Today I got a call from my eldest son down in Cornwall. He said that he had seen a family of perigrine falcons out hunting. Last year I was at the same campsite near Godrevy Head and we saw a family of 3-4 peregrines over the campsite on different occasions.
On one occasion we saw the family flying over and a young bird (you can tell by the brownish rather than slate grey wings) had a large black bird hanging in its talons. It looked like the size of a rook which I found surprising as I cannot imagine that crows are very appetizing! Shortly afterwards in a field nearby there was a big commotion from a flock of rooks there.
Later I was walking on the coastpath on the cliffs towards Portreath. Again I saw a young peregrine flying with a parent. It was high above me and I was amazed that it stooped on a great black-backed gull. It very nearly connected, the gull did a neat swerve. The falcon gained height again and went for another attack. By this time the gull was flying steeply down towards the sea. The young falcon came very close to the gull again but decided it was too close to the water for comfort and flew on.
I wonder if these attacks on the rook and the gull were serious hunting - for food - or simply learning the technique of catching birds on the wing.
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