ONCE persecuted and endangered, but today described as kings of the urban jungle, peregrine falcons had been living in Winchester at the site of Hampshire Police HQ until its demolition last year.

The birds of prey, which can reach speeds of 200mph in their attack dives, had to find a new home.

Now it has emerged that they have been seen on the spire of the former St Thomas Church in Southgate Street, down the hill from the former police HQ on Romsey Road.

The Chronicle spoke to Keith Betton, who is the bird recorder and new chairman of Hampshire Ornithological Society.

He said that peregrine falcons had been nesting on the police headquarters for the previous five years. but when that was demolished he put up nesting boxes near the site of the old HQ.Mr Betton has since put a nesting box near the site of the old police headquarters, although the birds have not used it yet.

The recent sightings at St Thomas’s Church have been discussed on social media and Mr Betton said: “They have been on there most weeks, even when they were at the police HQ. They may just be using the building for hunting. I haven’t been made aware of them using it for nesting. We’ll see. The best thing is to leave them to it.”

He added: “There are approaching 20 pairs of peregrine falcon in Hampshire and there are about 1,500 pairs in Britain now. In 1960 there were only 350 pairs. People collected their eggs, during World War Two they were killed as they eat pigeons and pigeons were used to carry messages. As well as that there were extremely powerful insecticides used in the 1960s and 70s. So they went through a tough time. Now they are heavily protected by law. I am licensed by Defra to investigate peregrine nests and report back to them every year.”

The 1845 church on Southate Street is being converted into nine flats – seven have been completed and the rest are due to be finished by May.

A spokeswoman from the developer converting the church, Hemdean St Thomas Limited, said: “Our steeplejack went up the spire and they couldn’t find any evidence of nesting. The spire is probably being used for hunting rather than nesting.”

The company said the top of the spire was already protected for bats and the workmen mainly encountered the remains of the falcons’ hunting.

The spokeswoman said: “It’s good to see them in the city centre. They are such beautiful birds.”

If the birds are not nesting on St Thomas’ church then the alternatives are limited. The birds prefer to nest on high points such as cliffs. The only other similar high point in the city centre is the cathedral.

Since the birds have colonised Winchester, the pigeon problem seems to have eased, as plump pigeons make easy targets for the 200mph killers.