Population trends of peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus peregrinus Tunstall 1771.) on the Sussex coast of the United Kingdom, 1904 - 2009

摘要

The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) is a large avian, bird eating predator with a pan-global distribution, and historically significant as a "barometer" of environmental quality. This poster presents nest records of 105 years of almost uninterrupted monitoring of a small topographically isolated population of peregrine falcons breeding on the Sussex coast of the United Kingdom. From 1904-54 egg collecting resulted in production of virtually no young but did not deter territory occupancy by adultperegrines. Absence from 1958-89 has been attributed to the direct effects of organo-chlorine chemicals on adult mortality. Since 1990 when the first new productive eyrie was recorded, Sussex Peregrine Study has documented the complete re-population andunprecedented expansion into inland sites never achieved in the previous 100 years.