Rare peregrine falcons are rearing young for the first time in memory on 12th Century Chichester Cathedral.

Although falcons have been seen regularly on the cathedral in West Sussex in previous years, they have never raised any young.

But experts were delighted when a routine mid-season inspection of their nest box, high on the spired cathedral on May 30, revealed the four young.

Graham Roberts, who installed the nestbox on behalf of Sussex Ornithological Society, said: "Considering no one has seen the adult peregrines taking any food into the nest, it was a great shock to peer into what I thought would be an empty nest and to find four chicks already three weeks old."