High-flyers embrace city living

The peregrine falcon freezes time. Or that is what it can feel like during an encounter with this, our most spectacular bird of prey.

Seconds become minutes and minutes become hours as the bird explodes into view, seemingly from nowhere – a hypnotic mix of power, vengeance and grace.

Not so long ago the sight of a peregrine causing panic among the pigeons was a rare spectacle – the bird was teetering on the brink of extinction in the 1960s.

But 50 years later, a mix of chemical detective work, painstaking conservation work and more enlightened attitudes means the bird is now found at levels not experienced since the Middle Ages.

And in an even more extraordinary turn of events, the peregrine, a bird typically of rocky coasts and isolated crags, has made its home in the very heart of our harshest urban environments.

Many of our major cities and a good number of our bigger towns now boast breeding populations of peregrines.

London has more than 16 pairs, with the birds at Battersea Power Station and Tate Modern becoming tourist attractions in their own right.

The capital is no exception. Nottingham, Cardiff, Bristol, Bath, Scarborough, Birmingham, Norwich, Manchester, Lincoln and Worcester, to name just a few, boast peregrines.

But the presence of this most dynamic of birds, zipping around above our heads as we trudge to work, is still unknown to millions.

Grahame Madge from the RSPB explains: “Peregrines are now nesting in most major cities in the UK, and those that don’t should expect them soon.

“Most people are delighted when they realise such an amazing bird is sharing their city space with them.”

In full dive or “stoop”, peregrines can reach speeds of up to 180kph. But what is it about our urban space that attracts peregrines?

Madge says: “Cities are actually very good sites for peregrines – they provide ample prey in the form of pigeons and the tall buildings provide lots of excellent nesting sites that are more or less inaccessible to predators like foxes.”

So our cityscapes act like glammed-up versions of the rocky sea cliffs that peregrines traditionally relied upon.

But cities offer another advantage that sea cliffs just can’t match – light pollution.

Light pollution is not generally seen as good news for wildlife, but in the case of the peregrine a bit of extra light has proved vitally important.

Experts believe that some peregrines have become nighthawks –taking advantage of increased light levels to hunt at night. Peregrines have been found to target night-flying nocturnal migrant birds and bats.

This adaptive behaviour reveals the peregrine’s extraordinary versatility, which could bode well for a future in which wild spaces will come under increasing pressure.

That the peregrine even has a future is a fact worth celebrating. The bird was very nearly wiped out in the 1950s and 1960s by toxic agricultural chemicals such as DDT.

The deadly chemical accumulated in prey species so that peregrines ended up receiving harmfully large doses. DDT thinned the eggs of the bird, causing a catastrophic fall in population. By 1963 around 80 per cent of the peregrine population had been lost from the UK.

The realisation of the harm posed by DDT was the turning point. Following extensive conservation work, peregrine numbers have now increased to about 1,500 pairs in the UK.

But despite recent successes, this charismatic bird is still under threat. The RSPB believes peregrines continue to be illegally killed on northern grouse moors.

The shooting community is not alone in targeting the bird. Peregrines love pigeons and the bird forms a large percentage of their diet.

The peregrine’s predilections put it on a collision course with that most eccentric of breeds – the pigeon fancier. Egg collectors (yes, they still exist) also take their toll, and chicks are still illegally taken by falconers.

So if you want a moment away from the mayhem of the city, look up above your head. It’s not a plane, it’s definitely not Superman, it’s something much more spectacular – it’s a peregrine falcon.

Dales hope for breeding pair

PEREGRINE falcon chicks were spotted earlier this year in a nest in Malham Cove, giving hope to conservationists that a pair were breeding in the Yorkshire Dales.

It had been feared that the poor weather would mean no chicks would be born from the pair, with a number of other species affected.

Carolyn Jarvis, from the RSPB, said: “We can hopefully look forward to them taking their first flights.”