Film | All 6 Kestrel Chicks Fledge & Learn Life in the Wild 🦅| Apollo & Athena

After such a shaky start, it was incredible to watch all six of kestrel's Apollo & Athena's chicks fledge. Watch their final days in the nest and see how they prepare for life in the wild.

Six kestrel chicks

Raising kestrel chicks in the wild is challenging. Already kestrel pair Apollo & Athena have had to contend with threats from jackdaws and squirrels, a mysterious illness, and one frail chick. Now their fourth brood is growing fast and the male kestrel Apollo is hunting round the clock to find enough food for them. Occasionally Athena, who mostly stays close by to guard the nest, helps out - catching prey that wanders close to the nest. Sometimes Athena can seem abrupt as she snatches Apollo's offerings from him, but her sense of urgency is designed to encourage him to go straight back and catch more prey. 

Feathers develop

The chicks downy feathers soon begins to moult and is replaced wit their true, flight feathers and by three weeks they are almost ready for life outside the nest. But first they need their ID rings. Licensed ringer Jean Thorpe arrives to tag each kestrel chick and we also give them a health check and weigh them. The youngest, the chick I had to help, is now 160gs, still much smaller than its siblings.

Filming the fledge

Shortly before they fledge I set up a scaffold tower so that I can film their first lift off. Watching them fly feels amazing. To think they were so fragile as hatchlings. As one chick prepares to fly it comes face to face with a jackdaw. It stands its ground - a good sign because this won't be its last encounter with a corvide.

First flights

The first five fledge in one day, leaving the youngest, the chick I had helped as a hatchling, in the nest for a few more days. Then at last all six are out of the nest and exploring their surroundings. Its amazing to watch them sharpen their skills over the next few weeks.

It's been a total privilege to film and document this story, from laying, to hatching to raising all six chicks to fledging.