Eyrie

I went climbing back to the eyrie high up the cliff to see more of the two peregrine chicks and was lucky enough after a few hours wait to watch as mum came in with a pigeon to feed them. I was amazed at how delicate she was and the chicks were so well behaved too with beautiful table ledge manners!

Huge numbers of peregrines were shot during the Second World War as it was thought they were a threat to carrier pigeons, used when radio silence was imposed on submarine-spotting planes. They were then hit by an even worse setback as they were poisoned or made infertile by pesticides sprayed on crops and eaten by their prey. 

In 1956 there were over 650 pairs of peregrines in the British Isles but six years later only 68 were left. Thankfully they have had a remarkable recovery with over 400 breeding pairs. They mate for life and often return to the same eyrie year after year, which is a bare scrape on a rock ledge or in the abandoned nests of other birds. The male is called a tiercel and the larger female is the peregrine falcon.

Speeds of their stoop have been recorded at up to 90mph and the bird's talons strike with amazing force as you can imagine. 

I felt very privileged to see this and very lucky too - it was so worth the climb!