Peregrine Falcon (female) (Peregrine Falcon)

Back in 2005 Peregrine Falcons attempted to nest in Manchester city centre. The female laid her eggs but sadly the nest got waterlogged and the nest site was abandoned. I spent many months looking for a suitable nest location and eventually found a site that I thought was perfect for them. I approached the building owners and they were agreeable to having a tray installed. After taking final advice from the County Bird Recorder and other Peregrine experts a tray was finally mounted. The birds took to the tray in 2006 and since then 29 chicks have fledged. I have photographed the Peregrines often but photographing these birds is extremely difficult in an urban setting. The return rate for hours spent on location is exceedingly low. On this occasion the female Peregrine went to bathe in a hopper 8 storeys high. I have previously attempted to make an image as she flies off the hopper but holding a 500mm lens at near vertical puts a great strain on my neck and arms to the point where my arms shake and for that reason I have always failed. I was determined this time not to miss the shot and thankfully in the end I got it. This shot is not possible with a tripod.The bird is in complete shade and with a shutter speed of just 1/640 Sec I was asking a lot. On this occasion lady luck helped me return a reasonably sharp image of behaviour which to my knowledge has not been recorded in an urban setting before. I was particularly pleased with the splash of water left in her wake.

Image taken from a narrow path on public highway.

The image is cropped to approx 3000 pixels wide.