Minster Peregrines
In 2015, a pair of Peregrines attempted to breed on York Minster. There had been birds present since the previous year and they were monitored by several people, most notably at the time by Jack Ashton-Booth, who set up the Twitter feed to share information about them. More recently this has been run by Doug Crawford who puts in many hours observing the birds almost daily.
That year, they did show signs that they had built a nest and could have laid but the attempt failed. A nesting platform was put up in 2016 which hopefully would give them a better chance than laying on the accumulated sludge of centuries of pigeon droppings.
Peregrines have been present on the Minster ever since, it is thought that the male has been the same bird throughout but there have been different females at the site.
In 2017, the pair was successful in raising two male chicks. The pair bred again in 2018, with four chicks ringed in May. Four also fledged in 2019 and there is news of success in 2020 too.
Keep up to date by following Doug’s postings on X (formerly Twitter). See also the website http://www.yorkperegrines.info/wp/
@YorkPeregrines can be followed on X (formerly Twitter) but we are no longer able to display the timeline.