Chichester Cathedral's peregrine falcon egg hatches

Many people have visited the cathedral to watch live footage of the peregrine falcon nest

The first of Chichester Cathedral's peregrine falcon chicks has hatched, the RSPB has said.

Four eggs were laid over the period of a week at the end of March and the RSPB set up a viewing area for the public to watch live footage of the nest.

The charity said many people had gone to the cathedral to watch the pair of nesting peregrines.

Molly Dailide, of the RSPB, said: "Now the first one has hatched it shouldn't be long before the others follow."

She added: "The female is still sitting on the remaining eggs and keeping the new chick protected but she's moving around a lot and every now and then you catch a glimpse of the chick stretching its pink feet, or some white fluffy down wriggling beneath the female."

The nest installed by the Sussex Ornithological Society has a regular following and the birds have their own <link> <caption>Facebook</caption> <url href="http://www.facebook.com/chi.peregrines" platform="highweb"/> </link> page with hundreds of fans.

This is the 12th year the peregrine pair have bred on top of the cathedral.

If all four young fledge successfully, it will bring the total number of chicks raised by the pair to 42.