Hatching eggs at Lister Mills

It's been a really exciting 24 hours watching the live camera at Lister Mills, with the hatching of our first egg! It was a stressful watch due to the behaviour of the Falcon (female). Usually chicks will hatch out of their eggs on their own, but the Falcon was helping out and in quite a rough manner. At times we saw her pecking at the chick and pulling on its leg, while it was still partially inside the egg. We were concerned it might end in disaster! Fortunately the chick was tough and made it through a challenging period, eventually getting free of the egg shell last night. It seems likely that this is the first time either of our adult Peregrines have become parents. This seemed apparent as the Falcon struggled to feed the newly hatched chick. She appeared to have much more success by the third feed of the day, as you can see in the video below.

Feeding the first chick to hatch at Lister Mills chimney

Another thing to note in the video is that a couple of the other eggs are showing signs of hatching. Hopefully the other chicks will survive this tricky phase and we'll then have the privilege of watching them grow up in front of the camera.

Over at City Hall, we've continued to see and hear the Peregrines perching up and sometimes mating in the vicinity of the new nestbox. But there have been no visits to the nest tray so it seems highly unlikely they will breed this year. Hopefully they will take to the box over the coming year and will have breeding success in 2026. We aren't streaming the City Hall camera yet, as there is very little to watch! But we get alerts when the camera detects motion so we will keep you updated with any news.

Don't forget to connect with us on our social channels, and come along and say hello (and see the Peregrines) at our next live event which will be at Natures Hope at Cartwright Hall on the 24th May https://fb.me/e/2Y9kFrbXi