live cam: peregrine falcon nest on Winchester Cathedral

[tka]

The Peregrines Return in 2021 - Winchester Cathedral

2020 was a successful year for our Peregrine family! All five chicks flew the nest which is a very rare occurrence with such a large family. The two female and three male chicks have all headed off to find territories of their own. We had great fun watching them grow via our Peregrine webcam...

www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk

I've just been watching the female hunker down in the scrape while the tiercel (male) watches. The size disparity is really striking.

I grew up in Winchester and my family stil live there. The current cathedral is over 900 years old, and was built on the site of an Anglo-Saxon cathedral known as the Old Minster. The foundations of this older cathedral have been traced in tiles in the cathedral grounds so you can see where it was. Like most British medieval cathedrals, it has been through a lot (to put it mildly!) with centuries of being repaired and rebuilt. The big Western window was shattered by a Civil War cannonball and was put back together in an abstract pattern - you can catch little glimpses of faces if you look carefully enough. Most of the exterior is built in English Gothic, but my favourite part of the cathedral is the North Transept and Retrochoir, where you can see the much older Norman style characterised by smaller, rounded windows, painted wooden ceiling and colourful floor tiles.

The peregrnes have chosen a beautiful place to rear their chicks!

 

[Hjarta5]

I love nest cams We have a peregrine falcon nest cam at the top of my office building and its one of my signs of spring when the bldg manager starts a live stream from the TV in the lobby.

Also Winchester Cathedral is beautiful! A friend and I did a Jane Austen in August 2018 and we were disappointed not to have spent more time exploring the place.

 

[sunnysmom]

I love peregrines! (And very interesting info about the Cathedral- thanks!). For years, there was a peregrine nest on the building I work in and they had a nest cam too. One day a young peregrine actually sat on my window sill for the majority of the day. At first, I was being super cautious trying not to startle him. By the end of the day, I was tapping on the window with my finger and he was tapping back. I could see him looking for me when I left the room. It was so cute. And needless to say, I basically got nothing done at work that day but watch and play with the baby. However, as it got closer to the time for me to go home, I started worrying- why isn't he leaving? Is something wrong? So I called the Conservancy that bands the birds, etc and explained what was going on. The woman said that the babies were at the age that they didn't want to stay in the nest but really weren't ready to be flying long distances. And that they were curious about people because they were born around so many. She said that she guessed that once I left for home, he would leave but if not, to call and they would come and rescue him. I told my boss, who was working late that day, and he said he would check on him. Sure enough, my boss said about 45 minutes after I went home, he flew away.

 

[tka]

A building that I used to teach in had peregrines nesting on the clock tower. It is very hard to teach with peregrines screaming past the window! Never mind that the students were distracted...what about me?!

@sunnysmom that's so cute about the the baby peregrine! He sounds so curious and charming. I hope he's somewhere out in the world today

@Hjarta5 I'd love to know when your falcons start nesting! So glad to hear that you enjoyed your visit too - there really is so much to explore. I've attached some photos I took last December.

1) the north side of the Cathedral, looking east. You can see the outline of the Old Minster in the foreground.
2) the Norman architecture of the North Transept
3) Gothic architecture - you can see how different it is!

 

[Hjarta5]

Here is the site for Rebecca and Kewpie's peregrine nest: Audubon Society of Kalamazoo - Peregrine Falcon Cam | Audubon Society of Kalamazoo - Peregrine Falcon Cam They are definitely starting their spring cleaning in their nest box so hopefully soon

Thanks for the Cathedral photos It never ceases to amaze me what society has accomplished via architecture. This is my favorite photo of the Bath Abbey from that summer trip I took:

 

[tka]

There's an egg in the nest!

 

[Hjarta5]

You jinxed us good with your post earlier! Look

 

[Hjarta5]

We now have a second egg in the nestbox here I believe last year our peregrine couple had 3 babies so maybe more to come!

 

[Hjarta5]

The first of our four eggs hatched earlier today

How about yours @tka ?

 

[tka]

Winnie laid FIVE eggs! The first egg should hatch around the 26th April, so any day now.

 

[Zara]

Egg-citing!!!!!

 

[Hjarta5]

Our four eggs hatched into little balls of floof! Here they are with momma bird, Rebecca:

 

[Zara]

oooooooooh they CUTE!!!!

 

[tka]

Four of our eggs have hatched! They're not 100% convinced that the fifth will - it's been cold and wet, and the female may not be big enough to keep four chicks and a fifth egg warm at the same time. Keep your fingers crossed.

There's a diary here - it will be updated more regularly as the chicks grow and do more: 2020 Peregrine Diary - Winchester Cathedral