Kingfishers.

 

Well before 7 this morning I returned to the hide that I have hastily erected in front of the Kingfisher nest on a river near to my home.  Because of the need to keep disturbance down to a minimum I needed to be hasty and consequently it is a flimsy affair made from 5 "scrim face-veils" slung around stout willow sticks pushed in to the mud. It is camouflaged even further by willow pushed in to the ground around the edges.  This morning  it was 20 minutes before I heard the first Kingfisher of the day, a bird calling from up river to my right. Then I located it on the bank  just to the right of the nest.  It appeared to be looking for prey in the fast flowing water beneath, I had seen it catch a minnow from this very same spot yesterday. It was the adult male and he continued to call almost constantly, a way of letting his female know that he was there.  After a short while his attentions were drawn  to something on my side of the river and he launched his  attack on another Kingfisher that I hadn't been aware of.  It was one of the juveniles from the first round.  The young bird flew back up river calling as it went with the male in hot pursuit. He is not tolerant of any of his youngsters on the patch now.  This is unfortunate for me because  it means that I have missed the opportunity to photograph them being tended to and fed as they would have been for the first few days out of the nest.  Minutes passed and then with more calling he was back.  This time I saw a flash of colour as the female emerged from the burrow but that was all I saw of her, it was  just a  fleeting glimps as both birds flew down river to my left.