50,000 flock to see the falcons

1:23pm Thursday 7th September 2006

THE Wye Valley peregrine falcons have successfully fledged four youngsters on the Coldwell Rocks near Symonds Yat, attracting nearly 50,000 visitors.

Peregrine's have been breeding continually at Coldwell Rocks for 22 years, since 1984 when the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds set up a 24-hour surveillance station after egg thieves abseiled down the cliffs and stole the eggs in 1983.

Denis Jackson who runs the RSPB's viewing platform at Yat Rock said: "Peregrines have anything from two to five youngsters. Five would be exceptional, but four is pretty good."

It's estimated there are now between seven and nine pairs of resident peregrines within the boundaries of the Wye Valley AONB, from The Doward to Chepstow.

That's up from a breeding population of zero in the 1960s and 1970s largely as a result of persecution, egg collectors and the impact of pesticides like DDT.