[big bill]

Fudgey try taken your lens setting upto f8 or f11 this will help and will still give you a sufficient fast enough shutter speed and will put the backgroung out as well over the distance ,dont get me wrong the pics are ok seeing you have not been at it that long but practice is the best form of use the more you practice the better you will become .
And in todays age of digital you can afford to experiment with different exposure and shutters settings at no cost except at the pc then you can see which works best for the lens over what distance and conditions.
Best of luck keep posting these pics so we can see your improvement chin up and go get those Kingfishers ,Rome was`nt built in a day