STEEPLEJACK-cum-television raconteur Fred Dibnah took a step back in time yesterday when he returned to climb his first-ever chimney.

The opportunity to rescale the 262ft Barrow Bridge chimney came about because the RSPB is trying to encourage a pair of rare peregrine falcons to set up nest in a safe haven.

The love birds were found breeding recently on an industrial site and the RSPB were keen to find the birds safe alternative accommodation.

And so Fred was sent on his mission to scale the heights of the chimney and install a specially built nesting box - which the birds will hopefully come to view as their home. The man who reunited Fred with his first chimney is Tony Johnson, Bolton's RSPB group leader.

He explained that the birds had been spotted in the Barrow Bridge area and it was highly likely that they had been prospecting the chimney as a nest.

"Fred is working on the chimney for the next couple of months so it's unlikely they will nest this year.

"But fingers crossed that they build a home in the chimney next year. "The birds are extremely rare and so very important. Twenty years ago they were nearly wiped out by DDT poisoning. "Because they are rare it is highly important that their nesting site is safe because there are some unscrupulous people out there who would steal their eggs or their young."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.