normally lay 3 – 4 eggs per clutch.

Incubation starts once the next-to-last egg is laid. This prevents early development of the first eggs so all the eggs should hatch on the same day.  The last egg may be a day later as it was laid after incubation began.

Some of the time spent away from the eggs at this early stage can be dependent on the weather too. If it's colder or very wet, or even very hot/in direct sunlight the parents may shelter the eggs.

The eggs hatch after approximately 30 days of incubation. The female does most of the incubation, although the male will do his bit when the female goes hunting for food. Incubation starts after the 3^rd egg is laid. It is always the female you will see incubating the egg at night.

It is most likely that the mother will at some point move it out of the way. The chances are that if an egg doesn’t hatch it will eventually be broken through activity in the nest (either by the adults or the Eyasses). The egg, like the shells of the hatched chicks will eventually become invisible within the nest. If a chick doesn’t make it then there is also a possibility that the female may eat it, and feed it to the surviving chicks. 

If we remove any unhatched eggs or dead chicks from the nest we would almost certainly be guilty of an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, due to the risk of disturbance. Once a problem has been observed, the female will very rarely leave the nest – sitting tight and doing her best to keep the chicks warm. Therefore, if we chose to access the nest at a time when the adult birds are under severe stress, we would risk the parents deserting the nest site. While we can see both sides of the argument regarding intervening, we feel that as they are wild birds we should let nature take its course even if the viewing can become difficult at times.

The smallest chick is likely to be the one that hatched last, and because of this it will be a couple of days behind the others. The adult falcons nesting in Leamington are experienced parents and have a great track record of raising healthy broods. However, if the conditions are difficult the parents will focus their efforts on the largest, healthiest chicks most likely to survive. We will not interfere as peregrine falcons are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside act and disturbing them is a criminal offence. It is important to remember that these are wild birds and so although it may seem cruel they are acting naturally. 

A young bird that has just left the nest has fledged. When it is still in the area and flying it is known as a fledgling. The young fledge between 35-42 days after hatching.

Sometimes during fledging, chicks may not be successful first time round and find themselves on the ground or in an unsuitable spot.  If you find a chick that doesn't look like it can help itself then please call 07807 647 041 or 024 7630 2912  (between 9.30 & 5pm) or 07733 017594/07921 317915 (after 5pm or during the weekends) We will then get in touch with the relevant people.

Please provide as much detail as possible so that we can locate the chick more quickly. 

Adult peregrines will withhold food items and encourage the fledglings to take longer flights. At this time, the adults will drop prey in mid-air for them to catch in a food pass. Leaving their parents is gradual and spread over several weeks, during which time they gradually learn to fend for themselves. The adults will continue to feed them until they disperse naturally. There is no evidence that the adults drive juveniles away – it is likely that they will detach themselves from the parents as instinct dictates.

The most common prey item is pigeons however, they do prey on a wide variety of other bird species too, from smaller birds such as finches and wrens to larger birds such as ducks and magpies.

Peregrines across the world do seem to migrate to reach different climates, however in the UK they seem to stick around – so whatever time of year you are walking through Leamington Spa remember to look up. If they are not around the tower then they have also been spotted on local church towers including All Saints.

In the UK, Peregrine Falcons have been given full legal protection under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981. This means that it is a criminal offence to intentionally or recklessly kill, injure or take a Peregrine. They are also classed as a Schedule 1 species which gives them extra protection and means that it is also an offence to intentionally or recklessly disturb adults or their young, on or near an ‘active nest.

People who regularly research/ring Peregrines require a Schedule 1 License giving them permission to access the nest site when/if required.  In Leamington the council lock access to the Tower at the end of December until the end of the season only giving access to License holders for ringing the chicks or if any young need to be taken back up if grounded on their first flights.

The number of breeding pairs of Peregrines across the UK, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands is approximately 1700 pairs (2014)

Chances are that the bird you have seen is a Sparrowhawk. These birds commonly catch and eat small birds in gardens. Peregrines rarely land on the ground to eat prey, nor do they hunt low over gardens. One way of telling them apart is to look at the eyes - A Sparrowhawk has yellow eyes, whereas a Peregrine's eyes are black. Sparrowhawks do not have the dark moustachial stripe which is obvious in the Peregrine.

Peregrines are the fastest birds on the planet! In normal flight they are quite slow. However, when they perform their vertical dive called a 'stoop' they have been timed at over 200 miles per hour! A cheetah at its fastest can only reach speeds of 75 miles per hour.

Yes. We have been informed that one of our 2019 female chicks has made her way to Hemel Hempstead where over the last year she has successfully raised her own chicks. 

To date all the chicks since 2018 in Leamington have been ringed.

Ringing Peregrine chicks, like many other species, helps us carry out research so that we can understand them more as a species and enables us to build a picture of the population as well as informing us how far they travel and how long they live. 

If you find that the webcam has frozen/isn’t working please try refreshing the page first and check your internet connection.

There can also be problems watching the webcam when using Google Chrome as you are unable to open the webcam images to a full page, please try a different browser

Please contact Philippa Arnold if there appears to be something wrong with the webcam and we will contact CamSecure who stream the feed for us.

Yes, we have to be very careful at the start so as not to spook the adult birds. Once the chicks have hatched we can move the camera as and when we need to.