Glasgow Peregrine Project

Introduction
The Glasgow Peregrine Project brings together a series of conservation bodies in an exciting and imaginative initiative to bring one of the planet’s most dynamic species to the people of Glasgow and through the SOC Clyde Branch website, the world.

The project is led by The Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, University of Glasgow and the RSPB. Other organisations support the conservation effort, The Glasgow Natural History Society, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Glasgow City Council, Friends of Glasgow’s LNR’s and the Scottish Raptor Study Group.

The fascinating life of the Peregrine pair are brought to the public through engagement events at a dedicated watchpoint and all social media platforms.

Thumbnail image courtesy of George Smith / Scottish Raptor Study Group

Peregrine Timeline 2025:

Third and fourth egg: Due to a camera failure, dates for remaining eggs are not certain.
It is thought (based on behaviour) that 4 eggs were laid - with the clutch completed March 26 2025
Second egg laid: Friday 21st March
First egg laid: Wednesday 19th March

After installing two new cameras in the nest this year, you’ve guest it, one has failed. Unfortunately, it was the camera covering the nest itself. Luckily, the remaining camera gives us a partial view of the nest and both sides of the ledge. We’re not certain if it’s the camera or a break in the chain of extension cables. The cables link the solar panel to the cameras. Whilst it’s not ideal, we do have all the footage from last year involving the same pair at the same nest site. So, until we can get a chance to repair it, we can at least let you see what it all looks like.

Video of three then four eggs (from 2024)

The camera will be repaired or replaced when we abseil in to ring the chicks. We must be responsible, and we don’t want to disturb the birds, particularly when we already have footage of them nesting in previous years. However, after monitoring the pairs behaviour, we reckon that the clutch was completed by the March 26th 2025. In 2023 and 2024, Bonnie laid four eggs and we’re presuming the same again for 2025. As with all birds, there is an incubation period. In Peregrine Falcons it’s between 28 to 33 days. This depends on weather, altitude and latitude. Also, the experience of both birds is a factor. However, Bonnie and Clyde have proven themselves to be particularly attentive and regularly relieve each other to ensure incubation is consistent.

Video of nest changeover

With a bit of luck, we should have chicks’ food begging in the nest by our next Peregrine Watch Day on the 26th April. Other excitement included an invading female and juveniles coming into the University pairs airspace. All were driven off by Bonnie and Clyde. Kestrels too have been making an appearance and both the male and female from a city pair close to the University are continuing to hunt mice and small birds within the University grounds. They often perch at eye level during the Peregrine Watches and they’re building their own fan club! The Peregrine Watch Days have got off to a great start with people coming into the city from all over central Scotland. We really must thank all the departments within the University and the Huntarian Art Gallery who have played their part in facilitating the watches over the years, it’s very much appreciated by us all. Picture of Peregrine Watch.
A big part of this successful start to the Peregrine Watches has been the generous sponsorship by Viking Optical Ltd. The three top quality telescopes, tripods and binoculars they’ve supplied ensure that everyone gets an excellent view of the nest, and the birds perched high on the Gilbert Scott Tower.

We’re very much indebted to Trish Donald and her team at Viking. The Glasgow Peregrine Project is on Facebook but it’s a pleasure to see followers
on Instagram exceed 1,000. This has been down to the hard work of a new member to the team, Callum Leonard. Callum is a Goshawk specialist with considerable experience in social media. The Glasgow Peregrine Project presentation was delivered to SOC branches in Ayrshire and Stewartry and the RSPB Lanarkshire group. If there are any other groups that would like to hear all about the project and these incredible raptors, then please feel free to contact us.

This update includes the events of autumn and winter 2024 and starts with our peregrines getting names.

In August, the University staff and students ran a naming competition. After much deliberation, the winning names were revealed. Given her good looks our female was named Bonnie and the male was named after the river that transects the city, Clyde! As Bonnie and Clyde celebrated their new titles, they were made honorary members of staff and had their own passes produced, which was very cool!

