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It's taken a while to collate information & clarify the current situation here so here's what is & isn't happening:
Peregrines;
As most of you who follow us here will know we have had a young pair in & around the city for over a year now. The male 2yr & female 3yr, both without rings but we know the age as both arrived with juvenile plumage. Also around over wintering last & this year has been an older female first spotted on a local church three miles north of the spire then moving into the city. Prior to this year she hasn’t presented any problems to the young pair - that changed 2016 as they both had full adult plumage & looked to have paired up. I spotted a couple of territorial battles between the two females & had reports of a few more involving all three of them. The net result of this was the older female triumphed & the young pair disappeared both at the same time. As you’ve probably guessed the over wintering female stayed around for a few weeks then left the city returning to her partner & breeding site.
So, for over five weeks we had not spotted a peregrine on the spire or cathedral, this is unusual as last year we had at least nine different transient birds around the cathedral for brief periods early in the year.
Kestrels;
Last year saw our city church kestrels lay five eggs, the first around the 14th of April, only two hatched though, both chicks fledged successfully. In 2013 six chicks fledged, this gradually reduced to two last year. We don’t know how old the kestrel’s are but it may be one or both have reached the end of their breeding age. Currently both have been on the window ledge & scrape with the female scratching a slight hollow. It may be egg laying has been delayed due to the colder than average weather with prevailing easterly winds & rain keeping the scrape damp. The female has been spotted roosting above the wire (cam2) so she’s not incubating on an alternative site. They could lay over the next week but in previous years the female has been lying on the scrape for a week before laying the first egg.
Outlook;
On a positive side we now have permission to install a new peregrine nest box on the spire. This will be higher than the two existing boxes sited on the tower top behind the parapets. These boxes were placed over the rain gullies when eggs were discovered by maintenance workers in 2007, 2008 & 2009 were our last successful breeding seasons.
The plan is to install a box with partial roof outside the middle window on the north or east elevation with new cameras & streaming video.
With the kestrels there is nothing more we can do, they’ve used this site for over 50 years which must be four or five generations.
Bobbin (T2);
Unfortunately no more news or sightings, she may not have survived the poisoning at Clee Hill but with access to the nest site refused we may never know.
Sorry we can’t bring you better news but that’s nature! If you spot any peregrines on the perches (cam 4 & 5) please post & let us know. Any sightings or updates we’ll post here...
Daddy comes to see his egg!! 
EGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Sun is bright but yeah....egg!! 
Both there
Wow, time flew and so did E7!! 
Hmmmm
2 there now
