Sand Martins on the river.

I went to check on my Kingfisher nest on the river this morning, glad to see that there was more obvious signs of activity around the burrow and lots of maggots were tumbling out of the hole.  I moved away as quickly as I could incase of disturbance.  Then further down the river bank I was very pleased to see Sand Martins  using a nest burrow in the same area that they have bred in for the last few years but they haven't been able to get to their burrows because of the height of the river.  Now the water has returned to normal level, or almost,  just one pair has started to breed where last year there was at least 15 nests here.  Thats not to say that others will join them over the next few days.  Anyway, I took the opportunity to photograph the pair coming to their nest and from a respectable distant watched as they entered the burrow.  Interestingly there was a breeding pair, both carrying grass in to the burrow, but also a singly bird would also go in with them.  I returned in the afternoon with a plan to try to get a really good shot and almost did, but you can always do better.  This time I photographed from the opposite direction as you can see.

I went to check on my Kingfisher nest on the river this morning, glad to see that there was more obvious signs of activity around the burrow and lots of maggots were tumbling out of the hole.  I moved away as quickly as I could incase of disturbance.  Then further down the river bank I was very pleased to see Sand Martins  using a nest burrow in the same area that they have bred in for the last few years but they haven't been able to get to their burrows because of the height of the river.  Now the water has returned to normal level, or almost,  just one pair has started to breed where last year there was at least 15 nests here.  Thats not to say that others will join them over the next few days.  Anyway, I took the opportunity to photograph the pair coming to their nest and from a respectable distant watched as they entered the burrow.  Interestingly there was a breeding pair, both carrying grass in to the burrow, but also a singly bird would also go in with them.  I returned in the afternoon with a plan to try to get a really good shot and almost did, but you can always do better.