FREE FALLIN' HUNTING PEREGRINES

Spot the ultimate urban predator stooping to catch prey this summer

- Mike Dilger

Few, if any, birds are capable of commanding a fraction of the respect and awe bestowed upon Britain’s largest falcon. Recovering from a low in the 1960s, when only 385 pairs were recorded, the recent upturn in the peregrine’s fortunes to reach about 1,750 pairs is one glimmer of hope amongst a veritable tsunami of species declines recorded elsewhere.

Justifiably deserving its title of ‘fastest bird on Earth’, the peregrine falcon is also the world’s most cosmopolitan bird of prey. Comprising at least 17 different recorded subspecies, peregrines can be found breeding on every continent bar Antarctica.

In Britain, peregrines were traditionally confined to craggy locations or coastal areas, primarily in the north and west. However, having reinvented themselves as the ultimate urban predator, an increasing number are now nesting in towns and cities, where power stations, pylons, high-rise tower blocks and cathedrals offer the perfect replicas of this species’ ancestral cliff-ledge home.