Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

They are a devoted pair, this being their ninth year together and hopefully their eighth successful family. They are the most successful known pair in the UK, with only two egg failures out of 28, and probably have another four or five years of life left, barring accidents. Chichester is one of the best places to be as far as food gathering is concerned.

A lot of woodcock were consumed in the winter from local woodlands after the heavy fall of these birds from eastern Europe and Russia because of easterly winds.

Woodcock fly out at late dusk from the woods every night to feed on earthworms in meadowland and that is when the peregrine would have pounced.

It is now known, from observations made at places as far apart as the Empire State Building in New York and the main harbour bridge in Taiwan, that peregrines hunt in the middle of the night.

The Warsaw peregrines were seen to feed quite often between midnight and 4am as well.

The Chichester peregrines are now feeding on collared doves, of which there is a good supply from city bird tables and grain stores in farm yards across the county.

Chichester and Pagham Harbours also supply birds from their combined total of 70,000 wintering wildfowl, so there is no shortage of birds and no need for concern that these predators at the top of the food chain are doing any harm to populations in the long term.

Studies at eyries in Bath, Bristol and Exeter analysed 5,000 prey items over a nine-year period and showed that feral pigeons were the commonest prey.

Ten per cent of the food was starlings. The rest was made up of 157 blackbirds, at least 100 fieldfares, 60 song thrushes and 50 jackdaws. Magpies were often on the menu too.

Among the most bizarre items were 12 budgerigars that had escaped captivity at various times, while 200 greenfinches and several chaffinches, bullfinches and house sparrows were also taken.

The smallest bird taken was a goldcrest. In New York, orioles and yellow-billed cuckoos were taken at night, as these birds were on nocturnal migration through the city skyscrapers.

This first appeared in the West Sussex Gazette April 30. To read it first buy the West Sussex Gazette every Wednesday.