Jackdaws End

An agile female Peregrine is out hunting around southern Cornish cliffs looking for prey to feed her
ever hungry family

She swoops down and hooks her lethal talons into an in-flight Jackdaw that has just left its own nest in the cliffs.

The peregrine was just about coping with the weight of the struggling Jackdaw but opted to land on a nearby cliff ledge to finish its kill.

The desperate jackdaw is still trying to break free but is firmly held by just one set of the peregrines talons while the second one grips onto the rocky ledge.

One of the Peregrine's fledglings arrive on the scene attracted by the jackdaws distress calls.

The Jackdaw fights on still trying to break loose from the adult bird lethal grip

The fledgling holds back waiting for the adult bird to finish the kill.

The Jackdaw gains a little more freedom of movement and quite surprisingly manages to pull the adult Peregrine off off the cliff ledge.

But the Peregrine still has a grip on the Jackdaw and regains control of it in the air while flying to one of its favoured pluming point,

And on landing this time it is all over for the jackdaw as the peregrine applies a lethal bit to the back of its head and immediately plucks out some of its chest and flight feathers.

Perhaps a little unexpected at this stag the female Peregrine releases the prey to her waiting six week old fledgling to take its fill of the kill first perhaps knowing that there would be more than enough prey for both of them to consume.

This little story might seem a little gory to some but it is played out daily in the life or death struggle between the Peregrine and its prey