Romsey Abbey Peregrines

Sad news - 12 March 2026

Today we were sad to hear that our regular adult male Peregrine died in a collision with a vehicle just outside Romsey. He had dropped a prey item and was trying to retrieve it when the collision occurred. He was born at St Mary’s Church, Andover in 2020 and came to the Abbey two years ago when his nesting attempt with the female ended when their nest was affected by rain. Last year they nested on the side of the abbey in a gully.
 
This spring both he and the female had been seen mating, and the presence of one of their male chicks from 2025 was beginning to cause problems, with both him and the young male showing signs of aggression to each other. Now he has died it is possible that the young male will stay around to take his father’s place. He is too young to breed until 2027, but if his mother is already carrying eggs and continues to lay them, he may well take on the role of a helper. We will keep you informed as things progress.

Keith Betton - Chair of Hampshire Ornithological Society
Image of male Peregrine Falcon 17 March 2025 - Richard Jacobs

February 2026 - Update

Jason from Wildlife Windows has been back and installed a second camera to watch the nesting tray where the birds successfully reared 4 chicks in 2025.

If and when the pair decide to breed and chose which tray to use, we will switch the YouTube feed to that tray.

 

Current YouTube Feed Button Text

 

We were delighted when in 2024 a pair of peregrines laid eggs in the south turret of the Abbey, but sadly the eggs did not hatch. With generous donations from Romsey and District Society and Romsey Town Council, a splendid new nesting tray with webcam was installed for the 2025 season, and our peregrines returned but, despite showing early interest in the new tray, they chose to nest in an old tray in the gulley at the west end of the Abbey. There they successfully raised four chicks. See last year's reports here.

The parents are still active around the Abbey in early 2026. The female has visited both trays, doing some nest scraping at both. She is clearly undecided as yet where to nest this year. With funding from Romsey and District Society and the Friends of Romsey Abbey a second webcam has now been installed for the west end gulley site,  so we should be able to follow developments whichever site the peregrines choose.

Watch this space!