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RIP Charlie

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I had a message on Tuesday night from Stuart of the London Peregrine Partnership that he’d picked up an injured Peregrine which might be Charlie. She’d been found in a garden North of Hyde Park, had a nasty wound on her back, was bleeding a lot and was very stressed. He’d brought her to the Royal Veterinary College and we’d know more the next day. On Wednesday morning they confirmed that it was indeed Charlie and said that she’d been put on fluids and painkillers somewhere on her own and she would be assessed later. On Wednesday afternoon they said they had euthanised her, the wounds were more severe than initially thought, very deep. She was also underweight and it was thought better not to put her through a lengthy and painful recovery, especially given her age. Today I heard that they found she had an infection around her spinal area, as well as the wounds.

We can only speculate at what happened. She might have been injured in the fight with Flame (Flame was), injuries which resulted in the infection, which weakened her and meant she couldn’t hunt as effectively and she got weaker. She may have brought down in a territorial battle with another Peregrine, mobbed down by Crows, and then attacked by a Fox.

At least she’s not in pain any more.

The next 2 photos are the first and last ones I have taken of her, in both cases I never knew this was to be… The first one was in the evening of the 11 October 2007, when I saw her for the first time still as a Juvenile. The second one was on 1st April this year when she was under attack from Flame.

11 1/2 years.

Follow a few shots from her taken on the nest ledge earlier this year.

She was such a beautiful Peregrine, so laid back, a great Mum.

19 January 2019
Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham, London
19 January 2019
Charing Cross Hospital, Fulham, London

Truly now the end of an era at Charing Cross Hospital.

RIP Charlie

April 2007 – August 2019

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  • 2 Jan 2019 – courtship

    2019, courtship
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    A couple of attempts at courtship displays today.
    It all started early, before the cameras had switched back from night setting, with Tom landing on the nest ledge, followed by Charlie. Tom went to the nest box.
    capture_03ch_20190102080757

    capture_01ch_20190102080951

    But Charlie preferred to eat.
    capture_01ch_20190102082444
    capture_01ch_20190102084020

    capture_01ch_20190102084036
    After she’d finished eating, Charlie went to cache the remains in their usual spot on the ledge, feaked for a bit and was sitting when Tom decided to go in the nest box and tried to entice her for a display.

    But, it looks like she wasn’t interested.

    capture_01ch_20190102085541

    So he finished the remains instead.
     
    Later in the afternoon, I was walking through the cemetery, when I heard Peregrine calls and saw Tom land on the corner of the nest box. A minute later I saw Charlie arrive from the South, circle a bit and then land on the ledge at the other end. Tom immediately went into the box but Charlie took her time and by the time she got to the nest box Tom had gone on the wall.
    capture_01ch_20190102145741

    Her turn to try and entice him and fail 😉

    capture_03ch_20190102145811
    “What have I done to deserve this?”

    A great start to 2019!

  • Day 3 of New Girl

    2019, update
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    It’s day 3 for New Girl at the hospital and she spent the whole night roosting on the ledge.

    It looks like she’s set to do the same again tonight. Interestingly, she’s using the exact same spot as Charlie, against the wall.

    Tom

    New Girl

    Tom

    Tom has been trying to entice her in the nest box and only succeeded once but that was because he had a bit of food which she snatched off him and then she left 


    He brought her a feral Pigeon which she ate for about an hour before putting the rest in the larder on the ledge.


    She started to spend some time at the camera end of the ledge and she’s now used to the noise of the camera when it is moved so I have managed some close ups. I have managed to read the first 3 characters of her ring, I am now confident I should be able to get it all and then we’ll know where she comes from…

    (On Tuesday, on her first visits to the ledge, she was flying away as soon as I would move the camera, which was one indication that this was neither Tom or Charlie – it’s not taken her long…)


    They mated on the ledge for the first time at 3:30pm.

    Will there be the patter of big feet after all this year…

     


    She still has blood on the feathers on her right legs and she appears to be injured on her left bottom eyelid which gives her a bit of a funny look. Was that there before or is it a result of the fight…?
    Look wise, she looks a lot more like Tom, her chest is white like him not honey like Charlie’s and her cheek patches go a lot higher than Charlie.

  • A London bird!

    2019, update
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    You may wonder why I am sharing these photos now…
    2 days ago I finished reading New Girl’s ring, that involved a lot of patience and luck but little by little I managed to piece it all together. I immediately submitted the number to Euring (https://euring.org/) and got an email back from the BTO this evening.
    It turns out that I watched (and probably a few of you too) her grow up on a RSPB webcam and then I saw her take some of her first flights! She is no spring chicken, she was born in 2010 in Vauxhall, London, from the Parliament pair. What did she do in those nearly 9 years? We’ll never know as it doesn’t look like her ring was reported in those years.
    So there you go, a London bird 
    And for those of you following the Nottingham Peregrines, it means she’s Archie’s big sister!


    So, she is one of the 4 young on the first shot, at the nest site, could be one of the 2 on the second, and is in one of the circles on the 3rd shot, at Parliament.      

  • 4 – 6 January 2019

    2019, courtship
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    Tom and Charlie have managed to do 2 ‘proper’ courtship displays inside the nest box since the last post. The season is properly started!
    This was on Friday 4th January

    Tom and Charlie

    And this was yesterday.

    Tom and Charlie

    No visit to the nest ledge today but I saw Charlie perched on the usual perch and, this evening, she was on one of her roosting flues, as most days.

     

  • 19 January 2019: 1st mating on camera of 2019

    2019, courtship
    1 Comment

    Early afternoon on Saturday 19th January Charlie arrived on the ledge and after a short while decided to pancake on the wall of the ledge.  I find the following video interesting as it shows her settling, with a better angle than when she does this on top of the nest box as she tends to face the camera there.

    pancaked Charlie

    She pancaked for a few minutes but got up quite quickly and moved to perch on top of the nest box instead.

     

    Charlie relaxing on top of the nest box with a full crop

    There, she decided to pancake again and even have a bit of a snooze.

     

    pancaked Charlie

    pancaked sleepy Charlie

    At 1.48pm, she suddenly got up and started bowing, I thought she was going to have a courtship display with Tom but no. Instead, Tom came and mated with her!  This has to be the earliest mating on camera for this pair. I had been wondering a few times a few days before if it was about to happen, from the way Charlie was presenting herself…

    1st mating on camera of 2019

  • Day 4 of New Girl

    2019, courtship
    0 Comments

    She roosted on the ledge and spent pretty much the whole day there too, she is definitely seeing it as home now I think.
    Tom has tried again without success to entice her for a courtship display inside the box. The only time he managed was by taking prey inside with him. Very cunning! But all she did was come in and grab…


    He’s managed to mate with her more than once today today as they did it 4 times on the ledge…
    One thing I have noticed is that New Girl appears to be a bit messy, Charlie would never have left remains of prey all over the ledge wall…      

4 Comments

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