Falcons' revival 'soaring high'

By Martin Cassidy
BBC Northern Ireland rural affairs correspondent

The peregrine falcon had all but disappeared from Northern Ireland, a casualty of pesticide poisoning. But Martin Cassidy has been tracking the fortunes of the falcons' revival.

The peregrine chick's first "flight" is in a rucksack

A working quarry may seem an unusual place to begin a health check on the Northern Ireland countryside.

But when farmland became poisoned with pesticides like DDT 50 years ago, it was to places like this that the peregrine falcon turned for refuge.

The ropes and ladders snake high up on the rock face. But the men who are climbing have not come to carve out or chip away the stone, their mission is about counting, weighing and ringing.

Leaning forward from his ladder, Marc Ruddock from Queen's University surveys the the tiny ledge which which supports the falcon nest.

"I've got a single chick and an unhatched egg," he radios down.

The screeching chick is plain to hear on the quarry floor below, while the nervous parents call out from the grey sky above.

Down from its eerie, the peregrine chick's first "flight" is in a rucksack which Marc carefully lowers to his colleagues below.

'Perfect age'

This a is a familiar operation for members of the Raptor Study Group like Jim Wells, who has spent more than 20 years helping the falcon battle back from the brink.

"In the early 60s this species was in danger of extinction because of pesticides," he says.

"Fortunately the problem was discovered, the pesticides were banned and the population has risen dramatically to a situation where we now have far more peregrines than we ever had before in Northern Ireland."

The snowy coloured chick is three weeks old - the perfect age for ringing.

The mission is about counting, weighing and ringing

The blue and white plastic identification ring is fitted to the left leg.

As the bird gets older and becomes independent, the researchers will be able to follow its movements.

The falcon's flight is both beautiful and terrifying.

Crowds of people gather to watch its flying display near Newtownards in County Down.

Here the birds of prey climb and glide on the warm summer thermals around the landmark gothic tower at Scrabo.

But in hunting mode, the falcon can fall through the sky at speeds of more than 200 miles an hour.

The high speed stoop is breath-taking to watch while the falcon has special baffles on its nostrils which allow it to breathe despite the huge forces generated by its fall.

And when they attack it is with great violence - their talons are razor sharp.

Certainly by the time they are two years old, anything up to 80% of first year birds can be dead Marc Ruddock Queen's University

At Scrabo, their diet is mainly farmland and wading birds from nearby Strangford Lough. Pigeons are a favourite food.

Surprisingly, crows and pigeons abound around the cliffs at Scrabo, but the falcons appear to have an uneasy peace with their near neighbours.

Hunting usually involves looking for prey further afield.

Despite its prodigious speed and manoeuvrability, many hunts end in failure.

The falcon though has a conservative housekeeping side - food will often be stored in cliff crevices to fill a gap when hunting is thin.

Vantage points

The falcon pair at Scrabo have hatched three chicks this year.

The young are all on the wing, but have not yet learned to hunt.

The pressure on the adult birds to provide enough food is intense.

The piercing scream of a young bird cuts through the still summer air - it has been more than six hours since the male last returned with food.

Perched at various vantage points along the cliff, the young falcons scan the skyline for a returning parent.

Sixty breeding pairs have produced 90 young birds

On the opposite cliff, Marc Ruddock surveys the Scrabo birds through his telescope.

It has been a good year for chicks. Sixty breeding pairs have produced 90 young birds.

But Marc knows that many will not make it through next winter.

"Invariably they do have an incredibly low survival rate. Certainly by the time they are two years old, anything up to 80% of first year birds can be dead," he says.

Across on the cliff face, the young falcons are getting hungry - their calls echo across the farmland below.

And flying in low from Strangford Lough, an adult peregrine carrying prey in his talons - the falcon is back.