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Peregrine Falcons 2010

3rd March: Coverage begins

The camera is up and running in the nestbox ready for this year's breeding season. We're slightly later than normal this year as the old camera packed up, something we didn't find out about until we went to install it in the nestbox and we had to get a new one...

12th February: 2010 Peregrine Breeding Season

We have pencilled in the last week of February for putting the webcam back in the nest box.

By doing so this early hopefully we will be able to capture any pre-mating rituals that the birds go through. We trust this year will be less dramatic than last when we captured the extremely vicious fight that took place in the box between the old male who had been resident in there for ten years and the new female.

Be sure to check back towards the end of the month when we should have the webcam up and running...

About the nestbox

A nesting box was put 334 feet up at the top of Sussex Heights in spring 1998. Each year since then the pair has successfully raised chicks, two in 1998, four chicks were born in 1999, but unfortunately one died; details of subsequent years can be found in our archive. In 2002 the birds decamped to the West Pier meaning that we were unable to track their progress.

The pair are believed to be the first pair to breed in an urban environment in the south of England for three years running, hopefully they will continue to produce more chicks in years to come. Peregrine falcons were extinct in Sussex between 1945 and 1990.

Peregrine falcons generally pair up for life and when the chicks are old enough to leave the nest will probably not see their parents again.

If you'd like to find out more about peregrine falcons we have a peregrine information page with more information.

The Society is grateful to the Sussex Ornithological Society for making pictures from their camera in the nestbox available to us.