Kestrel chicks start life at Severn Valley Country Park
Volunteers at Severn Valley Country Park have welcomed its latest residents in the form of newly born kestrels.
All four chicks were born at the park near Bridgnorth earlier this year and have now been tagged so they can be identified.
They were nested in a volunteer-made bird box and have now left their nest in good health following a visit from Dave Fulton, a bird ringer from Highley.
After labelling the chicks, Mr Fulton then inspected the box which he will clean later this year in preparation for the next group of kestrels.
Volunteers Don Bannister and Bill Watkins first located the birds and plan on creating environments for more kestrels to nest in the future.
A bevy of cygnets were also recently born and the park said it was delighted to welcome the newcomers.
Spare
Don Bannister, volunteer at the park, said: "Dave Fulton, the bird ringer from Highley, came over to the park to inspect the kestrel nest box near to the bridge.
"With the help of volunteers Bill and I, he found four well developed kestrel chicks and was able to ring all four which should have now left the nest successfully.
"Dave also inspected the box which was found to be in good condition and he agreed to visit us later in the year to thoroughly clean the next box in preparation for hopefully more next year.
"We now have a new spare kestrel box which we hope to put in a different area of the park."
Kestrels are a type of falcon most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviour which is to hover at a height of around 10 to 20 metres over open country and swoop down on prey.
