Last century, the cliff-dwelling bird of prey almost became extinct in Britain. Now it has reinvented itself as a city creature. What is behind this spectacular recovery?
By the four chimneys of Battersea power station, between tower cranes and builders’ cabins, is an unobtrusive metal mast. At the top, a watchful figure looks down upon the 3,000 workers bustling around this vast £9bn construction site.
“Female,” says David Morrison, with a deft glance through his binoculars. “She’s protecting her nest site. There was an intruding female about half an hour ago.”
Suddenly, she’s off, arrow-like, steepling down from her mast and over the Thames, in pursuit of an unlucky bird. This year, the first residents and businesses will move into the revamped power station, but the London landmark already has its first family. A pair of peregrine falcons have been nesting here since 2000. These fearsome wild birds of prey, the fastest member of the animal kingdom, are thriving in the capital. There were three pairs in London at the turn of the century; now there are 30, probably the second-highest density of peregrines anywhere in the world – after New York. The peregrine, once considered a bird of lonely rocky cliffs, almost fell extinct in Britain in the last century. Now it has reinvented itself as an urban creature. Pairs nest in many cities and towns, including Manchester, Derby, Coventry, Chichester, Ipswich and Norwich. The peregrine is safer in the city than the countryside.
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Flying high: why peregrine falcons are kings of the urban jungle https://t.co/8sPO4iYb3E
— Kath Raymond Hinton (@HintonKath) March 14, 2017
The City of Pittsburgh has had peregrine falcons nesting on top of one of the office buildings for a number of years now. The city is full of pigeons, which I hear are a big part of the peregrines’ diet.
In recent years there also have been a couple of bald eagle nests in the suburbs. Since both species have been endangered from time to time, they are most welcome and their annual nestings are major news items in this aeea.
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