Film | Kestrel dad learns to care for chicks after mum disappears

This is the story of Mr Kes, a male kestrel who must learn to care for his six chicks after his mate suddenly disappears.

Female kestrels are the primary caregivers for the chicks, keeping them warm and tearing up food for them. With her gone, this male kestrel just doesn’t know how to fill this role. After 10 hours without their mother, I take the six kestrel chicks out of the nest for a health check. Three were small, cold, and weak, and needed to be cared for. But I placed the three older, stronger chicks back in the nest, in a bid to keep them wild. Mr Kes has the right instinct and when he arrives, bringing in food for the chicks, he tries to brood them. But he isn't very good at it and soon gives up. The kestrel returns to the nest with a vole but makes no effort to tear it up for them. They’re starving but they are too small to feed themselves.

It is some time before he realises and begins to tear a vole into smaller morsels. But he is impatient and soon gives up and that the afternoon, I head down to the nest to feed the chicks myself. They haven’t had a meal since I took them out this morning, so they’re hungry. I’m careful not to give them too much, I still want them to call for food.

At dusk, Mrs Kes suddenly returns. The chicks perk up as they hear her outside. She’s been gone for over twenty hours but doesn’t enter the nest… and when a tawny calls, she bolts off.

It’s such unusual behaviour for her, in previous years she’s taken on any threats to protect her own. Without their mother to protect and brood them overnight, they’re vulnerable to predators and could die if they get cold. So, as darkness falls, I collect them from the nest. They’ll be safer with me overnight.The next morning, I pop the three chicks back into the nest, thankfully before Mr Kes returns with a vole. The chicks don’t immediately grab it, and he looks a bit unsure, so he settles for the safe option, brooding again! He seems confident with this task now.

Later, Mr Kes comes in with a special catch, a common lizard. The lizard is thinner and easier to swallow, and one chick guzzles it down whole. It seems like a lightbulb moment for Mr Kes, who at last begins to realise that the prey needs to be smaller. He returns with a vole and starts tearing the meal up for the chicks. Against all the odds, this male kestrel has learned how to feed his chicks.