Peregrine chicks fledge on Ely Cathedral roof live on camera

A box was built for the birds this year, but the breeding pair chose to nest elsewhere on the cathedral roof

Four peregrine chicks are the first to be filmed flying the nest since their parents set up home on the roof of a cathedral.

The adult birds first arrived at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire in 2019 and returned again earlier this year.

Four chicks hatched in May and a camera, set up near the nest, caught some of their first movements.

Adrian Blumfield from the Hawk and Owl Trust said it was "absolutely brilliant" to see them fledge.

Peregrines are the world's fastest animals, reaching speeds of up to 200mph (320km/h) as they dive steeply, or stoop, on their prey, which mainly consists of pigeons and doves.

Although the breeding pair produced two chicks last year, it is the first time newly-reared youngsters have been seen leaving the nest.

One of the four chicks pictured leaving the nest on Sunday

The cathedral teamed up with the trust to create a nesting box on the roof in the hope the birds would return after their 2019 visit.

But the pair "preferred an empty stairwell" on another of the cathedral's rooftops and laid four eggs towards the end of April.

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"Because of the position they chose we couldn't see exactly when they hatched," Mr Blumfield said.

"They grow really quickly and they started popping their heads up in view of the camera in May."

The birds have nested high up on the Cambridgeshire cathedral - nicknamed the Ship of the Fens

Mr Blumfield said the chicks would "still be very much dependant on their parents" for the next two months.

"Towards the end of the August they will to go in different directions and they could go anywhere in the country," he said.

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