It was 7.15 when I stirred, Jenny told me that it was really sunny and I should get up! As usual it was hard work,  but by 7.35 ish. I was in the hide drinking coffee and hoping that the lovely Kingfisher that I have been watching since July, would come and pose for me. How many times have I had this kind of close encounter in the last twelve months, 75……. 80? and yet it is still “butterflies in the stomach” exciting when one arrives on the perch……… and today, yet again,  there she was.  Like a gorgeous avian jewel unsurpassed by any other bird in the UK, Kingfishers are so beautiful!  But, this little girl would not win a Kingfisher beauty contest at the moment.  She is in a post juvenile moult which will be over soon and then she will be pretty as a picture again.  She has small pin feathers on her face, these are emerging new feathers replacing her baby ones. They will be a little bit brighter when new and not in the least bit frayed. It may be my imagination, but her beak is a little bit longer than other Kingfishers I have seen as well. Who’s complaining though because she is still a treat to behold. In common with all Kingfishers she is her own bird and although she uses the convenient perch in front of my hide almost all of the time, sometimes she will fly past which makes it all the more exciting when she stops there. Today she hadn’t finished hunting and when she dived it was after a fish, she landed back on the perch with a muddy beak rather than a fishy one and pretty quickly left to try for a meal elsewhere.