As I write on the Ipad I am sat in the Kingfisher hide on the brook, it's been a long wait again today and there are things that I probably should be doing right now. I have just returned after a lunch break and already done at least 3 hours waiting so far today. I can see the perch in front of me and in spite of the waiting being very tedious , the thrill of being 5 feet from an unknowing Kingfisher is worth the wait. This is something I have experienced, just like this on dozens and dozens of occasions. Yesterday was a brook free day because of the bad weather and rain but late afternoon after the flood water had gone down enough to see what was what, I replaced some of the branches in front of the hide. This is always interesting, fresh mud is like a clean canvas and then a later visit will show what activity there has been. Really encouragingly when I got here just after 10 I could see that a Kingfisher had spent quite a time on the perch. Underneath was covered and sprayed with bird lime. I set up the camera on the tripod in the water and pointed towards the branch and began my wait with the remote shutter release in my hand. Not totally dead time as I read the newspaper on my ipad, great times we live in. After only a short while there was the unmistakeable sound of a single loud splash, and it could only be a Kingfisher. There it was, perched on my camera and using it as a platform to fish from! How annoying is that, but also quite amusing. What happened next though was not quite so amusing. A voice from above spooked the Kingfisher totally and I heard 'Charlie', I ignored it ''Charlie' again....... Yes I replied, 'Anything around today'? 'Well not now'. I said. It seems that this stranger or seeming acquaintance as he knew me by name, in spite of being able to see the camera and knowing that I was in the hide, thought he would still make conversation. The cardinal rule of wildlife watching broken. It's interesting though, as I wait, to wonder where Kingfishers go when they are not with you on one of their favourite perches? They obviously have several 'favourite' spots and share their time between them. Territories are big so they could be hundreds of yards away, in fact probably are. However they fly incredibly quickly and can be with you suddenly and without warning. One second a glance shows a bare branch and the next one shows a turquoise bird, and your wait has been vindicated. To get a photo is even more justification for the spent hours.
Just as I expected and hoped for, a few minutes before 3, there was the Kingfisher, right on the perch as I hoped. This was Interesting as I rarely see them mid afternoon. One minute, no bird and then the next time I looked..... a Kingfisher. He had quite a successful few minutes catching three fish in the short time with me. I fired off the remote and captured some images, the best two are here. It was interesting to watch him as I sat with the remote poised in my hand. Suddenly, something spooked him from behind and he immediately tightened his feathers and in a flash had gone down stream. Knowing that he was still in the area, I waited for him to return again, ever hopeful of that special photograph. It's incredibly time consuming and verging on the eccentric but it's my time and thankfully I can spend it like I want to. My back started to ache and the feeling of dried mud on my hands and hair was starting to get a bit tiresome., enough was enough.
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