This mornings encounter with my local Kingfisher was very frustrating, I could have done so much better but I let my guard down. The first I knew of his presence, right in front of me incidentally, was a tell tale splash and the sight of him emerging from the water. He was just 6 paces in front of me with a fish in his beak which he very quickly turned and swallowed. I was unfortunately drinking coffee from my flask at the time so with one hand I managed quickly, to focus and get just 3 shots of him. The first just as the fish was disappearing down his throat as you can see, just about! I am sure that the focusing of the lens and the shutter sound disturbed him a bit and he flew to the concrete opposite. I watched him, hoping he would do more fishing, but then I heard voices, and so did he. He flew away upstream. 30 minutes later, I watched him appear from my left and flash past me and then down stream at a speed that was almost unbelievable. It reminded me of a bright blue fighter plane. He was really agile in flight as he disappeared like a dart to me right.
I have returned to the brook this afternoon and had a look for a more quiet peaceful spot. Having seen how quickly he flies it made me realise that his territory his presumably quite large. I think he perches where I have seen him, probably because of a shortage of suitable places to fish from elsewhere. I have placed a couple of branches in other suitable places and tomorrow I will stake out the new locations. They are in good light and aaway from the noise and busy road.
I also discovered, by walking down the brook in the water, a very interesting hole which in all probability is a nest hole. Kingfishers are a Schedule 1 bird and specially protected by law. It is illegal to photograph Kingfishers in the vicinity of their nest in a manner that is likely to cause disturbance to them. This is something that I will have to be very careful of next spring when they are breeding.
I am sorry if you are returning to my Blog in the hope of seeing some new species. I tend to be very obsessive when I know there are birds to photograph that I particularly like. It has been almost a lifetime’s ambition to get close views of a Kingfisher, let alone good photographs. There are so many birds that I want to get shots of, they will come soon. In the meantime I am concentrating on this lovely spot where, not only have I got the possibility of some great Kingfisher shots, there is also the chance to improve my Grey Wagtail photographs. This morning I almost got a great Grey Wagtail photo.