High on the spire of St John’s Church in Bath, there’s an unusual nest box – this isn’t for small birds, nor even owls…. this nest box is for Peregrine Falcons!
The Hawk and Owl Trust have a webcam set up looking into the box, which gives some amazing views of the birds. This year there are four chicks, plus a “teenager” from last year, as well as the two adults…. so I thought we stood quite a good chance of spotting at least one of them.
There’s two main vantage points for the box – we started off across the river, where you can get a great view as long as you have either a pair of binoculars or a very good zoom lens on your camera! While I was focusing on the nest box, my walking companion spotted one falcon sitting a bit higher up on the spire.
After a little while, we decided to head across the river and alongside the church – that’s not quite so easy to see, as it’s quite a steep angle to look up at, but you do get some clearer views, and maybe don’t need quite such a good zoom lens.