Worcester Cathedral has launched its Peregrine Falcon livestream on YouTube earlier than usual, as the resident pair begin showing promising signs of nesting.
Peregrine Livestream at Worcester Cathedral Switches on Early for Upcoming Season
The adult falcons – affectionately named Peter and Peggy by Cathedral followers – have been returning to the nest box for several weeks, preparing the site and creating a scrape (a shallow hollow in the gravel) in readiness for laying.
See all the live peregrine falcon webcams here.
Last year, the pair’s first egg arrived in mid‑March, followed shortly by three more. The team at Worcester Cathedral are hopeful for another successful breeding season this spring, with the chance to witness key milestones once again, including feeding, ringing, and eventually fledging – typically in early June.
This year marks Peter and Peggy’s fifth breeding season at the Cathedral. From 2022 to 2024, they successfully raised and fledged four chicks each year. However, 2025 brought challenges: one egg failed to hatch, and sadly, the remaining three chicks died within days of one another.
Despite this, the Cathedral and ‘Peregrine Falcons in Worcester’ teams remain optimistic. The cameras are back in place and streaming earlier than ever ensuring viewers don’t miss a moment of the new season.
Chris Dobbs, Biodiversity Advisor for Worcester Cathedral, said:
“We all know last year was a sad one for our pair, with the unviable egg and the subsequent loss of the chicks. Unfortunately, these events do happen in the natural world.
“Peter and Peggy have been consistently successful parents in previous years, so there’s every reason to hope for a better season. Launching the livestream early allows viewers to follow the journey from courtship to the first egg, hatching, and – hopefully – fledging.”
Peter and Peggy – also known to fans as Mr and Mrs P – remain hugely popular. Last year’s livestream attracted nearly half a million views from around the world before broadcasting had to be stopped.
Peregrines have been part of Worcester’s landscape for centuries. They appear in the Cathedral’s Great West Window and in several elements of the stonework. While the territory occasionally changes hands as birds move, pair up, or are lost to injury, this pair has held the site for seven years, although there may have been a change of male during that time due to naturally high mortality in birds of prey.
Known as the fastest living creature on Earth, peregrines can reach over 200mph during a hunting dive, known as a stoop – far outpacing a cheetah’s top speed of around 70 mph.
Peregrines are listed as Green under the UK’s Birds of Conservation Concern 5: The Red List for Birds (2021) and are fully protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
