Mary has spotted this from the Reverend Francis Kilvert’s Diary:
In 1874, the Rev Francis Kilvert, the diarist, paid a visit to his friend, the Rev Morris, vicar of Britford. It was his first visit in twenty three years. He discovered that his friend had “a fine collection of stuffed birds” and one case held a pair of peregrine falcons which, he reported, “were shot, of all places in the world, on the spire of Salisbury Cathedral.”
Kilvert went on to say that that they had been shot by workmen who had been restoring the spire. The birds were regular visitors (as they are today) from the cliffs on the south coast and would sit on the spire surveying the countryside “where they think themselves safe”.
Mary asks if we remember the Pick and Mix exhibition when fossils and cases of stuffed birds made up part of the display. There was a case with a pair of peregrine falcons. Are they the same ones? Well, here are the pair that we have in the museum, the falcons which were on display for the Pick and Mix exhibition, and the label that went with them.
“This pair of peregrine falcons, currently on display in the Pick & Mix exhibition, are believed to have been shot from the tower of Salisbury Cathedral by some workmen in the 1850s. Like the birds nesting on the tower today it is possible that this pair were living there. The tower is an ideal spot because peregrines are usually found living in the uplands of the north and the west of Britain and rocky seacoasts.”
I think we can adjust the date now! Thank you Mary…
This year’s peregrine falcon chicks. Let’s hope these three beauties have a better chance at life…