peregrine saga

I went to see the peregrine today and fortunately we saw some flights. It was also a good chance to catch up with some birding friends having not seen them for a while.

All appears to have settled down at the peregrine site now and the female juvenile seen here has successfully claimed the patch as her own now. She was born here last year and her siblings were all chased off when they could fend for themselves but she fought back, she is fiesty and very fast in the air. Her mother who has been dominant for many years has dissappeared. It all happened at the time that there was disruptive work going on in the derelict mill so there are many theories but I think it is most likely that she has seen off her mother in a battle of the strongest.  She has also seen off another adult bird who tried to settle at the site. Apparently at one point she dived at the new bird and clean knocked her off a ledge and proceeded with air combat. The male, who had been the one chasing her off, has now mated with her even though she is still a juvenile bird and they are clearly best of friends.
The other unanswered question is whether the male is actually her father? He appeared on the scene during the mating period last year when the previous male was killed. Both males were seen mating with her mother. We will never know, strange things happen in nature.