After a couple of weeks of frustration I decided to go back to the Dipper hide this morning, it was a very bright and sunny day (and reamained that way from dawn to dusk, cold but sunny, you can't beat it)............. My plan was to find Dippers, cover myself with a bag-hide and watch them to see if I could observe them carrying nesting material back to the nest and then I could pinpoint where they were carrying to. I wandered along the river towards the hide as I have done countless times before, it wasn't long before I saw my first Dipper and it continued on downstream, not a pair but just a single bird and it didn't seem to be near any nest site judging by it's behaviour so I carried on towards my hide. When I got there, immediately two Kingfishers flew past me from where I had walked from, they were calling loudly, I started to climb in to the hide and there in front of me (but down stream), was a Dipper on one of the favourite rocks. Before I could squeeze in to the hide the two Kingfishers flashed back past me and in the brilliant light I have never had a better view. Can you believe that? I have been struggling to see Kingfishers at the two sites that I am licenced to photograph Kingfishers at and then, here's two, obviously breeding, somewhere nearby. I took up my position in the hide but nothing happened except that now two Dippers flew back upstream and past me going back to where I had walked from. Well at least there was a few birds about. An hour passed by and I left to go back up river to see if I could find the Dippers again. There they were as I hoped and I quickly covered myself with a bag hide and started to watch them. One came close to me and was just opposite and I managed a photo or two. I have seen and photographed Dippers so many times but it's always special to see them very near like this. You can't have everything and the lighting wasn't too good but at least it proved that the bag hide worked. It flew back up to it's mate and then both birds were seen feeding in the riffles up river but 50 yards or so away. One bird disappeared and the other one remained on its own for ages. This gives me the distinct impression that I was watching a male bird now keeping guard over a nearby nest. I had watched this kind of beahviour repeatedly last year. The male keeping guard near the nest as the female incubated I will need to return to continue watching but at least I have made a tiny bit of progress and perhaps I have got something to go on.
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« By way of an update. | Main | Herring Gulls feeding on cockles. »
March 14, 2013
Dippers and Kingfishers.
After a couple of weeks of frustration I decided to go back to the Dipper hide this morning, it was a very bright and sunny day (and reamained that way from dawn to dusk, cold but sunny, you can't beat it)............. My plan was to find Dippers, cover myself with a bag-hide and watch them to see if I could observe them carrying nesting material back to the nest and then I could pinpoint where they were carrying to. I wandered along the river towards the hide as I have done countless times before, it wasn't long before I saw my first Dipper and it continued on downstream, not a pair but just a single bird and it didn't seem to be near any nest site judging by it's behaviour so I carried on towards my hide. When I got there, immediately two Kingfishers flew past me from where I had walked from, they were calling loudly, I started to climb in to the hide and there in front of me (but down stream), was a Dipper on one of the favourite rocks. Before I could squeeze in to the hide the two Kingfishers flashed back past me and in the brilliant light I have never had a better view. Can you believe that? I have been struggling to see Kingfishers at the two sites that I am licenced to photograph Kingfishers at and then, here's two, obviously breeding, somewhere nearby. I took up my position in the hide but nothing happened except that now two Dippers flew back upstream and past me going back to where I had walked from. Well at least there was a few birds about. An hour passed by and I left to go back up river to see if I could find the Dippers again. There they were as I hoped and I quickly covered myself with a bag hide and started to watch them. One came close to me and was just opposite and I managed a photo or two. I have seen and photographed Dippers so many times but it's always special to see them very near like this. You can't have everything and the lighting wasn't too good but at least it proved that the bag hide worked. It flew back up to it's mate and then both birds were seen feeding in the riffles up river but 50 yards or so away. One bird disappeared and the other one remained on its own for ages. This gives me the distinct impression that I was watching a male bird now keeping guard over a nearby nest. I had watched this kind of beahviour repeatedly last year. The male keeping guard near the nest as the female incubated I will need to return to continue watching but at least I have made a tiny bit of progress and perhaps I have got something to go on.
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