This shot shows our new "little princess" about to dive for a fish. I am quite ashamed of myself in a way, I have had so many opportunities to photograph both this bird, and the male I watched throughout the winter, yet still a good flight shot eludes me. I am either too early or too late. I have reckoned up that I have had in excess of 60 close up encounters with KF's since last August.  When I say close ups, I mean when a KF has been within 10 feet of me. I have tried all sorts of lenses and all sorts of techniques but still no luck. However, yesterday was a near as I have come.

I hope you find these shots as amusing as I do. But there's always tomorrow, and in fact the rest of today , and I will keep trying.  Already this morning, it nearly happened. I went to the hide at 8.30ish and after a short wait she arrived on the perch with prey which seemed a strange little thing and I am not sure it was a fish, possibly a newt as I have seen KF's eat newts on a previous occasion.  This female has started to hover quite a lot.  If I get it just right will give me the chance of a good photo. Incidentally, the sight of a hovering kingfisher is a magnificent spectacle and makes the heart race! 

 Now to something really special. It has been an incredibly full and unusual week with lots of milestones and occurrences. Saturday was my 39th Wedding  Anniversary, tomorrow is my 60th Birthday, yesterday we paid off our 25 year mortgage and today……… best of all, my picture of fighting Kingfishers won Photo of the Week on Birdguides. This is really exciting and a great honour. It's not for me to say great achievement but is certainly a tremendous accolade, and I am very proud. If you are not familiar with Birdguides then have a look at my picture and their website here.