Peregrine falcon chosen to represent Rochdale by Greater Manchester Birding City Region project

Date published: 25 November 2019

The Greater Manchester Birding City Region project has selected a bird to represent each of the ten boroughs, with the peregrine representing Rochdale.

Peregrines are regularly seen in Rochdale, as they have nested at the clock tower of the Grade-I listed Town Hall for more than a decade and are regularly seen soaring above the town centre as they hunt for food. 

A live webcam tracks the birds’ progress as they raise their chicks at the top of the historic clock tower, reflecting the birds’ natural habitat to breed and hunt prey. A nesting area was built for the birds, helping to provide them a safe haven to sleep, breed and raise their young.

James Walsh, originator of the project and author of the Greater Manchester Birding City Region book, said: “Each borough has its own unique birdlife, so I have used my knowledge of the ecology of Greater Manchester to select a bird that best represents the environment and character of each borough.”

Following the official "Birding Oldham" collaboration with Oldham Council – which uses the owl as its figurehead – James is in the process of raising a ‘Birding Rochdale’ project locally.

The Greater Manchester Birding City Region project started as a pledge to the Mayors’ Green Summit in March 2018 at Manchester Central and has progressed now into two online books and very positive local media coverage. The project aims to benefit Greater Manchester citizens and be included in any green new deal for the city region.

James added: “I hope that this project makes a big, personal contribution towards Greater Manchester’s ambition of becoming a world-leading Green City Region.”

In 2017, James named one of the peregrine falcon chicks born that year, Millennium Falcon.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/111411/sarah-pugh-and-abbie-taylor-winners-of-name-the-peregrine-falcon-chick-competition

He said: “Of course, it was a very cheesy Star Wars reference, however, there was also a scientific reasoning behind the name.

“The peregrine is a bird that has moved into urban environments fairly recently. Peregrines do spend more time on the moorlands and mosslands of Greater Manchester in the winter, but they do also defend urban territory, pair up, catch pigeons and make display flights.

“Since the turn of the millennium, numbers of urban peregrines have greatly increased, so the peregrine is very much a bird of the 21st century in Greater Manchester.

“Peregrines started to nest on Rochdale Town Hall in 2008 so the peregrine really is Rochdale’s Millennium Falcon.”

Three chicks were born in 2019 to the nesting falcons, which were named Swoop Dogg, Pegasus and Tweety Pioneer. All three chicks have now flown their Rochdale Town Hall nest.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/129069/flying-high-as-pupils-swoop-in-to-name-peregrine-falcon-chick

In summer 2019, the adult male of the pair sadly died after he was found by a local resident in Broadfield Park on 24 June with a broken bill.

A post-mortem showed the falcon died as a result of an infection contracted after damage to his bill prevented him from eating.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/128861/peregrine-falcon-died-due-to-infection-postmortem-reveals

The female of the pair has since found a new mate for the upcoming breeding season.

The birds are most active at the start of the breeding season from February and March with egg-laying typically occurring by the end of March to early April.

Hatching usually takes place during the first week of May. Once hatched, the chicks are likely to take their first flight within six weeks.