Peregrines set up base on the Tate Modern.

Peregrines on the Tate Modern

• Aren’t birds brilliant! Peregrines at the Tate starts on 22nd of July and finishes on Sunday, September 17th, and will run from noon to 7pm, every day (8pm on Fridays). RSPB staff and volunteers will be there to talk about the birds and help focus the telescopes.
• Misty and Houdini have successfully raised 6 chicks since they arrived in London in 2003. In 2006 they unexpectedly changed nest sites, abandoning their Regent’s Park Penthouse for a new residence near the Barbican. As they receive a high level of legal protection, a firework display to mark the start of the Barbican’s Mostly Mozart festival had to be cancelled. Now the chicks have fledged, a firework display to close the festival can go ahead. Disturbing the birds during the breeding season contravenes the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
• Around twenty percent of Europe's peregrine population breeds in this country. A 2002 survey revealed 62 pairs (out of 1402) were using man made structures.
• Peregrines are usually creatures of habit and we hope that Misty and Houdini turn up every day, but they are wild birds and there is no guarantee that they will be seen.
• Peregrines usually eat other birds, mostly pigeons, but they have been known to dine on birds such as the tiny goldcrest to the large grey heron. They also occasionally eat mammals, amphibians and large insects.
• Aren’t birds brilliant! is the RSPB’s national scheme to interest people inbirds. Using a natural spectacle like the London peregrines and provide staffed viewing points.