Unusual Kingfisher Behaviour?

[AndyC]

Well it probably isn’t but it was a new one on me.
Yesterday while fishing on a Dorset river we saw a kingfisher diving from low level flight. Not the usual diving off a stick but flying along flat out about a foot up over the centre of the river and making shallow dives (less than 30 degrees) onto surface feeding minnows. I did wonder if after the initial dive (which made a fair old splash!) the subsequent dives, which followed within seconds, were to pick off stunned minnows (some fish will do this but from below obviously!). Anyone else seen this before?

To round the evening off we saw a barn owl and two otters. One of the otters even came to mid river (less than twenty feet away) to have a better look at us. I was a bit surprised at this as there were two of us and two dogs, it just goes to show that if you go about your own business quietly most wildlife will accept you


Andy