The last couple of days has seen me continuing to try and get more and more views on photos of the lovely Kingfisher that I have been watching for almost  the last month. I decided yesterday that the bird had begun to get  a little bit suspicious of the  portable hide. I decided to build a semi-permanent one with a camo tarp based around bamboo canes. It worked really well because I went first thing this morning and before 8 he was perched in front of me with a very large loach. The light was a bit dull but I did manage to get a few shots of him with the use of the flash. You can see how big this fish is and he really did struggle to get it down having several goes at it. Eventually it disappeared down the hatch.

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Ater he had finished I watched him sitting quietly in the very dim early dawn light and as he was sitting so still I tried some shots without the flash with a slow shutter speed which is never ideal. But I kind of like the result because it is atmospheric.

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As you can see, the colours of Kingfisher seems to vary dramatically. This is because the colour is created by iridescence and not pigment and depends how the feathers are reflecting the light back. The light improved quite dramatically and I took some cracking shots of him.

Who wouldn't be pleased with this one because I certainly am! After a while he flew over to the other bank nearer to me and as I moved to the right to look at him the hide started to show signs that it wasn't going to last!  But I still got a few shots in the better light. 

As he sat there I heard another Kingfisher calling and so did he! He wasn't too impressed with this and left to go and see what the intruder wanted. It is/was probable the female that I have seen before you may remember.

I sat there in the hide which was by now decidedly rickety, and tried to do a repair job. It didn't work and I was sat on a slant. I had just begun to think that I couldn't sit like this for much longer when he landed back and I struggled to get some shots of him doing his preening and bathing thing. This required me to lean even more to the left and then as I did I could feel myself tumbling uncontrollably. Being a "true-pro" I continued snapping……….. I shouldn't have because the next thing I was almost in the water and saying,"I'm going in" I averted that ultimate but did finish up in a snotty heap with the hide broken around me and no sign now of the bird!

If you look closely at this  photo, and the one below, you can clearly see pin-feathers around the face. I haven't seen this before on any of the other photos. Could this be a different male. I can also see noticeable dark markings on the feet which would indicate a young bird. Is this a different bird than the one I have been seeing?

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