March 2026 news
- Bradford Peregrines
- 27 minutes ago
- 2 min read
With around a month to go before Peregrines will be laying eggs, it's the peak time for watching our Peregrines as they display, perform courtship, mate, and defend their territories from other Peregrines.
Our Lister Mills livestream is now up and running on Youtube. The Lister Mills pair have both been visiting the nest box and scrape making. It seems likely they will nest again this year, barring disaster.
The resident male at City Hall has been visiting the box everyday, sometimes more than once. He seems keen on the box, and has been seen scrape making. However, we've not yet seen the female visit the nest box. She has been perching nearby, but hasn't ventured in, despite the male calling to her. Fingers crossed she checks out the gravel tray soon.
At Dalton Mills, our usual Peregrine pair are resident at the chimney and again things are looking good for the 2026 season. Will we see three pairs of Peregrines nesting in the Bradford district this year? We hope so.
Peregrines across the UK have had 2 poor breeding years and numbers are continuing to decline. Bird flu might well be the cause of the recent downturn. Out in the countryside, many Peregrine pairs have done poorly with territories standing empty. Urban Peregrines tend to fair better with good shelter and good food supplies of Feral Pigeons. Urban sites may well play an important role in keeping the population going over the next few years.
If you'd like to know more about the diet of Peregrines, you might be interested in this brand new peer reviewed research from Ed Drewitt:
Across many urban Peregrine sites, over 12000 feeding events were recorded, prey items identified and the data collated. My friends at Leeds Swifts conservation group will be pleased to see that Swifts, although a popular prey item, are quite low on the prey list at 1.39% of total prey items recorded.
Pigeon fanciers will also I'm sure be relieved to see that "Loft pigeons" are also caught at a relatively low frequency of only 4.34% compared with other species. Having talked to many pigeon fanciers, there appears to be a widespread misconception that Peregrines prefer to eat their pigeons over Feral birds. When in actual fact, the hard science shows that Feral Pigeons are preferred by a factor of over 4 to 1 to Loft Pigeons.
Don't forget to check out all the latest news on our socials, and let us know your sightings of the Peregrine Falcons of Bradford.