NOTES FROM TIGGYWINKLES: We're so proud of Aylesbury's peregrines

High on “Big Brother”, they have, once again, made us marvel at their majesty and domination of the skies over Aylesbury. I have not been anywhere near their nest castle but their being has crossed my path on more than one occasion.

My first encounter was when the ultra-brave male of the pair, the tiercel as he is known, took on a male interloper into his territory.

He fought the other male peregrine until they both, blindly, got tangled up in netting. Brought into us we managed to separate the protagonists then release the uninjured resident back into his patch in Aylesbury. The interloper needed a time of recuperation at Tiggys eventually being released, well away from Aylesbury, on the cliffs and high points of Dorset. He flew off well into his new domain soaring powerfully into, dare I say it, the wide blue yonder.

All was well until just recently a peregrine chick was found in Aylesbury Bus Station. It was obviously one of the young out of the Big Brother peregrine nest.

Trying to make its first flight he had obviously fallen due to his impetuosity. Mike Wallen, who keeps a very close domain over the nest site, put the truant back onto the peregrine nest platform just 10 seconds before its mother returned with food.

She couldn’t have told him off because four days later a grounded “kestrel” rescued from a garden in Friarage Road was identified, by its typical peregrine screaming, as the same truant youngster.

Once again Mike put him back on the nest where, fingers crossed, he is now sticking with his siblings exploring the high ledges of the council offices.

Editor’s Note: The Bucks Herald received this final column from Les before his sad death. We have consulted with the team at St Tiggywinkle’s, who wished for the column to run as normal.