Peregrine Falcon

Taxonomic information

Common Name: Peregrine Falcon

Latin Name: Falco peregrinus

Family: Falconidae

Description

Juvenille Peregrine falcon
Photograph by Trevor Wood

The peregrine is a large falcon renowned for being one of the fastest flying birds that has reliably been recorded, reaching speeds of 350kph (217mph).  It reaches these incredible speeds when hunting a range of medium sized birds, as it dives down knocking unsuspecting prey to the ground. The male peregrine is sometimes referred to as the tiercel, (a named derived from the word tierce meaning ‘a third’) because males are approximately a third the size of a female.  

The peregrine, like many other birds of prey, has had rather a chequered history. It was revered for many hundreds of years as the favoured bird for falconry and in the Middle Ages was protected by royal decrees to ensure that only the nobles were allowed to fly these magnificent birds. Declines in the 19^th and 20^th centuries were attributed to persecution and although protected by law, peregrines were legally controlled in certain areas during the Second World War to ensure that they didn’t take homing pigeons carrying messages vital to the war effort. The peregrine population crashed in the late 1950s due to agricultural chemicals such as DDT accumulating in the food chain causing egg shell thinning and reduced breeding success. These chemicals were banned and from the mid 1960s the peregrine population began to slowly recover despite persecution and the threat from egg collectors.

During the 1960s, the peregrine disappeared as a breeding species in the Yorkshire part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and was restricted to perhaps one or two pairs in the north west (in Cumbria). The first pair to return to Yorkshire nested in 1978 and thanks to the diligent efforts of a number of organisations in protecting these birds, peregrines have continued to spread so that there are now around 20 sites where peregrines have been known to nest within the National Park. However, problems still persist, as recent research has shown that the number of peregrine chicks raised from nest sites on grouse moors in the Dales is much lower than nest sites away from grouse moors.

Whilst it is not possible to publicise most sites, a viewing scheme run by the RSPB and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority is in place at Malham Cove during the breeding season as part of the RSPB ‘Aren’t Birds Brilliant’ project. Wardens are on hand with binoculars and telescopes to show visitors the peregrines and other wildlife in and around Malham Cove from early April until late July.   

Further details of the scheme at Malham Cove, including a 'peregrine blog' that details the activities of the peregrines and other bird species throughout the season, is available in the Peregrines at Malham Cove section of this website.