A breeding pair of Peregrine falcons have this year raised four young on the rooftop of Chichester Cathedral. I have good reason to believe that the pair have raised a total of 30 young whilst they have been in residence at the Cathedral. I spent the afternoon there with the RSPB and a group of other people, all with scopes and cameras trained on the rooftop.
It wasn’t long before I caught my very own glimpse and my photos of that came out ok. We also watched the birds take to the sky and go off on individual sorties. The 4 youngsters are still getting used to their wings and the art of flight! They seem to have picked it up well already but don’t venture too far, mainly flying from one part of the Cathedral to another. I saw at least two of the young plus both adults whilst I was there.
However in good old photographic tradition, my best viewing and photo sequence didn’t come until I was leaving the Cathedral Cloisters. On the parapet of the tower was the adult male, who appeared to have predated another bird and was tucking away at his hearty feast. Initially his head was only visible, as he bobbed up and down, tearing the meat apart. As I was walking away, he hopped up onto the ledge, so that he was clearly visible. I hadn’t put my camera away and was still carrying my tripod around with legs fully extended, so I set up and watched intently.
The Peregrine was still eating and looked at us and around a lot of the time. I was waiting for him to take off in order to be able to capture a flight sequence.
Here it is!! Looks like the images are in the wrong order, I shall fix that sometime….
On a technical note, I really do want a beefier lens for this stuff and a Wimberly tripod head….
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice shots, and the building and the color of the birds complement each other.
Ah, yes – a longer lens – what would you go for?
Ideally a Sigma 300-800!!! That would be perfect!