Heartbreak as cathedral's ultra rare peregrine falcon chicks 'poisoned to death'

Devastated bird-lovers have reacted with shock at news that two rare peregrine falcon chicks born on top of a historic UK cathedral earlier this year died from poisoning. Adult birds of prey Peter and Peggy produced four eggs at Worcester Cathedral this spring - one failed to hatch but all three chicks that did tragically died between 6th and 15th May.

Two of the dead chicks were recovered by the 'Peregrine Falcons in Worcester' team and sent to a laboratory for analysis but now they have revealed that post-mortems showed their cause of death was from ingesting poison. It could be Peter and Peggy had brought food to the nest, unaware those small animals had died from poison being laid down to kill rodents.

The cathedral said it did not know how the chicks came to ingest poison, and that it was terribly sad after three years in which four chicks had hatched each time and fledged successfully.

Chris Dobbs, the cathedral's biodiversity adviser said the results would be shared with the wildlife unit at West Mercia Police as well as the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).

Because the nest had been under the microscope with a live video stream for bird-lovers, "you see the good and the bad," said Mr Dobbs, reflecting on the deaths of the chicks.

"It's not a good thing to happen, but it does happen, so hopefully it won't again, and we'll have a nice normal year next time."

West Mercia Police confirmed they had received a report about the suspected poisonings on 20th October and spoken to the RSPB as part of their investigation.

But they added that the investigation had since been closed because of "evidential difficulties", a spokesperson said.

Both adult birds appeared to be fit and healthy and would be closely monitored. The nesting pair, also known as Mr and Mrs P, have had three successful years producing and fledging four healthy chicks from 2022 at the cathedral.

In spring this year Peter and Peggy produced four eggs at the cathedral, with the first hatching on Easter Sunday, but one did not hatch.

A 24-hour livestream of the nest box received nearly 500,000 views from across the world last year.

The first chick that died was unable to be recovered as Peggy was thought to have removed it from the nest herself. When the second died its body was recovered and taken to a laboratory.

But days later on 15th May the final surviving peregrine chick also died and was sent off for tests.

A 24-hour livestream of the nest was shut down after the last bird became ill and started acting lethargically, with its parents stopping feeding it.

Videos of the parents are still featuring on the 'Peregrine Falcons in Worcester' Facebook site.

Breaking the news of the poisonings they said: "We have received the autopsy results of the two chicks that we recovered in May. Both birds had internal bleeding consistent with death from poison.

"These findings collaborate with the behaviour of the chicks in their last few hours and with expert advice that we received.

"We don't yet know the cause of this but it has been passed to the relevant authorities and will be included in BTO data.

"We understand that this leaves many questions open and will inevitably create speculation but, at this stage, the team don't plan to add to speculation.

"The Carcasses were initially sent to DEFRA who ruled out Avian Influenza. The autopsies were then completed by a University who research raptor mortality.

"Many thanks for everyone's patience in waiting for the results to be released. We will add further details if and when we receive them.

"Both adults look very well and behaving as we expect them to be at this time of year. Plenty of eating and rest."