Abbey welcomes four peregrine falcon eggs

An abbey in Worcestershire has been blessed with four peregrine falcon eggs, three years on from a tragedy that saw two chicks perish.

Judy Dale, of Pershore Abbey, said the birds, named "Mr and Mrs Peregrine", began visiting the building in 2023.

In their first year, they attempted to nest in one of the rain shoots, but a heavy rainstorm caused their eggs to plummet to the ground.

But it seems in the years that have followed, the would-be parents have now mastered nest building with four eggs laid over the past two weeks, which Dale said had been "incredibly exciting".

Their parenthood improvement has come partly from the abbey's new "Peregrine Palace", which consists of a 7ft tall platform with stones, ideal for nesting.

In 2024, the abbey also installed cameras at the nesting spot after being advised to do so by the RSPB.

The live stream can be viewed on YouTube and Dale said she finds it "very soothing".

"It's very soothing I find, just sitting there watching them just kind of go about their daily lives," she said. "I find it quite calming, strangely."

Discussing this year's nesting, she said: "It must have been about 10 days ago they laid their first egg, and over the next few days three more came, about a day and a half away from each other.

"Now we have the pair of them working hard. One of them sits on the eggs for quite a long time and then is rescued by the other. We can watch on our cameras exactly what happens."

It has been a different story at Worcester Cathedral, with no eggs yet laid.

Chris Dobbs, biodiversity advisor at Worcester Cathedral, described 2026 as "very disappointing".

"We have had fabulous years in the past with four straight years of maximum clutch sizes and all the fledglings being ringed," he said.

"It's been a wonderful few years but of course it is the natural world and things can go wrong and be different."

Dobbs said the female was unlikely to use the cathedral's box this year due to "several reasons", which could include the birds associating the area with negative memories after last year's poisoning.

In 2025, three peregrine chicks were born on site but all three died. An autopsy later revealed that two of the three chicks had been poisoned.

The matter was referred to West Mercia Police but the case was later closed because of "evidential difficulties".

Other reasons could include the animals taking a break in the breeding cycle or possibly because the female is too old now.

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