Peace doves may have landed at Durham Cathedral this week, but they might not be the only birds visitors spot at the world heritage site.
Around 20 metres off the ground on the Cathedral's north west tower, kestrels appear to have made themselves a new home in a gap between the centuries-old stone, with two chicks snapped peeking out on Friday morning.
Other kestrels have been nesting at a site in the south west tower for around three years.
Durham Cathedral's electrician Stephen Eames, 58, first spotted the birds earlier this week. He told ChronicleLive: "We saw some adults going in and out of a hole in the stone work.
"And then I noticed this week that the chicks were at the edge of the hole, so I've been watching them again this morning."
Stephen previously discovered the older nest in the south west tower when he was working. Upon finding two chicks in a nest, he left them undisturbed.
There's no chance of the same happening with the new nest, as it's in a location that's inaccessible to the public from the inside. However, visitors can still attempt to admire the birds by searching for the hole in the stone around half-way up the Cathedral's north west tower.
Birds can also be seen at the Cathedral's Belfry Tower - though not kestrels. In 2023, cathedral joiners installed speakers on the tower to transmit swift calls and installed nesting boxes 18 metres above the ground.
The secluded tower is seen as an ideal place for young birds to build their first nest and breed, as the ingress points are small enough to exclude birds of prey.
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