Peregrine Falcon on a Lapwing "kill". Camel estuary 12th Nov 2020

 

All the birds on the marsh in front of me took to the air as a Peregrine falcon swooped down through them.

Lapwing, Redshank, Godwits & Dunlin all hit the "panic" button.

After a while they all settled back down again and I started checking them out once again until a sideways glance showed a bird on the ground in the marsh to my left.

On raising my binos I saw it was the Peregrine and it was mantling a dead lapwing.

It was at the limit for my lens to be able to reproduce the images at an acceptable quality because the light levels were very low.... it was after 4pm in mid-November!

ISO was at best 2500 and at worst past 12,000 so I wasn't expecting exhibition quality images!

I also tried some video clips as my camera can cope with them better in low light.

Here are a few pics and a video clip as the bird tore apart the Lapwing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5CpJ4k53hE

 

Young Peregrine Falcons take to the wing. North Cornwall coast 7th July 2020.

These Peregrine falcons have finally fledged and can be seen doing their aerobatic displays over the Cornish cliffs.

Strong winds have seen them perfecting their flying skills as they swoop & soar on the updraughts.
At times the gales have been so strong that they've taken shelter under the ledges until a grumpy raven or a frumpy fulmar moves them on.

We're not sure if they've fledged 2 or 3 youngsters although we are thinking more towards the 2 birds as they're often seen together and are looking like a male & a female.

Predators of the Cornish coast. 3rd July 2019

Juvenile Peregrine

A couple of hours on the North Cornish cliffs and saw four of the main predators all in the air within minutes of each other. The Peregrine did give chase to the Kestrel, the Raven was part of a family of 4 juveniles & 2 adults and the Sparrowhawk was a complete surprise!

Kestrel

Raven

Sparrowhawk

 

Sparrowhawk

Juvenile Peregrine

Juvenile Peregrine

Juvenile Peregrine

Peregrine