Peregrine take-off sequence

The weather today was to say the least 'A bit of a challenge'  Driving rain  and southerly gale force winds had wiped out the whole of the south coast but I had a new north coast Peregrine that I worked with for the first time yesterday so being keen to push for better images I decided to go anyway,  The early morning went quite well and as I learnt more about perch points and flight habits I was able to gain a nice take-off sequence from a reasonable distance,  As the morning progressed it became more and more difficult to keep both my camera kit and I dry,  I finally called it a day at one PM and moved out of cover to slog it back up the cliffs to my car, By the time I arrived the water was running down the inside of my trousers and squelching out of my boots! Time to head for home ASAP,

Peregrine in flight

Our Cornish coast be it North or south are well blessed with many pairs of Peregrine, all have carved themselves territorial rights to some of the finest coastline in Cornwall while taking advantage of the most rugged vertical cliff faces on which they thrive.  The images below are random flight shots that I have captured during countless happy hours spent at many of these locations

Pair of Peregrine

During Coastal walks over the last few months I have sighted individual Peregrine at many locations including Porthguarra, Lands End, Bottallack, Hayle Estuary and Hells mouth But the only location where I have seen evidence of a mating Pair that remain in close contact on a regular basis through the winter months is the pair near Rinsey which I see quite often on a favoured rocky outcrop,  The images below were taken over three days during the second week in October this year,

Here the larger female is calling prior to taking off from a favoured rocky outcrop where the pair have spent the previous two hours

The female Peregrine protests to the Male as it lands after seeing off a female Kestrel that swooped on them,  The Kestrel certainly held her own in aerial combat with the peregrine lacking the element of surprise,  Their amazing tit for tat swooping flight display went on for around five minutes before the Kestrel eventually lost interest and moved on

As sunset approaches both birds begin to limber-up following an afternoon siesta getting ready for evening hunting, both birds departed a few minutes later