Breeding Kingfishers.

After a few days away in Yorkshire over the weekend I eventually returned to Devon and I was keen to continue my observations at the Kingfisher nest site yesterday. From a hide opposite the nest I sat and waited for any signs of activity and it was 1 and half hours before I eventually saw a bird although from time to time I could hear one up river. It arrived calling loudly as it flew past both me and the nest, then minutes later it was back to take up a position close to the burrow where I could see it was the male and he continued to call. I guessed he had come to take over his sitting duties. This was confirmed when after a minute or so the female emerged from the nest and he then flew up and in to the burrow. The female came over to my side of the river although I couldn't see her but she was calling loudly then off she flew up river in front of me and away from the area. At that point I decided to leave the hide, the female was away from the nest and the male was inside incubating so it was safe to emerge and slip away without causing any disturbance. This behaviour would seem to indicate the presence of a clutch of eggs now. Incubation is 19 to 21 days, I estimate that incubation commenced 27 May (its difficult to say with certainty), chicks fledge the nest at around 25 days old. I estimate that chicks are due to fledge on, or around the 9th July. This stage of breeding with incubation taking place and the none sitting bird away from the territory, is the quietest time of the breeding cycle so apart from checking that everything is progressing well, then there is not a lot to see.

This morn was much of the same with the male flying low over the water in front of the hide and then moving away down river.