Maybe a chance of a second attempt, fingers crossed.

This year the Rochdale town hall peregrine site has been the subject of controversy. Many people have reported to me their disgust at the wiring/netting up of the nest tray.

The site is regarded as a building site requiring anyone going onto the site to comply with all the necessary protocols.

I visited the site many times and kept an eye on the observations made by others and was constantly asked questions about what was going on and why the birds were not allowed to nest at this, now, traditional site. I could not answer the questions because I am no longer a member of the local raptor group. I resigned from the group because I was far from happy with the way it operated and it failure to operate at all at times when it should have.

As far as I am aware the site was closed off to the peregrines because of building operations. This was, I believe, indicated by the council on a facebook page or the enthusiasts page. I think they said a world renowned ecologist had been employed or some similar wording which was intended to impress.

A member of the local raptor group or council (I cannot recall now) stated on Facebook that a new nest tray had been installed for the birds to nest in. The birds never took to the new nest tray and I doubted they ever would. We were told it had been approved by the BTO, the local Raptor group and the Ecology Unit. I never realised so many had to be consulted! If they were consulted then I would like to know why a peregrine tray was placed so that if juveniles hatched they would bake to death because the tray would get the full sun all day long. The positioning was less than optimal because it did not account for the way birds fly up to nests. The location was fairly low for a peregrine nest: it was very close to a dual carriageway with speeding motorists. Juvenile Peregrines often fly close to the ground and come to ground when tired or laden with a newly passed meal from a food pass. The chance that there would be a juvenile peregrine road kill was, in my view unacceptably high. Finally, the tray was a little close to office windows some of which were open a lot. This may put some birds off nesting. 

I have to say I laughed when they said they put the grit from the previous tray in the new tray to encourage the peregrines to nest! With that sort budgerigar mentality I'm surprised they didn't stick in a mirror and a swing and have the local Mayor shouting "pretty boy" with the loud hailer! In all seriousness and putting aside blame for closing the tray area up, it is my view that the placing of the new tray resulted from utter incompetance and a lack of basic knowledge of peregrine behaviour and ecology which in my view is unforgivable when with a bit of effort they could have found somewhere much more suitable.

In my humble opinion there was no safety issue for the Peregrines and there was no issue for site workers at the town hall site. The noise or vibration would not have been a problem. If the birds had been left alone I am confident they would have bred. Sadly the site was only netted or wired off. This induced the birds to hang around much longer than they need have. It was heart breaking to see the adults trying to make out what was happening for so long before they deserted. The access should have been boarded up so that there was no visual stimulous to keep the birds there.

Whilst no law was broken I intend investigating who made the vital decisions that resulted in a failure for the birds to breed.

Image attached of a pair optimistic Peregrine Falcons and a further image taken at about 4.45pm 16th April. You may note the shadow indicating that any bird using the tray would get no relief from the sun until around 5.00pm

1 adult and 1 young Peregrine Falcon on Rochdale Town Hall.

Dave Ousey. 

It would appear that the juvenile JAC (male) fledged yesterday 16th June.
On examining photographs in detail, it is clear the adult male's bill is not in a good physical condition. If the defect/injury gets worse then the prognosis, in my view, will not be good. Fingers crossed. The second image (close-up) is of the male but you will not see the bill defect in this image.

For the final image forgive my leaving out the letter 'r' in the word probably.

Friday 19th March - female peregrine perched on town hall just above clock face, she then did a fly around and landed on the ballustrade and then onto I assume the scrape. I have seen both male and female flying around but didn't have camera with me (did have binoculars) will take camera at next opportunity and hopefully upload some images. Female looks in really good shape.

Bad news re the live nest camera this season...
Due to there being extensive interior building work being carried out throughout the town hall this year a livestream of the nest was going to be nearly impossible due to regular interruptions in the power supply to the whole building.  The plan seemed to be that still pictures of the nest tray would have been taken as often as possible, when the power was on to the camera, these then being shown on the council website giving some sort of coverage... ( not ideal but slightly better than nothing..!) Unfortunately when the camera was activated for this seasons coverage there was a problem with the camera, and the problem being at the camera end of the wire. A new camera is required..  Due to confusion between different people, council staff, contractors and us etc time has moved on, and with the camera in situ right by the side of the nest tray, the Peregrines regularly on the tray and the first eggs due to be laid we have made the correct decision not to risk disturbing the birds and the nest site for the sake of what would be at best irregular still pictures. We know a lot of people take great pleasure in watching the live feed but unfortunately there wont be one this year. Apologies..

Peregrine from his morning....

-- Edited by Paul Samuels on Saturday 6th of March 2021 11:36:09 PM

Passed town hall this morning after getting the Covid jab, a single bird high up calling

8pm - 1 of the juveniles visible high up on the town hall, both adults on usual perches not too far away.  

Agree! Think yesterdays adventure was enough.

08:30  The juveniles are back.

JP

Just had a ride out to Rochdale, All 4 birds seen, the younger 2 making lots of noise (not sure if just hungry or unsure of their new perches!) Mum & Dad keeping a watchful eye.

Looks like at least 1 made it back to nest 21.35

Ben Taylor wrote:

---

It was the dad feeding one of the chicks, he's now currently in a food coma face down on the ledge, mum was about for a bit too but she's gone again. No sign of the 2nd chick

---

Two chicks were present when I was watching just after 7pm, with the adult bird looking on.

Nice watching the two chicks feeding with each other on the parapet wall outside the nest tray being watched over by one of the adults 7.10 pm 

No fledging or maiden flights yesterday unless you consider a walk up a gable parapet fledging. Both adults brought food in within the vicinity of the nest tray. No attempts were made by the adults to entice either of the young out.
I have attached a few images. The first two images are of the juveniles and the third of the male. I will show some images of the female (showing degree of moult) in the next post since I fear the file sizes and numbers may not allow me to show them here all together.