Peregrine Project - St James' 2026 Blog

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5th April 2026

So, that’s it, no more eggs to come. The pair will be incubating a clutch of three this year, marking the first time the Louth Peregrines have not laid four eggs since 2020. From this point on, things tend to settle into a quieter routine. Both adults will focus on incubation duties, carefully maintaining the temperature and turning the eggs at regular intervals. Activity around the nest may seem subdued compared to the excitement of laying, but this is a critical stage in the breeding cycle. If all goes to plan, attention will soon turn to the anticipated hatching period, with the first chick expected to emerge at around the 4th May. As always, those final days can feel like a long wait, but they are often followed by a sudden burst of activity once the chicks begin to hatch.

30th March 2026

The third egg was laid at 20.20hrs.

 27th March 2026

The 2nd egg was laid at approx. 08.10hrs

26th March 206

The first egg has been laid - the earliest ever at this site..

25 March
A pair of high-flying pregrines put our pair on the wing at 10.10 today. They soon returned to the east side of the tower, the male perched on one of the parapet merlons (out of sight of the camera), while the female appeared through one of the openings, clearly agitated. She eventually flew round to the nest.
The female has been spending increasingly long periods sitting on the nest – a precursor to egg-laying, which we expect to begin next week.

23 March 2026
Female on the nest at 15.27. Brief courtship display at 16.30. She finally left nest at 17.45, so over 2 hours in place. Still expecting first egg next week, so watch for an overnight stay in the next day or two.

21 March 2026
Prey (probably a woodcock starting its migration to the continent) brought in by the male at 07.20 this morning. A gift for his mate, but she wasn't around!
 
17 March 2026
The pair mated on the north-east coronet at 16.00 today.

14 March 2026
The benefit of multiple cameras around the church tower walkway. This YouTube video (click image for the link) shows the male bringing in prey, which is taken by the female to the west walkway where she regurgitates items, before moving around to thesouth, then east walkway, from where she flies.

13 March 2026
'Our' pair regularly on the nest tray daily, sometimes singly, sometimes both together. Another 10 days before we can expect some action!

8 March 2026
3 peregrines around the church at 13.25. Two flying and one calling from the spire. One of the flyers turned back, the other went out of sight. Our intruder again?

7 March 2026
Male brings in a starling at 07.33 and gives it to / taken by the female.

6 March 2026
For the first time since the 2nd, 'our' male has returned. First video at 15.10 shows him approaching the nest and 'gravel surfing'. Second (edited) video from 15.43 shows the pair bonding – a very excited male!

5 March 2026
The ringed male is still around. The resident female has been making brief visits to the nest calling (presumably for her partner, who hasn't been sighted since the 2nd). No sign of nest-scraping.

3 March 2026
The visiting male has been around all day and currently sitting on the spire crockets. At 06.25 this morning, he brought in prey to the nest roof and ate while our female looked on.
Click the image to watch the 17-minute video on YouTube. At 13.25, it was back on the nest roof again, eating.

2 March 2026
Much action today. At 08.46 the male came in and removed the blackbird that was brought in yesterday. He took it to the nest but when our female approach, he made off with it!
The male returned at 11.23 and stayed on the nest, appearing agitated after the arrival of an East Midlands-ringed bird. It was around for 3 hours until, at 15.00, it approached the nest and displayed aggressively – too much for our male, who flew, followed by the intruder...
 
...so it looks as though our old male has been vanquished. In this video, the usurper displays to our female, but she wasn't impressed and the visitor made a hasty exit through an opening on the east walkway.
 
1 March 2026
Female brought in prey at 18.25, but left it on the walkway for later consumption.
 
27 February 2026
Courtship at 07.20 today. Click the image to watch on YouTube

26 February 2026
First solo vist by the female at 07.35 this morning, with the male visiting at 11.40 and again at 12.32, when he spent 45 minutes sitting in the opening by the nest.
 
24 February 2026
Our pair were seen to be mating around 09.15 on the south side of the church

22 February 2026
Our birds on the nest this morning at 06.40 performing their courtship ritual. The female visited again briefly at 11.54 and the pair have been around the church for much of the afternoon.

18 February 2026
The pair visited the nest this morning at 07.46
 
15 February 2026
An orange-ringed bird of unknown origin visited the nest around 07.20 this morning and called to our male who was on the parapet. When he flew, the visitor made a hasty exit. The video-grab below from our live-streaming camera show a bit of the action. (Our male is top right in the video.) The male returned shortly after, sitting in one of the openings of the parapet.
 
14 February 2026
Valentine's Day and our pair are together on the nest for the first time. They arrived together at 14.34 and stayed around the church for much of the afternoon.
 
11 February 2026
The male again at 07.38 for about 5 minutes. On each visit, he selects and swallows bits of gravel, which aids digestion of its food. There have been no signs of a scrape being created, and no record of the female in the area since the 7th.

8 February 2026
Another brief visit by the male at 07.15 this morning, this time walking along the walkway from the east, before entering the nest tray.

7 February 2026
Another brief visit by the male at 07.10 this morning. The female flew in around 2pm for a short time, but didn't visit the nest, then flew off soon after.
In 2025 and 2024, the pair first visited the nest together on 13th February. That's the date to watch for!

5 February 2026
A visting female juvenile was spotted by the camera on the west walkway this morning. It was unringed, so origin not known. Our resident male called briefly.
 
2 February 2026
A second brief visit to the nest by the male at 07.30 this morning.
We are suffering several breaks in the streaming – one this morning for almost 45 minutes. A bit worrying!

31 January 2026
First visit to the nest tray this morning by our male at 07.45.
 
29 January 2026
The peregrines may not be in view, but we know they are there.
A compilation video from last night – the first from the camera on the west walkway showing a snowstorm of feathers as prey is plucked somewhere above. The second, from the south walkway camera captures the moment the prey is dropped from above (repeated in slow-motion). It has been It has been confirmed as a Fieldfare, a winter visitor from Scandinavia.
 
25 January 2026
Just heard that of our 3 juveniles last year, XVT and XTT are females, XXT is a male. Interestingly, of the 29 juveniles whose sex we know, 17 are female, 12 male.

24 January 2026
All the cameras are now recording. While working on them, we disturbed a false widow spider.

17 January 2026
Both adults displaying around the church before flying north, at 08.15.

7 January 2026
First peregrine photo of 2026 – the male on St. James today, courtesy of Adrian Royale

5 January 2026
Reported that the male landed on St James at 15.45, then the pair flew east at 16.35. First sighting of the pair together since Boxing Day