About the peregrine falcons in Rochdale
Peregrine falcons have been nesting outside the clock tower at Rochdale Town Hall since 2008.
The birds have attracted considerable public interest and they're regularly seen soaring above Rochdale town centre hunting for food.
We built a nesting area for the birds in 2008 to help provide them with a safe haven to sleep, breed and raise their young. As the tallest building in Rochdale town centre, the town hall reflects the peregrine's natural habitat to breed and hunt prey.
A new home for the falcons
We've created a new temporary home for the peregrine falcons. The clock tower isn't safe for them during the ongoing restoration work, so a brand new nest has been created on the roof of Tetrosyl, just across the road. The safety, wellbeing and health of the nesting peregrine falcons remains a key priority.
To encourage the birds to nest in this location, nesting material has been taken from their previous nest in the clock tower and added to the new nest. The birds have been regularly seen on this roof, as well as St Chad's Church, so we hope they'll remain in the area when nesting season starts in March.
We've worked with a renowned ecologist and the Manchester Raptor Society to ensure these changes should not have a detrimental effect on the birds' welfare.
We'd like to extend a huge thank you to Tetrosyl for working with us to accommodate the falcons.
We hope the falcons will return to their previous home in the clock tower when the building reopens in 2023.
Revealing the Roch project
Our award-winning Revealing the Roch project was praised for renaturalising the river and helping to bring wildlife back to the town centre.