Parliament April 20th

Hi, I hope everyone had a good Easter, not too bad weather wise, although very cold with a cutting wind when I visited last Sunday.

The first activity came at 6.22a.m, only just got a quick view of this as they disappeared onto the south face of Victoria Tower, however it was enough to note the female Peregrine with prey closely followed by a male. Obviously, 1st thoughts were, who is incubating in Riverside Tower if the male is with her also?
I thought it had to be ABB, last year’s juvenile, so it proved as he flew out and came back unseen to the same position, no doubt trying to gain a free meal from the Falcon.

He undertook the same procedure, short flights out and returning, at least 5 times, this said to me she was refusing to let him feed and she would not relinquish the prey, good for her. It also meant hopefully the adult male was incubating.

Eventually she flew out after feeding at 7.14a.m, closely followed by ABB, the Falcon then cached the prey on one of the low Towers, the closest she could be to Riverside Tower nest site.

From this she then relocated to Central Spire, overlooking the cached prey, Falcon's often do this, cache closer, when they have chicks, or about to have chicks, the idea is she has a close food source and can immediately feed chicks that are about to hatch or have hatched.

Additionally, it could be that she had left it for the adult Tiercel but caching in a new position said otherwise.

She sat on Central Spire for a while and eventually ABB appeared from Victoria Tower, he obviously knew where the cached prey was and went straight for it. Good for her she attacked him straight away and drove him off towards the Abbey, I thought that's it, he's got the message.

On her return she flew straight to Riverside Tower and a nest relief took place, one taking over from the other, the Tiercel emerged and flew straight to Victoria Tower searching for cached prey. I could see him in and out of the various faces no doubt searching the usual hotspots.

However, having dismissed ABB, he suddenly made a quick appearance, unseen by the adult Tiercel and quickly snatched the low prey remains, cached by the Falcon close to Riverside Tower, he then high tailed it with the prey northwest.


Not good, the prey could have been for herself for later, but I know she was incubating quite early, so likely cached for a quick feed for chicks.

Long staying juvenile males are often known for this, I had wondered if he would be a help or a hindrance, it appears he is going to be a problem if they let him stay.

                                                                               ABB

                                                  ABB hassling Falcon with pprey remains

                                                    Prey snatched and making his getaway

                                                                    Nest Relief

                                                                                 Falcon

Battersea Power Station

 

April 9th



Hi, a rather cold morning, overcast in the morning which seemed to affect bird numbers, certainly some of the regular species were a lot harder to find, 5 degrees putting a dampener on early breeding activity.

Peregrines

The female at 14 is still present, I would have expected her to have been replaced a good while ago, it seems it's not going to happen again for this breeding season, although it still could. Last successful breeding was 2021 with 3 juveniles fledged, however she has been a great female producing 22 juveniles since 2013, a superb effort, time marches on though and age has caught up.

It's not for want of trying to breed on the Tiercel's part, but the Falcon is no longer receptive to copulation as you will see from the photos.

As I have mentioned before, it's a shame with both having accepted the new nest box position totally.

                                                        Nest Position totally accepted

                                                       Tiercel - still trying to breed

Elsewhere, the male Black Redstart was singing initially, but likely then thought better of it with the cold temperatures, I didn't see him at all.

The Gardens aloft were unusually quiet also which I would put down to the cold, hardly any birds seen up there.

Birds that were very apparent were Grey Wagtails, paired up, we again have 2 pairs along with a pair of Pied Wagtail, all were investigating the River Wall where breeding has taken place every year.

 

Parliament March 20th

 

Good news for Parliament, she has laid eggs and is incubating after visiting on Thursday March 20th.

With sunny and warm weather, it was an opportunity not to be missed arriving on the Thursday around 6.45a.m.

Throughout the morning, she was in and out of the nest box, the Tiercel was hunting and took a turn at incubating whilst she fed.

Also present still and possibly going to assist in breeding is ABB, one of last year’s males, he was not only hunting but also seeing off Crows, Herring and Lesser Black Backed Gulls.

Watching the 2 Tiercels together, no aggression is being shown by 'Dad' so it looks as if he doesn’t see his offspring as a threat, hopefully he will be a help and not a hindrance.

I have seen this before at Battersea Power Station in 2019, and it din’t end well, the 1st year bird clumsily ‘spiking’ 3 of the 4 chicks offspring assisting in the feeding.

                                                     Ist year offspring ABB - favours Big Ben

                                                                           Falcon

                                                                           Tiercel

                                                           What Cranes were made for

 

Battersea Power Station

Sunday March 16th



I visited last Sunday, fantastic bright weather but exceptionally cold at only 1 above, I certainly seem to feel it more these days.
However, arriving at 6.00a.m with a perfect sunrise shortly after, helped with the cold as I set about locating the Peregrines.

I immediately found the Falcon, she was already on prey feeding aloft, as I watched feathers from plucking started to drift down. Retrieving some of these showed the prey to be a Woodcock, these have been recorded as prey before at the Power Station, all have been taken nocturnally.

As the morning moved on, the Peregrines became very active clearing the Crows that invaded the Power Station airspace.

It is still the same female, at 14 now unable to lay an egg and breed, it will only be a matter of time before she is displaced….

                                                           Large Gulls also got treatment

                                                            Tiercel clearing the Crows

2 male Grey Wagtails were sub-singing along the River Wall in preparation for breeding, checking earlier showed that the winter roost, which held 12-14 birds, has dispersed it seems. Also on the river was a Common Sandpiper, quite distant upriver and I was unable to get a photo of this.

Visually checked some of the nest boxes, not much activity with the cold weather but it will come, hopefully more uptake this year. However, Goldfinches are starting to make themselves known with a couple of pairs nest site prospecting in the trees in the Northern Park.

The Power Station hotspot and my now go to place for the Black Redstarts continues to be the East Side Gardens aloft. I found 2 immediately together at the southern end, however looking at the male, it was a 1st year bird with a wing bar and not the full adult male seen previously.

Good to see, obviously it means that we have had 3 birds minimum at the Power Station recently, it's no surprise that they like this particular area, it gets the sun first, has warm blowers and abounds with insects, this is shown by the number of Garden Spiders present when it gets warmer.

The feeders held at least 6 Goldfinch, but I also again heard the male Blackcap sub singing, try as I might I only got fleeting views of it, very elusive in all the trees and shrubbery.

I finished the morning on 29 species, hope to go better in the coming months as summer migrants arrive.