<![CDATA[FOXBIRDING

<![CDATA[FOXBIRDING - Blog]]>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:01:55 +0000Weebly<![CDATA[Water Voles at RSPB Fowlmere, 2nd April 2026]]>Sat, 04 Apr 2026 08:04:30 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/water-voles-at-rspb-fowlmere-2nd-april-2026As promised, here is the 2nd part of my trip to Fowlmere featuring the Water Voles along the River Shep. I have been visiting since April 2019 and was lucky enough to photograph a female Vole swimming across the river, transferring her young from one nest site to another. I have never witnessed this again.

But back to my latest visit. There are a few Voles along the stretch of the Shep and I was lucky to bump into Peter Wood who has been visiting regularly and has an insight into their habits. They were quite active in the late morning and to start off with, here are a few shots of them swimming. They look much longer when swimming!

Much of the time they are feeding and you can make out their favoured feeding stations on the bank. Whilst they are quite shy creatures, if you are quiet and patient, you can get some excellent views. Just a shame sometimes that they feed behind the odd annoying twig!

What a great way to spend a few hours!

]]><![CDATA[Marsh Harriers at RSPB Fowlmere, 2nd April 2026]]>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 07:35:51 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/marsh-harriers-at-rspb-fowlmere-2nd-april-2026A planned trip to Fowlmere to see how the Marsh Harriers were getting on and also to possibly see the Water Voles that had been showing well. A bit of a grey start, but the sun did come out later in the morning. Lots of small bird activity including Chiffchaff and Blackcap as well as this Linnet.

There were still a few Siskin around but best of all was a flock of around 12 Lesser Redpoll, or just Redpoll now as all of the species have been clumped together. Tricky to photograph as they were all fairly high up.

But on to the Marsh Harriers! The female has been back for some time, but recently I understand, has been hard to spot. I did get a brief view of her, but not suitable for any photos. The male however was more obliging doing a few short flights and at one stage collecting some nest material. Twice however he came quite close to one of his favoured perches so I was able to get some reasonable shots, including some of him preening.

And then he was off for a fly round, ultimately heading off high.

It's great following their progress each year, and hopefully, a successful breeding season. The Water Voles showed really well, but you will have to wait until my next blog for the pictures!

]]><![CDATA[Peregrines in Hertford, 29th March 2026]]>Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:34:07 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/peregrines-in-hertford-29th-march-2026With less persecution and poisons banned, Peregrines have rapidly expanded their range over the last couple of decades and recently there have been at least six breeding pairs in Hertfordshire. The most notable ones are the ones on St Albans Cathedral. The Hertford story goes back to February 2021 when a male and a young female were spotted on All Saints Church. They did not breed but the following year a new female arrived. From her ring markings she was christened Flo and fledged on Salisbury Cathedral. Again no breeding and indeed Flo deserted Hertford for Welwyn Garden City! In 2024 and 2025 a new pair arrived and tried to breed on the A10 viaduct raising one chick last year which sadly did not fledge. This year however, two birds have been seen again on the church, so fingers crossed, they may attempt to nest. Time therefore for a visit and I was instantly serenaded by a Blackcap and greeted by this chap!

As well as a small carpet of Wood Anemone.

This Jay also showed extremely well.

But back to the Peregrines! When I arrived one bird was present sat up on a gargoyle. I am fairly sure because of the size, that this is the female and appeared not to be ringed. She stayed put for over an hour, every so often preening.

So no sign of the male today, but Alan Reynolds went down a couple of days later and saw both birds. The male is ringed, and hopefully we should find where he was fledged. It is certainly a different bird to last year. Fingers crossed for breeding this year, and look out for Alan's blog coming soon!

]]><![CDATA[Wheatear in North Herts, 28th March 2026]]>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:12:58 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/wheatear-in-north-herts-28th-march-2026Spring migration has started, and with the news of Wheatear arriving, time to visit North Herts which is a reliable spot for them. The slightly higher ground between Royston and Baldock is a magnet for some migrants including Wheatear, Yellow Wagtails as well as the odd Black Redstart. However on the way up I stopped off near Therfield and walked up towards Church Hill. This is the view from the top.

It's also a good place to watch Red Kites.

The Rooks are also very confiding, possibly attracted by the nearby McDonalds! If you look closely at the 2nd image, this bird seems very keen on Cadbury's mini eggs!

The main reason for stopping here though, was to see the display of Pasque flowers, the flower of Hertfordshire. A very early bloomer and such a great colour.

