Derby Cathedral's Peregrine Falcons

Since being virtually wiped out in the 50s & 60s, Peregrines have been making a welcome return to their former haunts, reappearing in the Peak District in 1984.

In 2004, one or two peregrines began to adopt Derby Cathedral's tower as a roosting site. The birds began to display to each other in spring of 2005 but had no suitable nesting ledge and so left around Easter 2005. In 2006 a purpose-made nest platform was installed on the tower by Nick Moyes of Derby Museum and his colleague Nick Evans. The birds laid their eggs on the platform in May and three young fledged.

2007 Webcam installed
Cameras have been installed on Derby Cathedral so that live pictures of the Peregrine falcons that nest there can be viewed on the Internet.

The nesting Peregrine falcons are expected to start to breed towards the end of March. Live pictures will be available for viewing in the next few weeks, although there are already some video clips available online that show that the birds have accepted their Big Brother–style home.

A peregrine web page can be found on Derby City Council’s website by going to www.derby.gov.uk and typing ‘peregrine’ in the search box.

The Derby Peregrine Project is a partnership between Derby City Council, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and Derby Cathedral.