UKC

Did I see a pair of peregrines at High Neb last week or were they another kind of falcon? Whatever, it was a joyous sight. I think I saw some red/brown in their plumage.

In reply to Pete Pozman:

Kestrels most likely, common along the edge though they nest elsewhere as far as I know. Smaller and browner than Peregrines, which are occasionally seen too - typically as a silhouette high overhead.

In reply to Adam Long: These were riding the updrafts or whatever the air currents are called coming off the top of the crag. I'm used to seeing kestrels, as are we all, and these birds just seemed more impressive. I suppose the typical hovering thing for kestrels is just one of their moves.

In reply to Pete Pozman: Sounds like the typical behaviour of a golden condor to me.

In reply to Pete Pozman: Red Kite? http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/r/redkite/index.aspx says they're in Yorkshire, so could conceivably stretch to Stanage. Then again, Yorkshire is a big place... OTOH the RSPB doesn't mention that they're in Hertfordshire these days - a friend of mine in Harpenden gets them soaring over his back garden - so I feel that their distribution information is a little out of date.

Definitely impressive birds - significantly larger than a kestrel, though, and a very different flight profile/wing shape.

In reply to Pete Pozman:
NEWS FLASH: Stanage bird banned!

In reply to Pete Pozman:
"These were riding the updrafts or whatever the air currents are called coming off the top of the crag. "

Lots of birds of prey do that but commonly Buzzards & Kestrels. Peregrines don't regularly do that. They mostly catch other birds on the wing so don't tend to hover above the ground like that.

In reply to Pete Pozman: Or maybe, rather more prosaically, buzzard? http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/b/buzzard/index.aspx says "variable in colour" but IME doesn't usually include reddishness (the headshot photo on that page does look a little reddish, although that might be because it was taken in an evening light). Not as big as the red kite, and a different wing shape again to that bird, and the kestrel.

In reply to CurlyStevo: Beat me to it with the buzzard. The other thing which probably rules out peregrine is that they are basically pale grey/blue-grey and would be unlikely to appear reddish even when lit by evening sunlight.

In reply to Martin W:

You very rarely see Buzzards at Stanage itself (there are keepered grouse moors all around), though there are a few in the Hope valley). I've never seen one soaring the edge as described above. I've seen a Red Kite once in fifteen years in this area. Neither could be confused with a falcon.

99% confident it was a Kestrel - red/ brown, soaring the edge - saw one doing this yesterday. The updraughts do allow them to be a bit more dynamic than your average motorway verge hoverer.

In reply to Adam Long:


I don't know about that! I'd agree a kestrel is far and away the favourite on this particular occasion, but in my experience amateur birders (like me) can mistake almost any bird for almost any other bird.

jcm

In reply to CurlyStevo:

There's a peregrine that regularly does just that over the Llanberis Path on Snowdon. Wait for the skylarks to go silent then look up!

In reply to NickD:
Well peregrines can hover its just not the typical behaviour you see them doing

http://www.flickr.com/groups/bbcspringwatch/discuss/72157630006070311/

There was a peregrine pair that used to breed on the tower block opposite where I used to work and we had a telescope trained on then and the chicks each year. I never saw them hover!

In reply to CurlyStevo: I've seen Peregrines hovering above the cliff line along the West Coast of Portland on several occasions - once when walking above Wallsend within a few feet of me - could almost reach out and touch the bird! Definitely Peregrines and very impressive.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:


I must admit that I read Pete's use of the word "falcon" in his OP as meaning "raptor of some kind" rather than a specific identification of the bird as a member of the genus Falco. Apologies if I underestimated his level of knowledge.

In reply to The Ivanator:
The ones we used to watch were more like jet fighters, most the time they would be parked up doing nothing and then you'd see them swooping and racing about the sky at 70 mph!

In reply to Martin W:

In situ at Almscliffe. Always wonderful to see them on the commute from Leeds to Harrogate where I was working over the summer.

In reply to Pete Pozman: I used "falcon" on purpose. They definitely had a falcon profile. They weren't hovering in the way kestrels do but holding a position like a paddler does in a back eddy. They impressed me so much I just thought they must be other than the kestrels I seem to see every day in the Vale of York. Maybe it's because I was eyeing them from the crag rather than from below as usual. I live fairly near Harewood so am really used to red kites and there's buzzards everywhere these days, saw 4 up Wharfedale on Sunday (unmistakeable call).
I never saw any of these birds as a boy in the last century. Is it that keepers no longer shoot and poison them?

In reply to Pete Pozman:

Red Kites were reintroduced. Peregrines I think it's generally put down to the banning of DDT, which was getting into their food chain and making their eggs disastrously thin. Buzzards I think might have more to do with the absence of persecution - not that it's so very absent, see hen harriers, the Government, etc.

jcm

In reply to CurlyStevo: I'm surprised that you would be able to see anything moving at that speed what with your age related sight deterioration mate
If it's moving at that sort of speed it's likely to be a peregrine - they catch their prey (usually other birds) by going into a steep dive where they literally knock the other bird out of the sky. I've seen loads of them at Swanage. Also they like high vantage points for hunting/nesting.
I would think at Stanage it's likely to be a kestrel - the males are a very clear grey and brown and are not massive - they also hold/hover against the breeze.
Although near to moorland it could even be a harrier ?

In reply to Ciderslider:
Yeah the ones we watched from my work were very definately peregrins which famously nested on sussex heights (the tallest building in sussex).

Shame I don't have an OAP buss pass too then we could go climbing for free tomorrow