I went, before dawn to the hide to sit and wait hopefully, for the Kingfisher. I haven’t seen him close for a few days apart from a quick fly by or two. It was just dawn when I got there and as the day started and the morning light started to  brighten I was still unsure if he would show or not. Then after about 20 minutes I heard the unmistakeable sound of a Kingfisher still a way away but often enough for me to be sure that he was in my area. Then suddenly as is usually the case, he flashed past me in rocket mode and perched about 50 feet or perhaps more away. I still had sight of him and watched him twitching and very actively watching for prey. A few times he dived and then emerged unsuccessful and then I lost sight of him, but there he was right in front of me on one of my arranged perches. He quickly moved higher so that he had a better view and scanned the water looking for his breakfast.

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So there he is, again as close as you can be to a Kingfisher. But, he wasn’t settled and I think it was because he was having trouble getting a fish. He moved to a spot out of camera range and I watched him through a little hole in the hide. I could see that he was really scanning the water and from this position which was higher than before he had a better view. He obviously couldn’t see anything and then he left, again like a rocket to an are further up by the concrete.
I hadn’t long got over the thrill when the resident Little Egret arrived. This is, in comparison a big bird and it was amazing to se it perched where the kingfisher had been expected. he was about to fish and I had to come in on the zoom lens to about 250 to get him all in the viewfinder!
The legs and feet of these birds is really impressive but they are very hard to photograph because of the intense white which can deceive the cameras settings but I didn’t do too bad.

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This next one is hardly cropped at all, that is how close he was to me. I was hoping he would do some fishing and he started to, but was hidden just behind some weeds. Then all of a sudden he left……….. something had disturbed him and it wasn’t me.

I decided to leave, I could tell something wasn’t right and as I left my hide, walked up the bank towards the gate I could see what the problem was. DEVASTATION……. There was a builders lorry unloading porta-cabins and building materials. I asked what was on and discovered that they are about to undertake some work to the concrete bank to facilitate easy access with a vehicle should there ever be a flood and they needed too. What kind of disturbance is that going to create, an immense amount for at least a couple of weeks. I have contacted the Environmental Agency and tomorrow I have a meeting on sight to discuss how we can mitigate the disturbance……. there words not mine. I hop I can arrange a positive conclusion to this, I have a plan! More news tomorrow evening.