Why am I saying this is a female?   Well, the beak is slender and in my opinion males have a slightly stockier beak. However, I am certain it's a female because after a few minutes another bird arrived and very noisily started singing to this one, (her mate),  and then they both departed together.

I had my first proper close-up Dipper encounter of the year today.  If you read my Blog regularly you will know that I am a very patient, some would say obsessive photographer and I have already done around 10 hours in the little river side hide so far this February.  I had been in the hide for 2 hours this morning and decided to come home at around 1 o'clock.  At that point I had literally seen just one bird all day, a Grey Wagtail and that had just  quickly flown by.  I was bored and cold by now.  I withdrew the protruding camera from the hide and was just about to climb out and leave, but remembering the other day when I had disturbed a Dipper as I exited, I quickly checked.  Can you believe it, there was a Dipper just in front of me on the waterfall.  I had been waiting for 2 hours plus and seen nothing  and then just as I was leaving, now one was there. Unbelievable.

I poked the camera back through the hole, hastily but carefully but now with the camera off the tripod it was going to be hard to get sharp images, but that's the way it is and you make the best of it.  The bird, a female I am sure, stood for a second or two and then started to fish which, although I have seen it  many times before, was very interesting.  It struck me that it was very successful because in just a minute or two it caught two different prey items.  I have no idea what the first item was but it looked like a shrimp of some sort…… how could that be? 

I said that with the camera, "hand-held" it was going to be very hard to get a really sharp shot in the prevailing light conditions.

Yet another prey item, the second in successive dives.

She wants more!  A typical Dipper pose.

Dippers are as comfortable in the water as they are out of it. Can you imagine how they keep warm in the cold water?  They have special adaptations in the blood and also, very dense plumage. The feathers are more robust than birds of a similar size and you can see these feathers on the back.  Look very closely at the white edgings to the wing feathers of this bird.  This is probably an indication that this bird is one hatched last spring as young birds are known to have these white marking s to the edge of their wings. next year this white edged feathers will be replaced by all dark feathers.