Winchester Cathedral falcons: New mum Mel's eggs meet sticky end on popular livestream - as she eats them

Anyone who’s spent any time around wildlife knows nature can be brutal, but viewers of a popular wildlife webcam have had an uncomfortable reminder.

Winchester Cathedral’s popular peregrine falcon ‘nest cam’ has had no shortage of drama this breeding season. But on Tuesday (30 April) things took an unexpected turn for new mum Mel and her veteran partner William, after Mel ate her own eggs.

Keith Betton, chair of the Hampshire Ornithological Society - which monitors the nesting birds of prey - said in an update on Monday that Mel appeared to have knocked both of her eggs out of her nest overnight. With special government authorisation, he was able to replace them - but said it was uncertain whether they would hatch after being out in the cold for so long.

But in a new update on Tuesday, it appeared Mel had called time on motherhood. “After all the drama of yesterday we hoped Mel would carry on incubating the two eggs, even though we thought her chances of hatching chicks was small. However today she has ended her breeding attempt by eating both eggs – a sure sign that she either felt the eggs were not viable, or that time was against her,” he said.

Mr Betton said that the society had never seen eggs laid this late in the season. “Although it would seem that she has time to lay again, we don’t expect that to happen,” he continued. “She has spent much of the time since eating the eggs just sat on the tray. We expect she is still mentally in breeding mode, and so it may take a day or so for her to switch out of that. However Mel has surprised us many times this last month, so we will keep watching.”

This was likely Mel’s first attempt at parenthood, but the younger female is no stranger to drama. It is suspected that she began the breeding season by murdering her romantic rival - William’s former mate, Winnie. Winnie, a mother of 27 over the years, was found dead in early March after three falcons were spotted in the area.

“Clearly an unattached bird had arrived on the scene and a scuffle followed. This happens quite often and usually it ends quite quickly, but occasionally it can lead to injury - and now we can confirm Winnie was found dead the next day,” Mr Betton said at the time. “Although this is upsetting, it is the natural course of events in nature - the younger individuals displace the older ones, and the cycle of life goes on.”

Peregrine falcons are thought to be the world's fastest birds, reaching speeds of up to 389 km/h (242 mph) when diving to catch their prey - other birds. In the UK, they were once widely persecuted like many other raptor species, but their numbers have bounced back dramatically in recent years - particularly in cities with tall buildings, which emulate the cliffs they would have traditionally called home.

Peregrines are now doing well, and are classified in the green under the UK's Birds of Conservation Concern list. They and their nests are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

You can watch Winchester Cathedral's peregrine nest livestreams for yourself here.