Eagle-eyed police swoop to save peregrine falcon chick: Bath
(BA2 - Thursday, 17 June, 2010)

The 6-week old bird of prey had fallen from its nest high on the steeple of St John's Catholic Church in South Parade.

It was too young to fly and, lost and lonely in the police station car park, was in danger of being mobbed by angry gulls.

Officers kept the birds at bay and called an expert from the Hawk and Owl Trust to take the peregrine into custody.

Mike Rogers, from the Trust, put the young male bird into a rucksack - and carried it back to the nest box on the church tower.

"It's just a bit too young to fly, but big enough to leave the nest and move around the stonework," he said.

"It obviously just fell off and fluttered down but it wouldn't have been able to fly back up, so thanks to the police we're able to return it."

The Bath peregrines have been an aerial attraction for several years.

The Hawk and Owl Trust put up a nest box five years ago and the birds have bred successfully ever since.

This year there are four chicks, all ready to leave the nest in the next week or so.

And if, like Bath police, you find a lost young peregrine, the advice is don't handle it - just contact the Hawk and Owl Trust on 0844 984 2824 or via their website www.hawkandowl.org.

St John the Evangelist
South Parade
Bath
Avon
BA2