KINGFISHER DIARY 2009 (with photos) Please note –
although this is a new thread for 2009 anyone wanting to read my Kingfisher Diary for the 2007 and 2008 breeding seasons will find it here - Kingfisher Diary (with photos)
Great news – they’re back
I’ve been visiting the nesting territory throughout the winter months but have had precious few sightings of the birds, particularly during the recent very cold and prolonged spell of bad weather when the water surface was completely frozen over for days at a time and giving the birds little opportunity for fishing. In fact, I became very concerned for their survival and half-hoped that they may have moved on to one of the local rivers or even towards the coast to improve their prospects.
Since the beginning of this month I’ve been round to the site on a more regular basis, as in previous years the birds have usually paired up by mid-February. However, until today I had neither seen nor heard a single Kingfisher there so far this month.
This morning I walked round at just after 7am and on my way there I met one of the local dog walkers who told me he’d seen a pair flying along one of the local drainage ditches (I’m now quite well known locally as ‘the Kingfisher man’
).
Sure enough, after only 10 minutes or so in my on-site hide I heard and saw one of the birds fly in and around the site. Minutes later it landed on one of the perches I’d put in place last year and I was able to identify it as a male.
A 2nd bird then flew into the area towards the nesthole used last year and the male followed it.
Although they were out of my vision I could hear lots of excited calling between the birds and became hopeful that both male and female birds were present rather than two males.
I watched as the birds made two rapid and noisy aerial laps of the site but was still uncertain as to whether or not they were a pair or just two competing males.
Then one of the birds landed on a perch right in front of my hide - a female – thus confirming that they were indeed male and female and, hopefully, a breeding pair.
After watching both birds fly off I walked round to the nesthole area and immediately spotted an old nesthole with a small pile of fresh soil below it on the waterline. The birds had clearly been working on it and as I took up a position in the undergrowth from which to observe the hole one of the birds flew in and perched beside it before flying off again a few seconds later.
I then left the site to let the birds continue their home-building in peace and with the feeling that things are looking good
.
Readers of last year’s Diary may recall that the birds were flooded out three times during the early part of the 2008 breeding season
. However, with the water level at the site currently near its all-time high and with the nesthole the birds are working on being a foot or so above the water at the moment, their prospects for successfully raising a brood at the first attempt this year are much better.
Finally, I’ve no photos to post from today’s visit (I didn’t even take my camera – thus ensuring that I’d see something
) so as a taster for what will hopefully follow as the season progresses here’s a photo from last year which has recently won me ‘Photo of the Month’ for January 2009 on the international photography website
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More news as it happens
.
Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers and Barn Owls)
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REMINDER
As a fairly uncommon and easily disturbed bird, the Kingfisher is afforded the highest degree of legal protection under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. If you “intentionally or recklessly” disturb a Kingfisher (or any other Schedule 1 listed species) whilst trying to photograph it “in, on, at or near” the nest or whilst it has dependent young, and without the necessary Licence from Natural England, you may be committing a criminal offence punishable by a fine of up to £5,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to 6 months.
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