On a recent holiday in Ireland, my wife and I were thrilled to see our first peregrine falcon, along the cliffs of Achill. It flew out to sea, and we lost sight of it. Do peregrines prey on seabirds, or go far from land?
Richard Meredith, Southampton,
In September one Irish ornithologist, watching migrant seabirds passing Ballyconnell, Co Sligo, saw a peregrine take two Leach's petrels (among the smallest of sea-birds) in the space of half-an-hour, about 300 metres from the shore. On a previous autumn seawatch, in Kerry, he saw a peregrine fly several miles out to sea for the same prey. Peregrines regularly prey on nesting seabirds and their chicks.
