Leigh Peregrines

I haven't been to see the Leigh Peregrines very much this year and so I thought it was time to call in and see how they were doing.  My traditional viewing area over the last few years has been the lane between Leigh Spinners Mill and Bedford High School, but as a car scrapyard has been opened in the area the access here is now very difficult.

So this time I approached from Sanderson's Croft, a small residential area on the opposite side of the mill.  I like to explain to people what I'm doing in their street with a long camera lens and so it wasn't long before I got talking to a couple of people who were working in their front garden.  Another person joined in and everyone was very helpful and pleasant and didn't mind be being there.

Later I spoke to another person who was gardening and finally to a gentleman called Steve, who invited me to stand on his path and view the nest box from his garden.  I didn't get any decent shots on my first visit one morning this week, but the prospects for some flight shots are good with weather being quite decent at the moment.

Here's one of the photographs I took on my second visit one evening showing three young Peregrines on the ledge in front of the box, with possibly another out of sight on the rooftop.

There was plenty of wing flapping going on so they look as if they are about to fledge. I'm not sure if there are three or four young, as it may have been an adult on the rooftop - I'll find out later.