tewkesbury abbey`s peregrines

TEWKESBURY ABBEY’S PEREGRINES
A pair of Peregrine Falcons have taken up residence on
the tower at Tewkesbury Abbey.
The Peregrine is the fastest animal on the planet and can
achieve a speed of nearly 200 mph in a hunting dive
called a stoop.
The first sign of a peregrine on the Abbey tower was in
the winter of 2010/2011 when a lone bird was often to be
seen.
Hoping to encourage it to stay, a nesting tray was
installed on the east side of the Abbey tower. This
position was chosen to be out of the prevailing winds, and
shaded from the summer afternoon sunshine.
In 2014, a second peregrine was spotted, identifiable as
a female due its larger size.
A video camera looking into the nesting tray was able to
detect that both birds were ringed, and expert advice was
then needed to identify the birds.
The male, nicknamed Christopher Robin because of the
letters CR on his leg, fledged from Christchurch
Cheltenham in 2010.
The female DX (who we named Alice) was from the Avon
Gorge in 2012.
Hopes were high for the 2015 breeding season, and both
birds were regularly seen on the tower in early spring.
Unfortunately, in March 2015, Alice disappeared. The
video camera had noticed that her one foot was
damaged, so maybe she was unable to catch any food.
There have been no further sightings of her either at
Tewkesbury or at Bishop’s Cleeve where she spent some
of the winter, although there has been a possible sighting
near Church Stretton.
However, after spending the next month on his own, CR
was joined by another female.
The video camera showed that this female was unringed,
so where she came from is unknown.
We named her Bella.
Although Bella and CR tried to breed in 2015 and 2016,
they were unsuccessful.
Both birds are still to be seen on the Abbey tower, and
hopefully they will be successful in 2017.
Keep up to date on the internet at :http://www.abbeyperegrines.blogspot.co.uk/
For a selection of videos, search for “Tewkesbury Abbey
Peregrines” on YouTube or on Facebook.
David Bagley