Peregrine Today

An early medical appointment determined that this mornings south coast walk was a little later than usual and sods law dictated that as I arrived at a Peregrine location both birds departed to hunt,

The female Peregrine returned empty-handed within fifteen minutes flying into a high shadowed cliff ledge and settled down to a bout of relaxed preening,

The male by contrast was missing in action for nearly two hours before eventually returning with a live starling in its talons, He called offering his prey to the female that was still preening on a ledge  but she showed no interest in his offers,

The starling had no chance of escape and it breathed its last as a swift bit through the back of its neck  finished its days and the male Peregrine set about plucking and consuming the prey himself, Perhaps not very pleasant but its a daily requirement for many birds of prey to survive.

In the mean time the female moved back out into sunny area that was sheltered from a cold north wind and looked relaxed as she just watched the day unfold.

The cold wind was beginning to get to me by now so with a parting shot of the female starting to regurgitate prey waste which confirmed that she had already eaten earlier,  I packed my kit and headed for home and a warm log fire to download today's images and edit this blog,