I suffer from "Mantitis". This condition manifests its self with the following symptoms.  A need to constantly moan and be grumpy, brought on by frustration and a raging jealousy of anyone under the age of 40. Lack of sleep due to constantly visiting the toilet in the night and then the inability to sleep after 6.30 in the morning.  On rising, a head that feels as though a Rhino has sat on it all night. Eyes that feel as though they contain half of the Sahara leading to blindness for at least the first 2 hours of waking and a craving for beer which is what caused the problems in the first place.  So when 6.30 arrived and it was dull as a day in Halifax (yes I've been, and it is), well I may as well get up I thought! I'm so glad I did because my Kingfisher watching today was great, probably more fun than anyone in Halifax could get in their entire life. (Rumour has it that there used to be a bird in Halifax but it was lonely so it moved to Huddersfield where there were two others). My granddaughter was born in Halifax, there is no treatment for it, you just have to put it behind you and move on(or away)! Halifax home of the famous Building Society, the modern day highway robbers. My wife tells me I shouldn't be rude about Halifax, I may upset someone, but surely if you live there you will know what I mean.  Anyway back to glorious Devon which is where half the population of the North is currently on holiday anyway.

I sat in the hide, bleary eyed and stiff, nothing new there then. It was a bit dank and dull when at 17 minutes past 7 a Kingfisher landed on a perch opposite the hide. I had deliberately placed it a bit further away to try and get some flight shots,  it was far to dull for that I am afraid.  It had a fish which it wrestled with and then dropped back in to the brook. This was a surprise, in the past when I have seen KF's drop fish they were perched over dry land and consequently the prey wasn't lost.  This young bird has obviously not developed this sensible strategy yet and after making so much effort to catch it's prey, had lost it in a split second. It had better learn quickly because when conditions get more difficult later in the year, it will not survive if it can't hold on to it's prey and therefore feed well.  Then, this bird left and a few minutes later another arrived, don't think it was the same one and it brightened a bit, lots more photos and a long wait for it to dive………..  it didn't!  By now, and when this one had left, it got positively sunny and golden. Then another one arrived( or the same one)and I waited for a dive, again without success. When it left I quickly rushed out and moved the far perch closer to the hide. I was about to come home, coffee was sounding like an idea  that couldn't be ignored but the perches looked so inviting in the fantastic sunlight, I waited! There she was again, very very close now, just a few feet and looking amazing. I took yet more portraits to add to the collection of hundreds…. well who wouldn't?  When she left, so did I,  and rushed home for that coffee. Two hours is a long time to sit, but at least, now my eyes were working and my "Rhino induced" headache had almost gone……..  and still as stiff as ever!