Kingfishers?

[Guinnessman1974]

Any sightings of Kingfishers this spring?

They appear to have disappeared from my local patch of the river Severn - I am concerned the cold winter might have killed them off. The river froze over completed here

[KentYeti]

Have seen one over the last week in the Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve in Kent.

Even got a distant photo of it.

[BillyPilgrim]

They have returned to my local patch (a lake near Wakefield) after it was frozen for a long time during the cold winter weather. I've also seen them on my local river.

[FUDGEY]

Guinnessman1974, I ahte to say it, but he chances are your concerns are correct. My local pair are no where to be seen despite searching almost every night for the past few weeks. No droppings on what was their fave perch made me fear the worst a fewc weeks ago. It is the first time in at least 30 years that Kingfishers have not been present on this stretch. Something else I have noticed is Grey wagtails seem to have suffered badly around me too. I had to travel to 8 banker sites at the weekend to find one pair. Both species will bounce back, but its a bitter pill to swallow for me in the mean time.

[nigel_b]

Missing kingfishers for me too. One of my local hides had very reliable kingfishers last autumn, nothing since then.

[htcdude]

I haven't been out a huge amount, but the places I have been I would've expected to see them, but haven't.

[ChrissyMarie]

Originally Posted by Guinnessman1974

Any sightings of Kingfishers this spring?

They appear to have disappeared from my local patch of the river Severn - I am concerned the cold winter might have killed them off. The river froze over completed here

The last one I saw was in January in Severn Valley Park fishing on the pool when it had unfrozen for a short while but nothing since

[aeshna5]

I've seen them along Beverley Brook in Richmond Park + locally along the Yeading Brook since the cold spell.

[JeffH]

Kingfisher numbers in this area seem to be well down on previous years

I've been keeping an eye on 3 local and longstanding nesting territories but so far have seen birds at only one of them.

Doubtless two consecutive severe winters have taken their toll with mortality rates estimated as high as 90%

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls & Avocets)

[Guinnessman1974]

Speaking to a couple of birders today, they also have no Kingfisher sightings and have similar concerns.

You wonder what with frozen lakes and rivers and with the extreme temperatures of last winter (we had -12C here) and the river Severn froze completely for the first time in 60 years.

Surely many will have simply starved to death..

My guess is that birds who were able to move to the sea for fish would most likely to have survived, and in time the population would expand again inland perhaps significantly after a - hopefully - successful breeding season this year they can bounce back again.

the facts that I've seen no birds this year, who would normally be marking out river territories at this time - does concern me.