So on to the Wallington Road and straight away, a singing Corn Bunting up on the wires. A distant record shot.

The walk to the model aeroplane field is an interesting one with a few Skylarks and this Meadow Pipit.

A couple of days beforehand, there had been 3 or 4 Wheatear present, but today I only located one male bird which again was not on the short grass, but in the stubble field to the side. Initially, it was a little way off, but eventually it moved nearer and I was able to get the sun behind me and take some shots.

Such a smart bird. Good also to bump into Tony Carp.

]]><![CDATA[Kingfishers at RSPB Rye Meads, 25th March 2026]]>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 11:03:41 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/kingfishers-at-rspb-rye-meads-25th-march-2026Over the last week or so the Kingfishers have been showing an interest in nesting at the Kingfisher Hub with lots of activity including fish passes from the male to the female. As to be expected the hide has been very busy, so I planned a visit midweek with mixed weather. The rain eased off and when I arrived, the female flew out of the nest bank and perched on a fallen log before flying off, out of sight into a bush on the left.

Almost immediately, the male appeared and perched in the centre of the pond for a while before flying off to the right, where it again perched up and caught a small fish, which it ate and then flew off.

He must have been gone over an hour, with the female just visible in the bush to the left of the hide. I was hoping he was going to return with a fish for the female and was not disappointed. The female however, flew straight to the nest bank and kept going in and out of different holes with the male left sitting on the perch with his gift! Eventually she flew in and the following images capture the fish pass.

The male then went to the nest bank, possibly doing some more digging while the female waited on the perch, at one point looking for danger in the sky before undertaking some essential preening.

At this point, the skies darkened and it started to rain. I adjusted my settings, reducing ISO and lowering the shutter speed to 1/50th second to try and get a different image. This was the result.

Thankfully, I had reset because a few seconds later the male appeared and flew in to mate. The following images are just a selection of the action.

A wonderful couple of hours and hopefully the birds will be successful after at least two years with no breeding success at the reserve. While I was there I only saw the two ringed birds as I know others had reported seeing a third bird. A big thanks to the staff and volunteers at the reserve for their continued efforts.

]]><![CDATA[RSPB Wallasea Island, 20th March 2026]]>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 10:43:08 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/rspb-wallasea-island-20th-march-2026A return trip to Wallasea this time on a car outing with RSPB SE Herts. Thankfully, the weather was much better this time with lots of sunshine after the mist lifted. A couple of scene setting pictures to begin with. This one looking out towards Burnham on Crouch.

And one looking out over the estuary.

There were a few Mediterranean Gulls calling overhead and on my last visit I had seen two or three birds. This time, on the nearest lagoons there were scores of them, obviously moving in to breed.

They seemed to nearly outnumber the Black-headed Gulls, who were also now in full breeding plumage and despite the name, note the chocolate coloured head!

While I am on the subject of Gulls, this Great Black-backed Gull pulled this large fish to shore, but then immediately left it and returned to its mate. Presumably too big or it fancied something different!

The Hen Harriers may have moved on now and we were too early for the Barn Owls, however you can always guarantee a Marsh Harrier, in this case a male.

There were also a few distant Great Egrets and this Little Egret which allowed a couple of close ups.

A really great aspect of Wallasea is how Skylarks are performing. The air was full of their lovely song and I managed to get a couple of shots of one just before it dropped down into the grass.

The main hide gave good but distant views of a number of birds including Pintail and a female Red Breasted Merganser. We had a good variety of waders including Bar-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Redshank, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Curlew, Golden Plover and Oystercatcher. Here are a couple of Avocets.

And some Black-tailed Godwits coming into breeding plumage.

The final highlight was this male Sparrowhawk doing a low pass near to one of the lagoons.

A really great day out, with good company.

]]><![CDATA[A Bittern at RSPB Rye Meads, 9th March 2026]]>Sat, 21 Mar 2026 08:56:35 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/a-bittern-at-rspb-rye-meads-9th-march-2026A short visit to Rye Meads as there appeared to be some interest from a pair of Kingfishers investigating the nest banks at the Draper hide and the Kingfisher Hub. While I was there the male bird was perched by the nest bank at the Hub, but too far away for meaningful pictures. He was waiting the female to arrive, but while I was there, she failed to arrive. Just the one record shot here.

Of much greater interest was a Bittern which appeared at the back right of the Kingfisher Hub pond and swam across to the small reedbed at the back. It stayed in there for about 30 minutes before swimming back. It has been seen on and off for a few weeks and could be the same bird that has been at Amwell all Winter. It will be returning to its breeding grounds very shortly.

