2026

5 January 2026

Reported that the male landed on St James at 15.45, then the pair flew east at 16.35. First sighting of the pair together since Boxing Day

7 January

First peregrine photo of 2026 – the male on St. James today, courtesy of Adrian Royale

17 January

Both adults displaying around the church before flying north, at 08.15.

24 January

All the cameras are now recording. While working on them, we disturbed a false widow spider.

29 January

The peregrines may not be in view, but we know they are there.
A compilation video from last night – the first from the camera on the west walkway showing a snowstorm of feathers as prey is plucked somewhere above. The second, from the south walkway camera captures the moment the prey is dropped from above (repeated in slow-motion). It has been confirmed as a Fieldfare, a winter visitor from Scandinavia. .

31 January

First visit to the nest tray this morning by our male at 07.45.

5 February

A visting female juvenile was spotted by the camera on the west walkway this morning. It was unringed, so origin not known. Our resident male called briefly.

14 February

Valentine's Day and our pair are together on the nest for the first time. They arrived together at 14.34 and stayed around the church for much of the afternoon.

15 February

An orange-ringed bird of unknown origin visited the nest around 07.20 this morning and called to our male who was on the parapet. When he flew, the visitor made a hasty exit. The male returned shortly after, sitting in one of the openings of the parapet.

24 February

Our pair were seen to be mating around 09.15 on the south side of the church.

26 February

First solo vist by the female at 07.35 this morning, with the male visiting at 11.40 and again at 12.32, when he spent 45 minutes sitting in the opening by the nest.

27 February

Courtship at 07.20 today. Click the image to watch on YouTube

1 March

Female brought in prey at 18.25, but left it on the walkway for later consumption.

2 March

Much action today. At 08.46 the male came in and removed the blackbird that was brought in yesterday. He took it to the nest but when our female approach, he made off with it!

The male returned at 11.23 and stayed on the nest, appearing agitated after the arrival of an East Midlands-ringed bird. It was around for 3 hours until, at 15.00, it approached the nest – too much for our male, who flew, followed by the intruder...

...so it looks as though our old male has been vanquished. In this video, the usurper displays to our female, but she wasn't impressed and the visitor made a hasty exit through an opening on the east walkway.

3 March

The visiting male has been around all day and currently (13.25) sitting on the spire crockets. At 06.25 this morning, he brought in prey to the nest roof and ate while our female looked on.
Click the image to watch the 17-minute video on YouTube.

6 March

For the first time since the 2nd, 'our' male has returned. First video at 15.10 shows him approaching the nest and 'gravel surfing'. Second (edited) video from 15.43 shows the pair bonding – a very excited male!