The cause of death for two chicks has now been revealed by Worcester Cathedral after post-mortems carried out.
Three chicks successfully hatched in the nest box earlier this year, to the delight of many thousands of followers on the Cathedral’s YouTube livestream.
MUM: Peggy, the female peregrine falcon and mum of the chicks (Image: Worcester Cathedral)
However, this year all three chicks later died between May and May 15 and the livestream was shut down. Two of the carcases were recovered by the Peregrine Falcons in Worcester team and sent to a lab for analysis.
The post-mortems have now been returned which show the birds’ cause of death as having ingested poison.
A spokesperson for Worcester Cathedral said: “It is unknown how the chicks came to ingest a poison, and it is terribly sad that this happened this year, after three hugely successful years previously, where four chicks hatched each time and fledged successfully.
DAD: Peter or ‘Mr P’, the dad of the Worcester Cathedral Peregrine Falcon chicks (Image: Worcester Cathedral)
“Previous years’ juveniles have been sighted as far away as Bolton and London, which is wonderful, and the team hopes for more success in the future.
“The established pair of adults have been sighted regularly around the Cathedral and City since May, and both appear to be in good health. They have proven themselves to be excellent parents, so there’s no reason not to look forward to a more positive outcome next year.”
The Cathedral has reported the results of the post-mortems to the relevant authorities, and they will be included in this year’s British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) annual report.
After a gap of over 10 years, a new pair of peregrines moved into the Cathedral in 2022 and successfully nested, produced and fledged four chicks.
They returned to the nest in 2023 and 2024 and successfully raised four healthy chicks both years.
In 2023 the Cathedral was able to install a live hi-res camera, that operated 24 hours a day in breeding season.
Thousands of viewers have enjoyed watching lots of milestones on the You Tube livestream, including hatching, feeding, ringing and fledging, with lots of activity in between.
The team hopes that the adults will return to the nest to breed in 2026, and the livestream can delight viewers once more.