Livestream cathedral peregrine chick dies

A falcon sits by one chick with an un-hatched egg to its right.Image source, Worcester Cathedral
Image caption,

A 24-hour livestream can be seen above the nest

  • Published

A peregrine chick recently born at a nesting site at Worcester Cathedral has died overnight.

Parents Peter and Peggy produced four eggs at the cathedral, with the first hatching on Easter Sunday.

The chick died overnight, according to officials, who said they were unsure of the cause as the livestream had gone down at the same time due to a network outage.

The remaining birds - now just two after one other did not hatch - seem fine and continue to be monitored, a post on Peregrine Falcons in Worcester stated.

A falcon looks at an egg hatching in the nest with three others next to it.Image source, Worcester Cathedral
Image caption,

The first egg to hatch was captured on Easter Sunday

The nesting pair - also known as Mr and Mrs P - have had three very successful years producing and fledging four healthy chicks in 2022, 2023 and 2024 at the cathedral, the group said.

"This year for the first time the fourth egg did not hatch, which is not unusual.

"It is also not unusual for some chicks not to survive, they are wild birds after all.

"It is very sad for this to have happened, after we have become accustomed to such successful breeding by the pair."

The 24-hour livestream of the nest box received nearly 500,000 views from across the globe in 2024.

"We are hopeful the two remaining chicks will continue to thrive and fledge successfully in the coming weeks," the post added.

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