Water Voles at Fowlmere

26th March 2026

The River Shep is a small chalkstream that rises from springs at the RSPB reserve at Fowlmere and then flows through Shepreth to join the River Rhee, also known as the River Cam, at Barrington. The river is maintained in an excellent condition and is home to Brown Trout as well as a thriving population of Water Voles. With the arrival of spring the voles are getting more active so time for a visit.

Water Voles can often be spotted as they swim across the water but at Fowlmere this can be difficult as they often swim under the cover of overhanging vegetation. Here are a couple that broke cover.

As well as their well-known habit of preparing latrines where they deposit their droppings they also prepare their own feeding stations. Here they collect 5-10cm lengths of vegetation such as reed shoots or Water Crowfoot and position them close to the burrow or even just inside the entrance to the burrow as seen here.

Or life is much easier if a tiny juvenile sits on a reed raft mid-stream and eats a Hawthorn berry.

And better still if an adult sits in the sun chewing on a reed shoot.

Don't you just love a Water Vole?

Marsh Harrier Update 1st April

1st April 2026

The Fowlmere Marsh Harriers leave the site for the winter and used to return in the following March, but in the last two years have returned in January and true to form the female returned this year in mid-January. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the male and the female eventually lost patience and left the site in the 3rd week of March and hadn't been seen since. Then the male arrived a week later, but now no sign of the female, so time to go and see what was going on.

As I made my way round to the Reed Bed Hide I witnessed the first signs of Spring with a Blackcap singing near the Spring Hide..................

.......................and Chiffchaffs chiff-chaffing in every bush.

Once in the hide the male eventually appeared and on a couple of occasions did a few laps of the reed bed allowing a few photos to be taken. 

Although not as heavily marked as the barred variant male that disappeared in February 2025, it still has distinctive markings and is clearly the same bird that replaced the barred variant a few weeks later. Here is a photo of the second bird taken by Jan Michalec on the 12th May 2025.

The male then left the site and some time after the female flew in and made a rather dramatic entrance, spiralling down from on height

She then did a couple of laps before dropping into the reeds.

A few minutes later the male returned and from the very noisy response from the female one could only conclude this was the first time they had seen each other this year................so fingers crossed!!!!!

The Hertford Peregrine Falcons Update

30th March 2026

A pair of Peregrine Falcons first set up home at All Saints Church in Hertford in 2021 and I took my first photo there on the 19th March. Unfortunately the female was a juvenile being bred in 2020 and was therefore considered too young to breed successfully, which proved to be the case.

In 2022 and 2023 a pair was still present but with changes to the male and female, but still no breeding. One of the females that appeared was colour-ringed and had been born on Salisbury Cathedral and was named Flo. She didn't hang around very long but for the last few years has been successfully breeding on the old Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City.

In 2024 the pair at the time seemed very settled and likely to bred, but for whatever reason left the site in April and moved to a narrow ledge on the Ware flyover. They tried to breed there in 2024 and 2025 but failed in both years, with on at least one occasion the partially feathered young falling off the narrow ledge.

A single bird has been seen on All Saints on just a handful of occasions during the winter, but from the prey item feathers found below the Peregrine's vantage points it is known they use the tower at night to hunt under the lights of the town. And on the 29th March fellow blogger Stuart Fox photographed a female Peregrine on the tower so, as it is getting close to the breeding season, time for a visit to see what was going on.

When I arrived there were a couple of people in the churchyard who beckoned me over and pointed out a pair, yes a pair, of Peregrines on the south side of the tower. The male has an almost pure white upper breast and throat and is considerably smaller than the female.

On the much larger female the feint streaking on the upper breast goes right up to the throat.

The female stayed on the ledge all the time I was there but the male went off on a few short sorties but returned very quickly without food. No wonder the female kept on squawking!!! This did, however, provide some opportunities for flight shots.

It had been assumed that this was the pair from the flyover returning to All Saints, although this proved to be not the case. It was only when I was checking my photos on the back of the camera that I noticed the male had a large orange colour ring on its left leg. Neither of the flyover birds were ringed.

The bird was ringed as a nestling at Bickley, Bromley in Greater London on the 24th May 2024 and therefore is a 3CY.

Fingers crossed they are successful for the first time in Hertford.

.....................................SO WATCH THIS SPACE FOR MORE UPDATES!!!!!!!!!