The St Albans Juvenile Peregrines Have Fledged

30th June 2026

At last the juvenile Peregrine Falcons at St Albans Cathedral have fledged, and after a week or so of running round the roof of the Cathedral have taken to the air and have been enjoying their new-found freedom.

As I was walking up to the Cathedral I came to the Fighting Cocks pub, and by the bridge an adult male Grey Wagtail was feeding its three off-spring.

Now at the Cathedral the male Peregrine appeared to have left the site and the female was perched high up in a tree in the shade.

One of  juveniles was perchd lower down in the same tree. The adults have barring going across their breast whereas the juveniles have streaks running down their breast.

The other juveniles were perched on the parapets of the Cathedral.

But why sit around on a parapet when you can enjoy your newly-found airborne freedom?

Well that was fun, but nowhere near as much fun as chasing one of your siblings...............at 60mph!!!!...............

......................and having a dog-fight.

And time for a rest by the St Albans Cathedral flag.

At that pont the male returned but without food.

Well what a fantastic day. I have been photographing these Peregrines for a few years now and although it is a great moment when the chicks fledge, in all those years I have never seen them so active in the air. Also great to share the company of Kevin Garrett, Michael Barrett, Beau Bassich and Kevin and Sandra Stanbridge.

Marsh Harrier Update 16th June

16th June 2026

It's now four weeks since my last visit to Fowlmere so time for another visit to see how the harriers are getting on. As I approached the Welcome Hut I was greeted by a Scarlet Tiger Moth on the pavement and a Small Heath nectaring on a nearby Marsh Thistle.

At the Reed Bed Hide there was a lot of activity amongst the herons. There were just three birds present, but despite the size of the mere they still had many disputes over territories.

The Cuckoos were not as evident as on my last visit, with just one or two calling fairly intermittently and no flights. Then all of a sudden one shot across the front of the hide and I managed to grab a shot.

Simon and I were just saying we were surprised there were no Hobbys on such a lovely day when one swooped low over the mere. It appeared several times over a 10-minute period, and by appearing from different directions gave the impression there were two birds present, but we never saw the two at the same time.

It was catching plenty of dragonflies and judging by their size would appear to be the newly emerged Emperors that were now patrolling the numerous ditches.

So what about the Marsh Harriers? Well on my last visit both adults were in the air a lot of the time but during the few hours I was there no food was brought in to the nest. By then the eggs should be near to hatching but apparently not yet.

However today everything was different. The male brought in food three times but each time took the food straight to the nest and left the nest immediately even when the female was not there, suggesting the young were now large enough to feed themselves. There was no sign of the female for the first hour at which point she left the nest and flew off the site to the north and had not returned when I left after four hours.

Here are some shots of the male.

Assuming the eggs hatched shortly after my last visit the young would be expected to leave the nest by the end of the month. During the first week after fledging they will only fly short hops not far from the nest but thereafter will be free-flying. I wonder how many there will be?

Good to meet Simon today and have a long chat.

Black Terns at Amwell

14th June 2026

At 11am Graham White posted on the Whatsapp Group there were two Black Terns at Amwell so off I went. It was very quiet bird-wise at the view-point, just a Whitethroat collecting food for its young.

At this time of year Amwell used to be home to several pairs of Common Terns breeding on the rafts, but then in about 2006 Black-headed Gulls started moving up the Lea Valley and taking over the tern's islands and rafts. So not surprisingly the rafts today were full of Black-headed Gulls and only three Common Terns to be seen in front of the view-point. The terns sometimes wait until the gulls have finished their nests and then have a late brood.

This one was having a bath.

For the first hour the Black Terns were spending most of their time right out in the middle of the lake and centred around the tern rafts. Then later on they starting coming closer to the viewpoint allowing some shots to be taken.

Even managed a few shots of the two birds together. Here they were having a break from picking insects off the surface of the water and were catching small fish.

So what about the ages of these birds. Well the bird on the left is obviously an adult. However, you can see the bird on the right has moulted its five innermost primaries leaving the five darker outer primaries, which suggests this is a last year's juvenile bird.

And eventually after flying non-stop for two hours they decided to have a rest on a spit in front of the view-point, disturbing a Gadwall having a rest.

Well, that was an exciting two hours, and why can't all Black Terns be this cooperative.