Mating Peregrine

I have been watching our coastal Pairs of Peregrine waiting to catch signs of their early mating and following a tip off from a couple of good friend last night,  It all came together close to Lands End this morning,

I found the pair of birds about 20m apart on the granite cliffs at 6.50 am and settled down 100m or so away at a good vantage point to wait for a bit of action and at 8.45am the male bird descended from its higher perch to skillfully land directly on the females back trying not to use its talons while getting properly balanced,

The mating lasted somewhere between ten and twenty seconds during which time I fired off over eighty images of the action,  The birds were facing straight towards me {Count your blessings !! } and it was interesting to note that the male had his lethal talons safely balled-up throughout the mating until lift off,

At lift off the male dropped steeply down the cliffs to disappear along the coastline,   So there was not a lot small talk,  prey handovers,  or aftercare attached to this union !!  and the female was left looking somewhat unimpressed,  But hey! perhaps he had gone off hunting for her right then.