The Mothers’ Union

Salisbury Cathedral Peregrine Falcons Neil Davies

In early May I listened to the Salisbury Cathedral broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Morning Worship at 8.10am. This was to celebrate the cathedral’s 800th anniversary. At the end of the broadcast Bishop Nicholas spoke about the cathedral’s website and what one could find on it, such as a special service that they had put together celebrating 800 years, and also a virtual tour of the cathedral. I went on to find the tour, but instead found the Peregrine Falcon live streaming cameras.

For the last six weeks or so I have been dipping in each day to watch the progress of the family of chicks. It started off with four fluffy chicks covered in white down. This gradually changed over the following weeks until we now have full plumage and looking like the adult birds. I am no expert in these birds, but have been absolutely fascinated and I have learnt a lot about them. The female falcon is referred to as the Peregrine and the male as Tercel (sometimes Tiercel). The Peregrine is larger/ heavier than the Tercel by about a 1/3; she could weigh in at 1.3kgs. Wingspan is about 1.2 mtrs and .5 mtr long. They are the fastest creatures on our planet and speeds reaching 250 mph have been recorded. They generally nest on mountain ledges or cliffs and look upon cathedral towers as mountain ledges! A number of cathedrals are homes to these raptors; Winchester also has live streaming and they have produced five chicks. Corfe Castle now has its first pair in residence since the 1980s.

There are four chicks at Salisbury this year, three female and one male. The first egg was laid on Mothering Sunday. They have now all been ringed with two rings. (Sixty percent of youngsters don’t make it past one year of age, not good odds.) There was an online vote for their naming, from thirteen names which all have had a significant part in the history of the cathedral. The names chosen were Honor, Ela, Katherine and Osmund. Honor is named after Pope Honorius III, who gave permission for the cathedral to be built. So a female has his name! Ela is named after Ela Longespee, third Countess of Salisbury, who laid the cathedral’s foundation stone. Katherine named after Lady Katherine Grey, who is buried in the cathedral. Finally, Osmund is named after St. Osmund, the second Bishop of Salisbury or Sarum as it was known. The construction of the new cathedral was started a century after his death, but he was responsible for the building of Old Sarum. Osmund was the first of the chicks to fly and it is assumed that the others have also done so, as trying to spot them is difficult now. The nest, which is a box full of gravel, is provided by the cathedral staff and is on the south side of the tower just where the pointy bit starts! There has been nesting in recent years since 2014, but in 2018 there was a stando between two peregrines, so no nesting happened. An adult (not sure if it was mum or dad) could be seen sitting on the chicks and also feeding them with prey. I won’t go into the gory detail of that, but full PPE will be needed when clearing up all the discarded bits of body and feathers etc...