Blippers meet in Bath

Lozarithm arrranged a blipmeet in Bath today and led us around the towpath and onwards - a great variety of things to interest us, not least the peregrine nest in a church steeple. A nesting box has been fixed high up and we could see one of the parents and the white backs of the chicks through a strategically placed telescope - members of the RSPB were on hand and chatted avidly about them and the history of their revival from only 60 or so breeding pairs left a few years ago. The Bath peregrines have nested on this site for 7 years and source their food from as far as Chew Valley lakes - from the remains and their droppings an enormous amount has been learned about what they eat. In Bath they have learned to catch prey at night using the street lights (in other areas peregrines are not nocturnal) and pigeon fanciers who used to complain of losing their prize pigeons have learned not to fly routes over peregrine territories and the number of rings found round nests has been reduced to almost nil.

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