The autumn is an exciting time, the study of the seasonal movement of adult and juvenile Peregrines commenced. A thank you went out to all the observers who reported birds coming into the city and its environs. Birds have been seen in Erskine, Clydebank, Milngavie, East Kilbride and RSPB Baron’s Haugh, Motherwell. It’s important to establish how peregrines use the city for roosting, hunting and exploiting the available food supply.

The records inform planning applications, interactions with the existing territorial pair can be monitoring and help assess the population dynamics and requirements of this threatened and declining raptor.

The University pair continued to patrol their territory but focussed on a few of their favourite sites in Glasgow: Kelvingrove Museum, the City Chambers in George Square and Royal Exchange Square. The ecological work includes counting pigeons to estimate the prey base and relative importance as a food source. Their wider range was defined through this study, and they hunt as far as the New Gorbals, BAE’s yard in Govan, Gartnaval Hospital, Ruchill and church spires along the famous Great Western Road. Their territory will continue to be assessed with exploratory flights to other parts of the city recorded.

The territorial range of the University pair.

As Hogmanay arrived the Review of the Year was posted on the new Facebook page. The video captures all the 2024 highlights.

Evening Talks and lectures

The story of our birds has grabbed everyone’s imagination. Evening talks have been requested and were delivered to SOC, RSPB, SWT and natural history societies throughout central Scotland. The talk not only concentrates on the peregrines but also covers the raptor work of the Scottish Raptor Study Group (SRSG). Other species are being worked on too and include Sparrowhawk, Raven and Kestrel. At the end of each talk, an invitation is extended to all to come along to the immensely popular Peregrine Watches in the Spring and Summer. The watches are conducted just outside the Huntarian Art Gallery and University of Glasgow Library.

The watches will commence in April and once the dates are finalised, they will be posted here.

In February, it was absolute pleasure to announce our corporate partnership with the UK’s top optics suppliers and manufacturers, Viking Optical and Swarovski Optik UK. In the picture below, Trish Donald from Viking Optical, John Simpson from the Glasgow Peregrine Project and Paul Innes from Swarovski Optik UK. Both Trish and Paul will be supporting our immensely popular public watches and special events throughout the breeding season. It’s great to welcome them to the team. Viking Optical have generously agreed to provide telescopes, tripods and binoculars and Swarovski Optic UK will bring some of the finest birding optics to special events planned for this year. So why not come along, enjoy the throng and excitement and watch one the most dynamic of species on earth through the best optics on the market today.

Photo © Susan Wheeler

New nest cams!

On Feb 12th 2025 we upgraded the Peregrine Nest Cams! The new 4K cameras will bring us all even greater detail, showing us the lives of these remarkable raptors. These are the city’s birds, and all the project partners want everyone in Glasgow and those who visit from all over the world to enjoy them.

Many have asked about a live stream and we’re actively looking at that. However, given the architectural significance of the iconic Gilbert Scott Tower and all its preservation orders, we are using this particular technology at the moment to capture every moment of their fascinating lives. Drilling holes, fixing ducting and installing a full CCTV for live streaming needs to be carefully considered with countless conditions and permissions. The project team cannot thank the staff of the University of Glasgow enough for what they are doing for us all, including those who log on to this website from around the globe.
The cameras were installed prior to the breeding season commencing to ensure no disturbance. We will now increase the number of updates, and the best of the highlights will be shown here and on our Facebook Page Glasgow Peregrine Project and on Instagram at Glasgow. Peregrine.Project

The Glasgow Peregrine Project has achieved two of its three operational objectives, Research and Conservation. It’s now time to concentrate on the third, Enforcement. You’ll now hear about the professional bodies who work around the clock to protect our Peregrines in Glasgow, in the UK and throughout the world. Much more on that in the April update.

This is the talented climbing and ringing team who worked hard to bring us the ringing experience from one of the most iconic locations in the UK. The Glasgow Peregrine Project team and indebted to all involved.

From the left: Pendrich Height Services Ltd climbing supervisors,
John Simpson, George Smith, Paul Baker, Clarke Elsby,
Sophie Bennett and Tim Chamberlain.
(© Karyn Elsby)

Cool, calm and chicks collected: Sophie Bennett
(courtesy of Tim Chamberlain.)

