Peregrine Falcon - 1949 status

Falco peregrinus peregrinus

Maximum number of eyries which could be occupied in one year probably 35.  Average number of occupied eyries pre-World War II probably 25-28.  During the war it was persecuted and is now less numerous (about 18 pairs in 1947)

R.M.Lockley, G.C.S.Ingram, H.M.Salmon, 1949, The Birds of Pembrokeshire, The West Wales Field Society

Peregrine - 2003-07

Most of what we know about Peregrines in the county is due to a small but dedicated band of volunteers who undertake the leg-work. Assessing the total Peregrine population in any one year requires a reasonable amount of effort and knowledge of the particular “patch”. They can utilise alternative nest sites over quite long stretches of coast. So it usually takes quite a few field-recording hours, often involving long walks along the coast path, to prove territory occupancy and confirm breeding. Detailed recording close to the nest also requires experienced, licensed observers.

Approximately every 10 years the entire UK population is surveyed to assess changes at the national level. The breeding population in Pembrokeshire has been subjected to annual surveillance since the early 1960s, coordinated by Jack Donovan up to 1983 and by Bob Haycock since then.

By the time of the first (1984-88) Pembrokeshire breeding birds atlas fieldwork period, the Peregrine breeding population was recovering well in the county. Some 14 – 15 breeding pairs were recorded by 1983 and by the end of the atlas period they had been found in 51 tetrads. By 1991, 39 territories were known to be occupied and their numbers had recovered to at least pre-second World War levels. 

Between 2003 and 2007, the total number of tetrads in which Peregrines were found had risen to 69, an increase of about 35%. Annual surveillance of the breeding population recorded 43 – 49 confirmed occupied territories, about three times the number recorded in the mid 1980s.

In the mid-1980s, all but two occupied territories were on the coast. By 2003 - 07 the number breeding inland, at quarries or other man-made sites such as large industrial structures (oil refinery and power station buildings - the latter now demolished), had risen to eight and they had been recorded in the breeding season from at least 14 inland tetrads.

The breeding population appears now to have stabilised (see figure 3 below of population trends), although the trend towards inland breeding may still be growing. In some places, inland sites may be seasonal alternatives to coastal sites.

There are still threats to the population; sporadic incidents of persecution still occur, including fairly recent evidence of individual birds either being shot or poisoned, or of individual nests being disturbed.

Bob Haycock

Fieldwork 2003-07 (based on 490 tetrads)

Red = breeding confirmed

Orange = breeding probable

Yellow = breeding possible

Tetrads in which found = 69 (14.1%)

Peregrine - 1994

Breeding resident

Assessing the past status of the Peregrine is particularly problematical. There were fewer observers in the past, they were not so mobile as now and the cliffs were less accessible to the public. Peregrines were sought after for their eggs and their young from the time of King Henry II to the present day, they have been killed as 'vermin' and during World War II attempts were made to exterminate them to prevent predation of pigeons carrying intelligence messages. All of these factors have resulted in a great deal of secrecy surrounding Peregrines. Nonetheless, an extensive collection of information about these birds in Pembrokeshire has been assembled, though it is fragmentary for some periods.

Mathew (1894) does not give an estimate of the breeding population but gives information on at least 25 pairs. Lockley et al. (1949) estimated an average of 25-28 pairs.

The national Peregrine population crashed in 1961-1962, the cause being traced to the effects of organochlorine pesticides (Ratcliffe 1970). None were known to breed in Pembrokeshire in 1962 and 1963, but the population slowly recovered following the cessation of widespread use of these pesticides. A single pair bred in 1964 in the north of the county, there were four pairs by 1968, six by 1975, 14-15 pairs by 1983, by 1989 some 33 territories were occupied and a minimum of 34 young reared and in 1991 some 39 territories were occupied.

Peregrines are still subject to various pressures. The coastline is now easily accessible and an increasing number of people enjoy walking along the coastpath. Cliff climbing has become a popular recreation. Eggs are still pilfered despite efforts to protect them and pigeon fanciers complain about predation of their birds by Peregrines. Therefore, for fear of misuse, we do not include a map of breeding distribution.

Peregrines hunt widely across the whole of Pembrokeshire during the winter, particularly favouring the estuaries.

Donovan J.W. & Rees G.H (1994), Birds of Pembrokeshire

Tetrads in which found = 51 (10.7%)

(based on 478 tetrads)

Peregrine - 1970s breeding

Red = breeding confirmed

Orange = breeding probable

Yellow = breeding possible

Peregrine - 1980s winter atlas

The BTO winter atlas showed that Peregrines were present in most 10km squares during the winters of 1981-82, 1982-82 and 1983-84.

The darker the colour, the higher the relative total count for each 10km square.  The darkest blue represents over 3 birds and refers to birds in estuarine habitat.

Graham Rees

Peregrine - 1894

Species account from M Mathew, 1894, "The Birds of Pembrokeshire and its islands"

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