PEREGRINES AGAIN
I AM WRITING ABOUT PEREGRINES AGAIN this week – fantastic falcons that, until I saw one fly over a friend's house recently in lowland Cambridgeshire, I had always assumed to be birds of high land and moorland. They are amazing: dark, beautiful and masters of the sky. To see a peregrine 'stoop' – tuck in its wings and dive after its prey, usually a bird – is breathtaking.
They have not always been admired. During wartime they were culled by the Ministry of Defence to stop them preying on carrier pigeons, which took messages between mainland Europe and England. After the Second World War, the use of
organochlorine agrichemicals made numbers tumble, as well as persecution by some shooting interests.
Now with safer chemicals and legal protection the peregrine population has boomed and there are at least 1,500 pairs in Britain. My first close encounter came on the Queen's Balmoral Estate when I was writing my book The Wildlife Of The Royal Estates. Neil Cook, the then wildlife ranger took me (legally) to a peregrine's eyrie high up on an outcrop of rock giving a commanding view of the area. Wow, what a view and what an experience as the outraged female tucked in her wings and dive-bombed us. The rush of wind as she fell was simply astonishing – 180mph, 200mph.
The three fluffy/downy chicks were doing well among the legs of devoured racing pigeons, a tern, a sandpiper and a grouse. All three chicks apparently fledged safely – I wonder if it was any of their relatives who later decided to head for flat Cambridgeshire?
They have not always been admired. During wartime they were culled by the Ministry of Defence to stop them preying on carrier pigeons, which took messages between mainland Europe and England. After the Second World War, the use of
organochlorine agrichemicals made numbers tumble, as well as persecution by some shooting interests.
Now with safer chemicals and legal protection the peregrine population has boomed and there are at least 1,500 pairs in Britain. My first close encounter came on the Queen's Balmoral Estate when I was writing my book The Wildlife Of The Royal Estates. Neil Cook, the then wildlife ranger took me (legally) to a peregrine's eyrie high up on an outcrop of rock giving a commanding view of the area. Wow, what a view and what an experience as the outraged female tucked in her wings and dive-bombed us. The rush of wind as she fell was simply astonishing – 180mph, 200mph.
The three fluffy/downy chicks were doing well among the legs of devoured racing pigeons, a tern, a sandpiper and a grouse. All three chicks apparently fledged safely – I wonder if it was any of their relatives who later decided to head for flat Cambridgeshire?