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Peregrine


Fisherman Mike
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There was a quite a bloom of greenfly from the local trees surrounding my house this afternoon and the Martins and swallows were having a field day mopping them up in flight.

 

I sat on a reclining chair watching them, mesmerised for a good hour. They were gradually climbing as the flies rose on the thermals to a height when they were almost out of sight.

 

I noticed at about 12 -1500m up a single raptor just hanging in the wind I thought it was a kestrel at first but when I got the bins on it I made out the form of a juvenile Peregrine.

 

It was really amusing watching it single out and diving on the Martins sporadically before climbing and trying again and again.

 

Then a group of racing pigeons flew down the valley about 500 or so feet below and it folded its wings and dived into the middle of them...being inexperienced it missed the intended target and after pulling up and rounding on it proceeded to chase it across the sky for a good 10 seconds before giving up ( peregrines don't have the level flight speed to out run a 45 MPH pigeon on the wind )

 

Not to be outdone it climbed again and hung in the wind for a few more minutes until we both spotted its next intended victim. A solitary magpie was fighting directly underneath it albeit quite a distance away. I was amazed at what the bird did next... it folded into dive position and at an angle almost vertical dived at a speed which was incredible to the naked eye, it missed the magpie first pass, which, obviously alarmed, foolishly decided to climb rather than head for the tree canopy.

 

Quick as a flash the peregrine turned, climbed again and was on it within seconds. The two birds intertwined spiralled towards the ground, The magpie broke free but was obviously injured as its flight was slow. Within a second or two the peregrine hit again from behind and slowly drifted to the ground into a field behind the church yard....

 

Isn't Nature an amazing thing.

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Sure is and what a gift to observe as you did.

Thanks for the report.

The squirrel last week amazed me!

Two maggies mobbing it in a larch. I shoot one with an air rifle and as it tumbled down the squirrel chased it and attacked it!

How did the squirrel suddenly know the Maggie was stricken?

Also, where did the retaliatory instinct come from?

U??

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a while ago ago i heard a commotion at the end of our croft and it was two hoodies fighting with a small peregrine over a lapwing it had killed, I waded out to the now stricken and waterlogged peregrine and dried it and fed it some steak which it readily took from my hand, the bird was tagged by the bto the year before, after releasing it , it hung around for a couple of days sitting on a fence stob outside our window

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a while ago ago i heard a commotion at the end of our croft and it was two hoodies fighting with a small peregrine over a lapwing it had killed, I waded out to the now stricken and waterlogged peregrine and dried it and fed it some steak which it readily took from my hand, the bird was tagged by the bto the year before, after releasing it , it hung around for a couple of days sitting on a fence stob outside our window

Lol, brilliant. Edited by Underdog
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