FOUR PEREGRINE chicks, two male and two female, from Salisbury Cathedral’s Tower have been ringed by a team from the RSPB who had to scale the heights on the most celebrated man-made tower first.

The team, including specialist, Ed Drewitt, removed the young birds from their nesting box on Tuesday afternoon.

They were then weighed, measured and then ringed with a bright blue identification rings carrying their unique number. It was a job that had to be done quickly so as not to distress the chicks.

This is only the second time since 1953 that the Cathedral peregrines have successfully hatched eggs at Salisbury Cathedral. Last year three peregrine offspring fledged. This year the eggs were laid over Easter and hatched at the start of May.

The peregrine project has been a four year long joint undertaking by the Cathedral team led by Clerk of the Works, Gary Price and RSPB conservation officer, Phil Sheldrake,

There are nine fully authenticated historical records of breeding at the Cathedral between 1864 and 1953 and the breeding stopped until 2013. It would appear that even on those nine occasions, the birds were sometimes robbed of their eggs or chicks. In those days Peregrines were not legally protected.

Over the past two decades, single, and sometimes apparently mated pairs have been recorded roosting on the spire of the cathedral but it wasn’t until early 2012, after an adult pair were observed on the cathedral over the winter, a nest box was erected on the East face of the tower, one level below the tower walkway. For reasons only the birds can know, it was not used.

The peregrines fared better in April 2013 when Gary Price, Clerk of the Works at the Cathedral observed a lot of Peregrine activity on the South face and the RSPB discovered that the pair had laid 3 eggs directly onto the stone walkway used by tourists on Tower Tours. Sadly the eggs rolled apart on the hard surface and were abandoned.

In 2014, given that the Peregrines seemed to favour the South (hot) side of the tower, so a design was drawn up for a nest box with ‘sun shade’. A carpenter in the Cathedral workshop built the box and the South face walkway was closed to minimise disturbance when it was installed. The three resulting chicks, two males and a female, were colour-ringed by Ed Drewitt and left the Cathedral for pastures new over the summer. They have not, as yet, been tracked.

This year the breeding pair produced four chicks and cameras have again been rigged to monitor the nest. Pictures here are by James Fisher. Also see streamed footage at:

http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/news/live-webcam-peregrine-falcons-cathedral