We had been promised rain for today so when I the day dawned and I could see that the Met Office (even though the national HQ is in Exeter), had got it wrong again, I quickly took the opportunity to go and see  what developments there had been. Would my Buzzard have eaten his, now small pieces of Rabbit, would the seed be gone and if so would I be able to find out who is responsible?

The answers to the questions was mixed. No Rabbit missing, but all the seed and peanuts had gone. I restocked with seed and got myself sorted in the hide. Water had gathered on the roof making a precarious situation which if not dealt with would perhaps have broken through and deluged me with a few gallons of smelly water.  I forced the roof up and made quite a commotion to force the water to spill out of the sides. I tell you this because basically I was making quite a noise and not being quiet in the least.  Image my surprise when there right in front was a Kingfisher. I had hoped for one from this hide, and was pretty sure that eventually one would show its self.  I had placed some nice enticing sticks along the waters edge and these had done the trick. It turned out to be a female, the first I have seen since last September. I don't think that she is in the original Kingfishers territory, that's the bird that I have featured on the blog so much. He is at the opposite end of the Brook about a mile away, or perhaps a little less. She was calling loudly which was different behaviour to the male, perhaps she was calling to announce her  presence to a prospective  mate, probably "my" male, at least I hope it would be him. So it looks as though there is going to be some breeding activity. This could turn out to be very interesting but also one fraught with difficulties and dilemmas. It is in fact against the law to photograph Kingfishers at the nest without a license so as soon as I think there is nesting activity going on I will have to vacate the area.

For those of you who haven't noticed, the difference between a female and male Kingfisher is in the beak. Females have an orange patch on the lower mandible. The light was coming from the wrong direction in the photo. This is causing me real problems from this hide. Haven't worked out what to do about that yet. As I sat there filming the Kingfisher, a heron wandered down the bank towards me and I took this great shot of him as well. So a pretty good day so far and it's only 12.30.