Peregrine Blog 1 2026
A wet morning in Salisbury, so a good time to put pen to paper, or more precisely fingers to keyboard, to write the first Peregrine blog of 2026.
Regular viewers of the Cathedral live nest cam will be aware that it was switched on very early this year so that we could hopefully view early courtship behaviour of the falcons before the first egg was laid. Perhaps it was just my bad luck, or maybe I did not persevere long enough, but on the occasions when I logged onto the site, I did not see a great deal of early activity. That said, it was notable that by mid January at least, the resident pair had already made a circular ‘scrape’ in the gravel substrate of the nest box into which eggs would subsequently be laid; it just shows how early in the year breeding activity commences. As in previous years, we have no real way of telling whether the pair in occupation this year are the same birds as last year, as both are unringed, although given the longevity of many urban falcons, it is quite likely that it is the same pair as last year. As I commented in previous years, with so many chicks being ringed on other urban nest sites all over the country, it is remarkable that we have yet to see a ringed individual take up residence at our site.
Speaking of ringed birds, two bits of news, one rather sad (but perhaps with a happy ending), but the other rather more exciting. The sad news is that the breeding resident male on nearby Romsey Abbey met with a rather untimely end when it was hit by a vehicle while retrieving a dropped item of prey from a busy road on the 12th of March this year. He was a chick fledged from St Mary’s church in Andover in 2020 and had been at the Romsey site for two years. Very quickly, an immature male moved onto the site at an age when he may not have been able to breed. Happily, by the 16th of March a new adult male arrived at the site to seemingly oust the young bird. This new male, identified by his colour ring, was also fledged in 2020 from a site in New Milton. It is hoped this new male will breed successfully with the resident female there. Leaving aside the very interesting data that the rings on birds reveals at this site and others, it does illustrate that in most locations at least, there is always a floating ‘surplus’ of adult birds who have yet to find a territory of their own and are poised to move into take the place of a deceased bird at an existing site as soon as it is vacated. This is not a new phenomenon, as it is recorded, long before the species was protected by law, that game keepers on some Grouse moors would shoot one or both of the birds at a nest site, and yet remarkably in a very short time, new birds would arrive at the nest site. This sometimes occurred several times in a season at the same site. Whilst nobody will ever really know, it is speculated that this ‘surplus’ of non-breeding birds could be as high as the breeding population. A third bird has been seen around our Cathedral site several times in February this year, but as far as is known, there has been no real aggression between the intruder(s) and the resident pair. Speaking of intruders, one site in Cambridge has seen an intruding Saker Falcon causing quite a stir at an established Peregrine breeding site this year. This species, a little bigger than a peregrine, hails from eastern Europe and Asia, and photographs show it carries a closed rind on its leg, indicating it is probably an escaped bird which had been kept for breeding. A certain amount of cross-breeding by falconers of different species of falcons does occur to apparently improve the hunting prowess of such hybrids. Some of these inevitably are lost or escape and it is a matter of conjecture as to whether these hybrids or indeed pure-bred birds like the Cambridge Saker ever breed with our native Peregrines to influence the gene pool as it were.
Ah yes, the good news. We have been sent a terrific photo of Afon (Darvic ring 33J), one of our chicks ringed at the Cathedral last year. He, a male, was photographed in flight near Burseldon in March I believe, and is obviously thriving as he has a full crop of food. He is still in his immature brown plumage; Peregrines tend to start to moult into their adult grey plumage in the summer of their second calendar year and can thus look rather blotchy with a mixture of brown immature and adult grey feathers until their full moult is completed, usually later in that year. Let us hope he continues to thrive.
As has occurred at several closely monitored urban sites, many pairs have laid eggs slightly later this year than in previous years; the reasons for this are unknown. At Salisbury, our first egg this year was laid on the 26th of March; in 2025 it was on the 16th of March, in 2024 on the 21st of March and in 2023 on the 17th of March. The earliest first egg of which I am aware this year was laid at a site in Fulham on the 2nd of March; interestingly, on the same date in March as in 2025 at that site so bucking the trend of later laying at a number of sites. As I type, our pair have four eggs, and this will likely be the full clutch for this year, the fourth being laid on the 2nd of April. We have had one clutch of five eggs in the past which is of itself very rare. A clutch of six eggs is quite exceptional but was recorded at an urban site in Woking as recently as 2017; perhaps not surprisingly, only three eggs actually hatched, with it being speculated that perhaps the parents struggled to fully cover and incubate such a large clutch. That said, most pairs lay three or four eggs, and ours regularly lay four. Incubation normally starts once the third or fourth egg is laid, so assuming an incubation period of perhaps about 32 days, if all goes well we should see the eggs hatch right at the end of April or perhaps the first few days of May. With fledging taking place about six to seven weeks after hatching, hopefully, chicks should take their first flights in about mid-June.
As in previous years, the South Wilts RSPB group, in conjunction with the Cathedral, will be organising a ‘Date with Nature’ event at the cathedral from about mid June, assuming of course that all goes well with this year’s breeding attempt. Located at the west face of the cathedral, this event, which will probably run for about three weeks, will enable members of the public to view the recently fledged chicks and their parents through telescopes. This event has always been a great success, so make a note in your diary to come along; I promise you will not be disappointed.
Granville Pictor 3 April 2026.