The birds have been nesting on campus for eight years and usually a camera is set up, providing a live feed for staff and students to watch the chicks hatch in real-time. Unfortunately, technical difficulties meant this wasn’t possible this year and many have missed keeping up with the latest kestrel developments.

Luckily, Steve Cole, who works in the LUSEP Customer Service Team, spotted the fledglings and was able to capture them as they plucked up the courage to explore.

Kaz Setchell, Gardens Manager said: “Without the camera we were unsure how many chicks had survived so it was such a surprise to see four fledglings emerge from the box. They have since begun to fly the nest but reports from security say they haven’t gone too far and are staying fairly close to their surroundings.”

Steve is a keen landscape photographer and was commended for his photo ‘Cool Power’ which became one of Flickr’s Top 25 photos of 2020 – gaining over 8 million views.

You can find out more about the campus kestrels here.