New Milton Peregrines
Keith Betton, Chairman of the Hampshire Ornithological Society and Official Bird Recorder for Hampshire, first noticed a pair of peregrines on the New Milton water tower in September 2016.
Keith and Joanna Hayward from New Milton Town Council contacted Bournemouth Water to see what could be done to assist the protected birds and encourage them to nest on the 30-metre high octagonal tower. We worked together to work out the best place to install a nesting box on the tower to encourage the peregrines to breed.
The water tower is still operational and it was decided to place a box in the turret to encourage the birds to nest in an undisturbed part of the tower. A nesting box was installed by Bournemouth Water in February 2017. A web cam was then put on the tower so that the birds could be observed as their breeding season progressed.
Making their nest inside the water tower turret
Within a few weeks the Peregrines had decided that this was the perfect ready made nest - and it had a roof! Since then, they have nested and reared three chicks, followed by three again in 2018, two in 2019 and four in 2020.
Keeping track of the chicks
The chicks have been ringed so they can be identified. The coloured rings allow them to be individually identified from photographs. Two of the past chicks have been spotted in Dorset – so they have remined in the general area.
It is a terrific success story and it is great to have them in New Milton. We would like to thank Keith Betton from Hampshire Ornithological society, Joanna Hayward from New Milton Council and a special than you to all volunteers that help every year.
Watch our peregrines in real time
Peek into the nesting grounds of the incredible peregrine falcons.
An ongoing project supported by our volunteers
It is a terrific success story and it is great to have them in New Milton. We would like to thank Keith Betton from Hampshire Ornithological society, Joanna Hayward from New Milton Council and a special than you to all volunteers that help every year.
Thank you to our amazing volunteers
It is a terrific success story and it is great to have them in New Milton. We would like to thank Keith Betton from Hampshire Ornithological society, Joanna Hayward from New Milton Council and a special than you to all volunteers that help every year.
