WORCESTER Cathedral’s Peregrine Falcons are spreading their wings as the annual stream of the magnificent birds returning to the city’s nest goes live on YouTube.
The adult birds, named Peter and Peggy by Cathedral followers, have been visiting the nest box for a few weeks now and making a hollow in the gravel for nesting.
The Cathedral’s team of peregrine experts expect the first eggs to be laid in late March, just in time for Easter and hope the chicks will hatch in late April or early May.
For the first time in over a decade, a mated pair of peregrines moved into the Cathedral in 2022 and successfully nested, produced and fledged four chicks.
The same pair returned to the nest box last year and on Mothering Sunday the female laid the first egg of the season.
From the four eggs in total, despite a few falls and rescues, all four chicks fledged.
Last year the Cathedral team installed a 24-hour live hi-res camera, with the livestream receiving nearly 400,000 views from across the globe.
The action will also be live-streamed on a screen inside the Cathedral.
Cathedral bosses will also host a series of drop-in sessions with a team of experts, cameras and scopes to see the birds up close later in the season.
Peregrines have been in and around Worcester for hundreds of years and are depicted in the Cathedral’s great West Window and parts of the stonework.
Chris Dobbs, Biodiversity Advisor for the Cathedral, said: “It’s fantastic to see this pair back at the Cathedral for what we hope will be another successful year.
“Although peregrines are still relatively rare, they are recovering well in the UK, at least partly due to the new habitats they take up in cities, of which Worcester is a great example.
“The birds love Cathedral towers because they are similar in some ways to their natural habitat nesting sites, which include quarry faces, sea cliffs, and mountainsides, as they like to have a high prospect looking over the area of their territory, which Cathedral towers and other tall buildings in cities provide.”
Visit www.youtube.com/live/pdd3RJ08b24?si=1YAmR0sxEkXS-mz_ to watch the livestream.
