Since 2015, a nest box at an elevation of 80 metres has been installed at the Spolana production plant. Earlier, a female peregrine alone was seen on the smokestack of the former exhalation treatment plant. Last year, she found a partner and laid eggs for the first time. This place is ideal for the rare raptors; they have absolute peace and quiet and an excellent overview of the surroundings. The Neratovice pair is preparing to have chicks this year as well. “We are very happy that the peregrine pair has returned to us. We hope that everything will go smoothly and that we will see more chicks. Last year, we welcomed our first young falcon. It is great to see how the female on the eggs is doing,” comments Miroslav Falta, Executive Director of Spolana.

The nest box is regularly checked in the spring by an ornithologist from the ALKA Wildlife association who inspects it and cleans it for the future avian inhabitants. This March was no exception: “Similarly to last years, we cleaned the box and checked its stability. With an installed photo trap, we can now have an excellent view of the eggs. The young should hatch in the second half of April, and later, we will climb up the smokestack to ring them,” said Václav Beran. He added that the peregrines also liked other production plants of the Unipetrol Group in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou. Over the years, 25 young falcons have hatched there. There are only 100 pairs of peregrines in the Czech Republic.

Peregrines have been nesting at Chempark Záluží in Litvínov since 2011. They can use two nest boxes since last year: one on the smokestack of the local heating plant and the other on the chimney of the steam cracker. The raptors’ life there can be watched online on Unipetrol’s website.

The peregrine can live up to 20 years and returns to its favourite nesting grounds for life. With a maximum dive speed exceeding 350 km/h, it is probably the fastest animal on Earth. The peregrine is a bird species that has traditionally been found in the Czech Republic. The population of this predator that hunts pigeons, ducks, other smaller birds and bats was the highest in the 1940s and 1950s when at least 60 breeding pairs were present in the territory of what was then Czechoslovakia. Peregrines disappeared from the Czech landscape in the 1970s as a result of the excessive use of agricultural pesticides. They started reappearing at the end of the 1980s. At the turn of the millennium, about 20 pairs were breeding in the Czech Republic. Today, thanks to strict protection, some eighty pairs of peregrines live in our country.