New Milton welcomes three new peregrine falcons

14th June 2022

Bournemouth Water’s New Milton Water Tower is home to a new brood of peregrine falcon chicks.

Rare and protected peregrine falcons set up home on the 30-metre high octagonal tower in 2017 and since then have produced annual broods of chicks, including three this year.

This year’s chicks, known as eyeasses, have all survived their first few weeks and have been ringed so they can be identified after they have flown the nest.

With vision eight times better than a human, peregrines are able to see from over three kilometres away, but while they might spot you it is very rare to see these birds in the UK.

Saska McGrath, Bournemouth Water's National Environmental Programme and Climate Change Manager, said: “Although peregrines never nested in Hampshire until 1993, their numbers have gradually increased as they are taking advantage of manmade structures, so we’re thrilled that three more chicks will join the peregrine population this year.

“We’ve faced a lot of challenges over the last five years, such as figuring out how to install a nesting box without compromising the operations of the water tower or disturbing the birds during maintenance work.

“We’ve encouraged the falcons to nest in a safe space on the tower and since 2017 we’ve seen 16 chicks from our New Milton breeding pair, which is priceless.”

This year, Bournemouth Water invested in a new nesting box, made from glass reinforced plastic, to provide a safe breeding site for the falcons in years to come.

Saska added: “Despite some delays with connectivity at the start of the nesting season, we also replaced our live feed camera of the falcons to offer better streaming capacity which can now be viewed direct from our website.”

Keith Betton, Chairman of the Hampshire Ornithological Society and Official Bird Recorder for Hampshire, first noticed a pair of peregrines on the tower in September 2016 and contacted Bournemouth Water to see what could be done to encourage the birds to nest on the water tower.

As the water tower is still operational and it was decided to place a box in the turret to encourage the birds to nest in an undisturbed part of the tower.

Keith said: “These precious birds are living alongside us and doing well. It’s a terrific success story, and it is great to have them in New Milton.”