What a great bird to see, and quite a few people in the hide also managed to see it!

]]><![CDATA[A day at Cley Marshes, Norfolk, 22nd February 2026]]>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 08:01:35 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/a-day-at-cley-marshes-norfolk-22nd-february-2026A wet start for our RSPB SE Herts coach trip to Cley Marshes, but by the time we arrived, the sun was out and wee had some great weather for a change. Here is a view over the saltmarsh from the impressive visitor centre.

We missed the Spoonbills which leave the reserve early and also failed to locate some Snow Buntings which had been reported by North hide. However, one excellent bird we did locate was a sleepy Pink-footed Goose which did deem to lift its head for a shot. It is the top bird in the picture.

There was also a large flock of Brent Geese by The Eye. They were quite flighty, taking off for a few minutes before coming back to the same spot.

There were also good numbers of Wigeon a few Pintail as well as Shelduck, pictured here.

And Teal, looking very smart in the lovely light.

It's always good watching from the central hides, even if just to catch some Black-headed Gulls drifting past.

The high water levels meant that there were fewer waders than normal, but we did see Avocets, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover, Redshank, Curlew, Lapwing as well as Black-tailed Godwits.

It was also good to get some flight shots.

Not too many smaller birds around, but we did have Stonechats and a few Skylarks including this one.

But the stars today were the Marsh Harriers, including this beautiful male bird.

Even better was this hunting female which came over Pat's Pool and caught a Teal. Holding it under the water to get a good grip before flying off with it to the safety of the reed bed.

Always a fantastic place to visit, and massive thanks to everyone who organised the trip, lead groups etc. And a big thank you to Robert Kitchen for running the coach trips for the last few years, bowing out on a high!

]]><![CDATA[Wallasea Island, Essex, 19th February 2026]]>Sat, 21 Feb 2026 12:30:48 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/wallasea-island-essex-19th-february-2026Not the best day weather wise, but we had planned to go out birding so first stop was Two Tree Island near Southend. It was grey with light rain so no pictures, but we managed a good number of waders, the best being Grey Plover and a lone Bar-tailed Godwit. Next stop was Wallasea Island where fortunately the rain eased off, but it was still grey and gloomy. A few Skylarks were singing and the other birds of note were a pair of Reed Buntings. First the male.

And the female.

From the shelter of the largest hide we were able to settle down and pick out some waders, including Golden and Grey Plover, Avocet, Dunlin and a large mixed flock of Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits. The Godwits were spooked but soon settled back in their favourite area.

It was also good to see quite high numbers of Pintail.

Walking back towards the car park, this rather wet Hare seemed quite happy to have its picture taken.

Two, possibly three Barn Owls were patrolling, and pushing up the ISO very high, I managed some record shots of these superb birds.

The best however was still to come, as while I was watching the Barn Owl, a female Hen Harrier flew past. Again with the poor light, just a couple of record shots. In two images clearly showing the white band on the tail, hence the name "Ringtail".

Shortly after, Chris picked out a lovely male Hen Harrier, but sadly no chance of a shot. A great end to a really good birding day!

]]><![CDATA[A Tundra Bean Goose at Fishers Green, 18th February 2026]]>Sat, 21 Feb 2026 07:12:29 GMThttps://www.foxbirding.com/blog/a-tundra-bean-goose-at-fishers-green-18th-february-2026A RSPB SE Herts Local Group walk around Fishers Green, Essex which was well attended and always good to introduce some new people to this area. Whilst the wintering Bittern was proving elusive again we had good views of a Black Swan! This bird has been around for a while now and is an obvious escape from a local collection. Never the less, still a striking bird even if it has not flown in from Australia!

The bird we were seeking out though, was on the fields by Fishers Green Lane associating with the local Greylag Geese - Tundra Bean Goose. A scarce Winter visitor to our shores, though there has been something of an influx this year together with White-fronted Geese. Initially it was resting.

However, it did wake up and started to wander round with the Greylags. In these next two pictures it is the bird on the left. Note the slightly smaller size and totally different bill.

Like all of our overwintering Geese, they are fleeing freezing areas where they breed for our milder climate. A few shots now of the bird on its own.

A smart looking Goose! Otherwise, a fairly quiet walk, but we did over 40 species of birds. Hall Marsh scrape however was almost totally devoid of wildlife which was rather worrying. Watch out for the next Blog which continues the Essex theme!

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