NICK Dixon was a welcome speaker at the latest Cornwall Wildlife Trust, Bude group, meeting and gave a fascinating illustrated talk on the Peregrine Falcons of St Michael’s Church, Exeter.

His talk covered all aspects of the history, physiology and life cycle of these magnificent birds which he has been monitoring for the past 22 years.

The peregrine falcon is the fastest bird on the planet when hunting and a speed of 243mph has been recorded by a falcon in a stoop (high speed dive).

Their eyes are relatively large (equivalent to a grapefruit size in humans) and they have a third or nictitating eyelid that prevents damage and nostril cones that can regulate air pressure at diving speed.

The needs of the raptor are simple; open country to hunt, a constant supply of prey and a safe breeding ground. They are incredibly territorial, have ancestral breeding sites some of which have been in use since the 13th century and lay their eggs high on ledges.

The web cams set up at St Michael’s allows visibility of the entire breeding cycle from egg to fledging and Nick showed some photos of chicks a couple of hours old which he described as an open beak with a stomach attached. The parents feed them strips of flesh until they are ‘fed up’ and fall asleep and they fledge at around 42 days.

The current falcon has a particular hatred of buzzards, Nick believes they have the only psychopathic female in the country as she and her mate have been largely responsible for over 60 buzzard deaths and she will expend enormous amounts of energy pursuing any buzzard that strays into what she regards as her territory.

Part of his survey is the often messy collection and identification of prey remains and he has 6,000 individual records from over 106 bird and three mammal species, which provide valuable information on their eating habits.

This was a fascinating talk full of knowledge and humour and for anyone interested in seeing the birds in situ use this link: www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk

The next meeting will be on Monday, March 19 at 7.30pm at Stratton Primary School when Simon Wiltshire will be talking on quarry wildlife and restoration.