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BBC News
02-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
St Albans Cathedral Peregrine Falcon chicks revealed as males
A trio of Peregrine Falcon chicks hatched on a cathedral roof have been revealed as all male during the ringing birds were born at a nesting platform on St Albans Cathedral after their parents' first set of eggs was crushed by a person in they have been ringed they can be tracked in the future, but the process also involved logging their weight and sex for the first bird-ringer and nest recorder Barry Trevis said: "We know from the webcam livestream that the parents have looked after the chicks well, so when we checked them over we saw that they were all in good condition." "We fitted a ring on each of their legs. One is a British Trust for Ornithology metal ring, a bit like a licence tag, the other is a larger ring which is coloured orange with black lettering which means we'll be able to track them in years to come," he added.A juvenile peregrine falcon, ringed at St Albans Cathedral last year, has been spotted at Port Meadow in Ellis, the engagement manager at Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, said: "It's great to know what happens to the chicks once they become independent and leave the nest. "Thanks to the ringing process, we now know of sightings of two of them – their first chick, Artemis, was seen in Norfolk and now we have this fantastic news that one of last year's chicks looks to be making his territory in Oxfordshire." The nest at St Albans is livestreamed by cameras on the cathedral's April viewers watched as an unknown person stood on eggs which has been recently laid in the Police have not responded to a request for an update on the investigation, but have previously urged anybody with information related to the destroyed eggs to contact them. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Times
30-06-2025
- General
- Times
St Albans Cathedral falcons bounce back as three new chicks hatch
Three peregrine falcon chicks have been hatched at St Albans Cathedral in an unexpected sign of resilience for the species after eggs were destroyed on a live webcam in April. The chicks, all male, were weighed and ringed so their movement and behaviour can be tracked by conservationists. The peregrine falcon, the fastest creature on earth, is a protected species in Britain. 'We fitted a ring on each of their legs,' said Barry Trevis, an ornithologist who has ringed every peregrine chick hatched at St Albans. 'One is a British Trust for Ornithology metal ring, a bit like a licence tag. The other is a larger ring, which is coloured orange with black lettering, which means we'll be able to track them in years to come.' Ringing lets conservationists know where peregrines come from and how old they are, and shed light on their relationships and family trees. When a pair of the birds were spotted flying around St Albans in 2018, Trevis, in partnership with Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (HMWT), stepped in to build a nest installed high up on the cathedral. The falcons, named Alban and Boudica, garnered a large following online after they started breeding in 2022 and a webcam was set up to broadcast the lives of their chicks. In April this year, someone destroyed three eggs in the nest. It is illegal to disturb or go near peregrine nests, and a police investigation is under way. The birds typically lay one clutch of eggs a year, so it was thought unlikely the St Albans pair would breed again, said Debbie Bigg of HMWT. 'The fact that they have come back, they've bred again this year [and] they've got three healthy chicks is just amazing and I think that really demonstrates the resilience of nature. 'I think that because [the eggs] were destroyed fairly early in the breeding season, fortunately they did breed again and they did lay again … They have defied the odds.' Peregrines as a species have defied the odds in their comeback from endangerment. Their population severely declined in the 1960s but protection efforts have been successful and there are 1,750 breeding pairs across Britain. The peregrines at St Albans attracted particular public interest by choosing to nest on an important landmark. Videos from the nest attract hundreds of thousands of views on social media. 'The fact that there's a webcam on the nest has given people a real insight into these birds and their behaviours,' Bigg said. 'They've seen them lay their eggs, and they've seen those eggs hatch, and they've watched those chicks through to fledging in previous years. 'So I think people build a real relationship with these birds and engage in nature.'
