RIVER WILDLIFE – Cambridge to Popes Corner
River Wildlife - River Cam - The river, river bank and flora and fauna
Ducks, swans and moorhens are a common sight, but you might also see the occasional kingfisher. Dragonflies and damselflies proliferate along Grantchester Meadows, and further downstream along Riverside near the Museum of Technology, plus signs of otters and water voles. Don’t forget the special twilight Bat Tours
Along the Halingway (Towpath) starting at Chesterton there are nearly 900 willows, thought to be the longest and most consistently managed line of pollards in the county. They support some 160 recorded species of invertebrates, 20 of which are nationally rare.
You can find a wealth of wildlife by the river. Along with the swans and ducks, pike, perch, and bream, you can also spot kingfishers, grey heron and cormorants. You might be lucky enough to see more exotic species such as black swans, Egyptian geese, wood ducks and mandarin ducks which have escaped from bird collections. Shags have also been spotted by the river, another breed that usually lives at sea!
In the past pollution was a problem but in recent years there have been few incidents of fish mortality and the density of fish stocks is high. A recent survey gave the river a good to excellent rating for fish stocks and variety of fish.
Beyond the city boundary, as you start to get out onto the East Anglian Fens, the range of bird life blossoms. At the bottom of this page is a list of just some of the birds that can be spotted between Cambridge and Ely on the River Cam and The Great Ouse.
Wildlife on The River Cam
Fish in the River Cam
Common Fish species: Roach, Bream, Chub, Pike, Perch, Carp, Tench and Eels
Along with these fish come the birds and other fish eating wildlife.: Kingfisher, Heron, Cormorant and Otters.
Birds of the River Cam (alphabetical list of the top ninety three species)
| Barn Owl | Eurasian Reed Warbler | Meadow Pipit |
| Barn Swallow | Eurasian Sparrowhawk | Merlin |
| Black Swan | Eurasian Treecreeper | Mistle Thrush |
| Black-billed Magpie | European Golden Plover | Mute Swan |
| Blackcap | European Goldfinch | Northern Lapwing |
| Black-headed Gull | European Greenfinch | Osprey |
| Blue Tit | European Robin | Red Kite |
| Carrion Crow | European Shag | Red-legged Partridge |
| Chaffinch | European Turtle Dove | Redwing |
| Common Blackbird | Fieldfare | Reed Bunting |
| Common Bullfinch | Goldcrest | Rook |
| Common Buzzard | Great Black-backed Gull | Sedge Warbler |
| Common Chiffchaff | Great Cormorant | Sky Lark |
| Common Coot | Great Crested Grebe | Song Thrush |
| Common Cuckoo | Great Spotted Woodpecker | Spotted Flycatcher |
| Common Greenshank | Great Tit | Stock Pigeon |
| Common Kestrel | Greater Canada Goose | Stonechat |
| Common Kingfisher | Green Woodpecker | Tawny Owl |
| Common Linnet | Grey Heron | White/Pied Wagtail |
| Common Moorhen | Grey Plover | Willow Warbler |
| Common Nightingale | Grey Wagtail | Winter Wren |
| Common Pheasant | Greylag Goose | Yellow Wagtail |
| Common Sandpiper | Hedge Accentor (Dunnock) | Yellowhammer |
| Common Snipe | Herring Gull | |
| Common Starling | House Martin | |
| Common Swift | House Sparrow | |
| Common Tern | Jack Snipe | |
| Common Whitethroat | Lesser Black-backed Gull | |
| Common Wood Pigeon | Lesser Spotted Woodpecker | |
| Eurasian Collared Dove | Lesser Whitethroat | |
| Eurasian Hobby | Little Grebe | |
| Eurasian Jackdaw | Little Owl | |
| Eurasian Jay | Long-tailed Tit | |
| Eurasian Marsh Harrier | Mallard Duck | |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | Mandarin Duck |
