THE three latest peregrine falcons to be born at Salisbury Cathedral were all ringed this morning. 

The task was carried out by Phil Sheldrake of Natural England, Salisbury Cathedral’s nature conservation officer, and Nigel Jones of the British Trust for Ornithology.

The three chicks hatched over the course of three days, from Tuesday, April 25 to Thursday, April 27, after the eggs were laid in March.

Since peregrines first began nesting at the cathedral in 2014 after a long absence due to declining populations, each chick born on-site has been ringed to monitor their movements.

Twenty-nine chicks have been born at the cathedral in the past nine years, including the three ringed on Wednesday, May 17.

Additionally, the mating couple living at the cathedral in 2017 adopted an orphaned chick.

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The whereabouts of three peregrine falcons formerly born at the cathedral are known. Peter, one of the first, fledged in 2014, still lives in a Hampshire quarry with his mate. He was nursed back to health by the Hawk Conservancy Trust after being shot in March 2017.

Flo, born in 2021, lives atop the Weetabix building in Welwyn Garden City, while Osmund, born in 2020, lives in Guernsey.

The peregrine falcon population in the UK started to decline during the Second World War, when the species was actively culled because they would prey upon pigeons that the Allies used for communication.

Their numbers were further harmed by the use of DDT as a pesticide from the 1950s to the 1980s.

The low number of peregrines that remained on the island of Britain tended to be cliff-dwellers.

Although of the same species, different groups of peregrines have an almost cultural preference for the types of places to nest.

There are the aforementioned cliff-dwellers, as well as building/church dwellers and tree-dwellers (which remain absent in the UK). Peregrines will typically choose the same type of nesting place as where they were born.

Nigel said: “What normally happens is that a bird that nests on a church will go to another church or another man-made structure and a bird that nests on a cliff, or it’s a youngster and they were raised on a cliff, they’ll go for another cliff.”

The two female chicks ringed this year were named Lily and Rose, while the male was named Rex in honour of King Charles III’s Coronation. The names were chosen after an online poll by the cathedral inviting the public to vote on the names.