The climbers must possess the highest category of climbing qualifications known as IRATA (Industrial Rope Access Trade Association). The entire operation is supervised to ensure the safety of the birds, the climbing team and to ensure the physical integrity of the Gilbert Scott Tower with all its preservation orders.

After the ringing was completed, the female parent was straight back to the nest to ensure her chicks were all there. They all settled down quickly and within thirty minutes, the male brought in a pigeon for his voracious family.

The four chicks - three males and one female - competed for food and exercised their wing muscles. Their ringing details are shown here and form the basis for the fledging and post breeding dispersal study to come.

(courtesy of George Smith)

The media coverage of the birds has been exceptional and with a BBC Online piece achieving over 1.4K reactions and great thanks goes to Kevin McCormick (SOC) for facilitating this. The peregrines also featured on BBC Springwatch and this incredibly popular programme brought the life of the birds to the nation’s viewers with two excellent pieces by Megan McCubbin and Libby Penman.

A real highlight was the production of a short film (above) about the project by the super talented Stephen Magee of the RSPB. The film is posted here courtesy of the RSPB.

The film was a great support to the public watches which were conducted again from just outside the University Library and Hunterian Art Gallery. On each of the days, hundreds of people from all over the world attended and got exceptional views of the birds nesting, bringing in prey items and flying over the crowds, calling and parading the odd pigeon. The team would like to thank Zul Bhatia, Emma Davies and Peter Wakeford who staffed the watchpoint and engaged so effectively with the public.

By the first week in June, the brood made the exciting transition from chicks to fledglings. Throughout this period the team is on tenterhooks and standby, ready to react to any grounded bird. The fledglings have got to make their first, particularly dynamic flight, by launching off the tower and try their best to perch on one of the many rooftops, chimneys and weathervanes.

This year we had a repeat of 2023 with two chicks ending up in the quadrangles of the University. The protocol for a grounded chick sees the University security team:

secure the area
cordon to protect the chick
UoG Security Team will call one of the project team to respond to the incident.

This year Paul Baker arrived with his landing net and accompanied by Clarke Elsby and John Simpson caught the chicks. This is an opportunity to give the young bird a health check to ensure no broken bones or injuries, and this is done by licenced, experienced and trained persons. No one else, unless under the most extreme of circumstances, should pick up grounded birds. Always follow the protocol above.

After the health check, the long climb back up the tower begins. Given the impregnable nature of the nest site, the chicks are put into a purpose-built nest box arranged for by Clarke and built by Andy and painted by Russell from the UoG. The birds enjoy the best of lives courtesy of the University of Glasgow.

During this period the birds entertain the crowds at close range and many of the city’s photographers get their pictures. Pictures themselves are excellent in supporting conservation. They give an exact time, date and place for each individual and allows for tracking of movements, mortality as not all young peregrines will survive and those photographers who spend time trying to get a ring picture are truly appreciated.

This year the birds moved and dispersed earlier than 2023. The Kelvingrove Museum and Art Galleries is an important and favoured location for the young birds. Kelvingrove is around 350 metres from the Gilbert Scott Tower, so relatively close. The adults move around the city centre, ranging over to Gartnavel Hospital, Finnieston Cran but more often, George Square and the City Chambers. The birds catch one of the many pigeons and return to the safety of the City Chambers to pluck and eat their prey.

The work assessing the population and distribution of pigeons within the city continues and the work is showing that there is more capacity for additional pairs of peregrines to exploit this resource.

The raptor work monitoring how the young birds disperse started in early July. It is not fully understood how the birds disperse or what the mortality rate is in juvenile or immature peregrines. The data shows that three birds have made it toward the end of the month but Z46 seems to have disappeared, died or dispersed very early. Z46 was one of the grounded young birds and is pictured below.

The dispersal study is conducted by members of The SOC and the Scottish Raptor Study Group but is open to all to contribute. Most people will be surprised to learn that the work is conducted throughout the day and night and continues from last winter. The pictures below show the roosting behaviour of the birds and utilises a Thermal Imaging Device which provides excellent pictures and video of the activities of the birds even in pitch black conditions.