Ealing Wildlife Group set up a live stream for the Ealing Hospital Peregrine falcons
By Joe Acklam
10th Jan 2023 | Local News
Ealing Wildlife Group have begun an ongoing live stream so that people can watch the Ealing Hospital Peregrine falcons whenever they like.
Dusty and Freddie, the Peregrine falcons that have nested at Ealing Hospital since 2020, will be available to watch on YouTube ad infinitum.
This will allow viewers to witness their nesting and activity and them raising their chicks in real time without any disruption, exactly as they would in nature.
The live stream is done from a camera mounted a short distance from their nest and allows an unobtrusive but excellent angle of the activity of the birds.
Although it is a great way of watching these Peregrine falcons live, there was a warning of what this might entail written by the Ealing Wildlife Group.
This said: "Peregrines bring back prey for the chicks, tear it apart and feed it to them, and this can be a bit graphic. Sometimes the prey is still alive when they start plucking it.
"If you think you might find this distressing, maybe don't watch the feedings. This is natural behaviour for birds of prey but even seasoned naturalists can find it a bit much sometimes.
"The second thing is we have adopted a non-interference policy. What this means is, aside from ringing the chicks, we are strictly observing only.
"Nature isn't always kind and sometimes baby chicks die. If this is really going to upset you then you may want to give this live stream a miss.
"Obviously, we hope that everything goes well but we want everyone to be prepared if it doesn't and to understand that we will not be interfering to rescue the chicks.
"We need to let nature do its thing to produce the healthiest and most capable birds for the future."
Two Peregrine falcons have lived at Ealing Hospital since 2020 and were named by Ealing Wildlife Group after two local celebrities in Dusty [Springfield] and Freddy [Mercury].
As they helped deal with pigeons they were kept and the wildlife group made a nest box for them and installed it on the right edge of the hospital, before in June 2022 they had three chicks.
You can watch their activity here.
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