A love story of epic proportions has been acted out on the roof of Ealing Hospital and via a live cam with a pair of Peregrines successfully caring for and raising five chicks over the last two years.
I first became aware there were Peregrines in the borough on 21 April 2020 when I saw what I originally thought was a Kestrel with a kill flying above the A40 around Marnham Fields, Greenford. Within seconds it was joined by another very fast-flying raptor that looked like a female Peregrine Falcon. I watched the pair display for a little while realising what I was witnessing and grabbing my phone asked a question in the EWG Facebook Group; “Is it possible we have Peregrines in the borough?”
Unbeknownst to me, a pair had been visiting the roof of Ealing Hospital and taken up residence. The health and financial benefits of having these raptors control the local Feral Pigeon population had been explained to hospital management and permission granted to install a nest box.
EWG members named the pair after local Ealing celebrities. The female Dusty (after Dusty Springfield) was a two-year-old ringed bird from a quarry nest of three chicks in Farnham, Surrey. Maintaining the musician theme, the male, an unringed bird was named Freddie, after Freddie Mercury.
There are cons to naming wild animals that can lead to anthropomorphism, attributing human traits and characteristics to non-human animals. I felt their names helped me embrace them and so started my (and EWGs) love affair with Dusty and Freddie.
This first box in 2020, while beautiful and well crafted, was too big for the ledges so was positioned on a flat roof but the pair decided it wasn’t for them and didn’t breed that year. Peregrines naturally nest on precarious ledges of sea cliffs or quarries so this was just not quite right.
The following season there was high drama; a new unringed female was on the scene! We still don’t know what happened to the original female; she could have been killed or just found a more suitable nest site. I’d like to think she wanted a change and just found a new man!
The new female invader was also named Dusty but her new pairing with Freddie also led to a failed breeding season. I was gutted about this, as I managed to break my leg at the end of July 2021 causing me to spend two weeks in Ealing Hospital gazing longingly out of the window in the hopes of getting a fly-by; no such luck!
Undeterred by two unsuccessful breeding seasons, Sean had a cunning plan!
Before the start of the 2022 breeding season, armed with some scraps of wood and an old pallet, a Sean-made nest box was lowered over the parapet of the hospital roof onto a ledge. This was then filled with several very heavy bags of gravel, that he’d had to carry to the roof as the lift didn’t go all the way to the top!
With trail cameras in position, we waited… but there were no images!
So the only way to tell if breeding was taking place was by careful observation from the hospital car park. From late March, Dusty was not seen much, yet Freddie was working extra hard to bring prey to the nest box. She’d then fly off to the Viaduct (the actual railway bridge, not the pub) to eat the prey, only to return to the nest a short while later. This behaviour led to the belief eggs were being incubated.
Imagine Sean’s delight when under licence, he popped his head over the parapet to see three healthy and well-provisioned chicks in the nest box!
They shared the box with lots of Feral Pigeon and Rose-ringed parakeet feathers, plus a partially plucked Starling. This inspection allowed a quick check on the camera but the solar panel wire had corroded so it was without power. I had to satisfy my Peregrine passion with the occasional white fluffy head appearing over the side of the nest box as captured by some of the amazing photographers in the group.
Thanks to funding from Ealing Council, a live-feed camera was installed and from 9 January 2023, I (and many of you) had another channel to watch, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 365 days each year; and we were all hooked! The genius thing about the camera feed is you can scroll back 12 hours; it’s like iPlayer for Raptor fans!
After three chicks in 2022, there were high hopes for 2023. While we didn’t witness any mating on the camera, we certainly heard it several times! By 17 March, Dusty had taken to sleeping in the next box, a sure sign that eggs would not be long. And lo and behold the first egg was laid the following day. In total, she laid four eggs and by 24 March incubation was in full swing with the first chick “pipping” at the eggshell on 25 April.
Of the four eggs, two wonderfully healthy female chicks entertained us for hours on the live feed. All too quickly they grew as by early June I’d given up on the live feed as both chicks had decided to hop off the nest box running along the ledge or flexing their wings just out of sight.
In the days that led up to them taking flight for the first time, some six Fledgewatches were organised just in case the youngsters got into trouble. On the sixth, one gave us considerable cause for concern, having decided to fly to a column above the ambulance ramp to A&E. Sean got little sleep that night having left the site after dark, to return at 05:00 and luckily finding her back around the nest. The last sightings of our 2023 girls were in September after a long summer of flight training from Dusty and Freddie.
Last autumn and winter was Peregrine downtime, allowing camera maintenance as Dusty and Freddie only occasionally visit the nest site; mainly to drive off potential intruders. In November the “very well worn” Sean-made nest box was swapped out for a major upgrade! The new purpose-built box even has ridged side ramps to allow easier access in and out of the box by future chicks.
As my love affair continues with Dusty and Freddie, I may find myself sharing the love with the Southall displaced pair at their potential new site on Merrick Road.
Ealing is in love with its Peregrines, as after all, it’s a Peregrine thing!
Emma Chard-Cumming
Past EWG Secretary (and slightly obsessed Peregrine fan)
