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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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14 January 2019

2019
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Tom paid 2 visits to the nest ledge today.
Tom

Tom

He spent around 5 minutes during the morning visit, here is a clip of most of it:

In the afternoon, he was hoping Charlie would join him for a display, here is is popping his head out of the box looking at her at the other end of the ledge:

Tom

Name…

2019
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Name…

I have been asked a few times already about a name for New Girl. Obviously, that name is good for now but wouldn’t quite fit if she’s around for years.
I have given it some thought over the weekend. Charlie was named Charlie as I wanted a name that could be both male and female and I based it on *Char*ing Cross Hospital. I couldn’t think of a name for her first mate and ended up calling him Mr C, which suited him very well. Tom’s name is based on the initials of The Other Male.
I have had a suggestion of Violet (because she screams a lot) but she doesn’t feel like a Violet to me, she is a BIG girl.
I have a habit when naming other things/pets to use deity names. Because of the breeding failure history in recent years and the hope that New Girl is bringing of success again I have been looking at deities linked to fertility. And so I am thinking of Damara, which is a British Goddess (and the initial D is after C). But there are others that could work such as Damona, Brigid, Turan…
Or we could call her Mrs T…

What do you think? T&D?

19 January 2019: 1st mating on camera of 2019

2019, courtship
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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

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.  

There is a new girl in town…

2019, courtship, update
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Monday 1st April at 2.14pm, this is the last capture on camera on the ledge that I have for Charlie…
I was walking from Hammersmith shortly before that and could see two Peregrines fighting over the skies around the Ark and Novotel. When I got to the hospital I could see 2 Peregrines on the hospital and 2 Peregrines up in the air. Unfortunately the sun shining right over the hospital prevented me to see much of what was happening and prevented me from taking any meaningful photos. It was enough for me to see that Tom was perched on the North Wing corner. There was a bird on the wall over the ledge but I couldn’t make out who it was, that bird was being dive bombed by one of the birds in the air. Then, there was a bird on the ledge, it went onto the ledge, the recording told me later that it was Charlie. She was there screaming for a couple of minutes then she took off and went around the North Wing and that’s the last I have seen of her.
Tom turned up on the ledge late afternoon with food, no one turned up, I started to wonder if something was wrong, but, occasionally, Charlie hasn’t heard Tom so he had to go and find her, it could be that.
Time to go to bed and Charlie had not turned up to roost. I checked the cctv as soon as I got up the next morning, no Charlie roosting on the ledge. I checked the hospital and there were 2 birds perched on corners. One is Tom, the other has its back turned so I couldn’t tell but something was telling me it wasn’t quite right. So, I went out with my camera. By then the birds had moved towards the front of the hospital. Again, one was Tom. The other was definitely not Charlie, the pattern on the head wasn’t right… Then they flew off and I managed a shot of the legs of the bird, no green ring but a metal ring on the right leg… A new girl…


She has blood on her right leg, I suspect from the fight with Charlie.

Since yesterday morning, she has been spending a fair amount of time on the ledge. Tom has brought her food which she has accepted. Tom has tried to entice her inside the nest box for a courtship display, she is happy to join in but from outside. I have seen them fly together and this morning they chased an intruder together.  That intruder could have been Charlie, unfortunately the action was a bit too far for me to make out individual birds.

What next, only time will tell…

New Girl likes Parakeet 😉

 

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.

 

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