Kingfisher Diary (with photos)

[rlchew]

How lucky are you Jeff having all this going on in your garden and being able to photograph it?

Excellent stuff .... please do keep us all up to date.

Richard

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by rlchew

How lucky are you Jeff having all this going on in your garden and being able to photograph it?
Excellent stuff .... please do keep us all up to date.
Richard

Thanks Richard (and everyone else) but I fear I may not have explained the situation quite as well as I might have
Please allow me to clarify to avoid any further misunderstandings - whilst the female continues to visit my garden regularly, [b][u]all[b][u] of the activities and observations reported in this thread took place not in my garden but just a couple of hundred metres away near the area of water mentioned in my original post. Similarly, the accompanying photos were all taken there.
I'm sorry if this wasn't as clear as it could have been in my earlier posts and certainly wouldn't want to deceive anyone.

Jeff

[rlchew]

Originally Posted by JeffH

Thanks Richard (and everyone else) but I fear I may not have explained the situation quite as well as I might have
Please allow me to clarify to avoid any further misunderstandings - whilst the female continues to visit my garden regularly, [b][u]all[b][u] of the activities and observations reported in this thread took place not in my garden but just a couple of hundred metres away near the area of water mentioned in my original post. Similarly, the accompanying photos were all taken there.
I'm sorry if this wasn't as clear as it could have been in my earlier posts and certainly wouldn't want to deceive anyone.

Jeff

No problem Jeff .... it is me not reading your posts properly .

Having said that, please do keep posting your accounts and photos.

Richard

[JeffH]

Cheers Richard - will do.

Jeff

[richardkm]

Wow, great photos.

Just one point, I believe it's illegal to photograph kingfishers at or near the nest without a licence, although I could be out of date on this. If I am right, it should be okay around your pond, but not if you follow them to where they are nesting, but I would guess its a moot point if they are nesting within sight of a public right of way!

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by richardkm

Wow, great photos.

Just one point, I believe it's illegal to photograph kingfishers at or near the nest without a licence, although I could be out of date on this. If I am right, it should be okay around your pond, but not if you follow them to where they are nesting, but I would guess its a moot point if they are nesting within sight of a public right of way!

Thanks for raising this point Richard - in fact, it's something I was going to comment on in my next report (as since starting this thread it's occurred to me that others might share your concern), but as you've raised it I'll deal with it now.

You're certainly not out of date on the point, but you're not absolutely correct on the technicalities either - let me explain:-

Strictly speaking, it isn't the act of photographing Kingfishers at or near the nest that is illegal and requires a licence, it's intentionally disturbing one (or any other wild bird listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 - as amended by the Environmental Protection Act 1990) "...while it is building a nest or is in, on or near a nest containing eggs or young; or disturbing dependent young of such a bird..." and irrespective of whether the act of disturbance is for photography or some other purpose.

Having said that, the licensing provisions featuring within the legislation do give Natural England (formerly English Nature), as "the appropriate authority", the power to grant licences to disturb Schedule 1 protected species for the purpose of photography and for a number of other purposes.

So, in short, it is intentional disturbance that is illegal rather than photography per se (sorry, I can feel myself slipping into lawyer mode ), though clearly if one is found to have disturbed a Schedule 1 protected bird for the purpose of photography and without a licence to do so, that would indeed be an offence.

Thankfully all of that is somewhat academic as I'm pleased to say that I do have a Schedule 1 licence relating to these birds and this specific site. Obtaining such a licence is quite a rigmarole (even for a lawyer ) but I'm grateful for the help and advice given to me by the staff of Natural England's Licensing Service and for the speed with which they processed my licence application.

I'm also indebted to the landowner (although close to my home, the area of water at the centre of the Kingfishers territory is on private land) who not only gave me his enthusiastic consent to observe and photograph the birds but also invited me to erect a temporary hide on the site I have since done this - over a period of several days so as not to disturb the birds too much in one go, but in fact as I was knocking in the corner posts on the 1st day one of them sat and watched me from a nearby tree!!! I'm almost convinced it recognises me as that fool who keeps re-stocking his garden ponds with small fish as a kind of Kingfisher take-away service

Now for the real news, the pair have started nestbuilding in earnest with each of them taking it in turns to spend 20 minutes or so tunnelling whilst the other watches from the opposite bank or goes off to do a spot of fishing. After each digging session they emerge with muddy beaks and then do 2 or 3 quick shallow dips into the water to cleanse themselves - it's quite amusing to watch. Here's a couple of photos showing both the male and the female with muddy beaks.





and finally - after all that work they still have the time and energy to do what comes naturally

[Ollie]

Well Jeff you have surpassed all my expectations in every aspect with your brilliant reports and photographs. Particularly the mating shot, A photo that I cannot praise highly enough. Well done and please keep the reports and photos coming.
Roger

[jennyb]

Wow. These pictures get better and better!

Jenny

[vinnychameleon]

Well done mate . This makes great reading . Yet again you are so lucky to have them so close to your house. Your not thinking of selling are u .

[Rookie 300d]

Jeff, I have just noticed in the Gallery that these shots had been taken with a 1.4 convertor. Was this using MF or AF? (I am very interested to see if a 1.4 is worth an investment?)

[John]

Originally Posted by Ollie

Well Jeff you have surpassed all my expectations in every aspect with your brilliant reports and photographs. Particularly the mating shot, A photo that I cannot praise highly enough. Well done and please keep the reports and photos coming.
Roger

Absolutely.

This is a brilliant set of photos and the whole thread has to be one of the best, if not the best, diary style threads ever to be on WAB.

John

[JeffH]

Thank you all once again for your generous praise of my photos and reports - I'm overwhelmed by your kind remarks.

As my stats show I'm not a very prolific poster, but since joining the WAB community some 9 months ago I've always viewed the site as a great way of seeking and sharing wildlife-related information with a friendly and like-minded group of people. A great many WAB members (far too many to mention individually) have been very helpful to me on a whole range of subjects from choosing a camera, lenses and other equipment to identifying fungi, insects, etc and I'm delighted to be able to give something back to the site in the form of this increasingly popular diary thread.

As smartie said much earlier in the thread "this could run and run" and I'll certainly carry it on throughout the nesting season and hopefully be able to share many more photos and tales of these Kingfishers' activities with you all.

Jeff

Originally Posted by Rookie 300d

Jeff, I have just noticed in the Gallery that these shots had been taken with a 1.4 convertor. Was this using MF or AF? (I am very interested to see if a 1.4 is worth an investment?)

Rookie, in answer to your question - I've used both MF & AF but all the shots linked to this thread were using AF. As you may know (and contrary to the manufacturer's official line), it's possible to maintain AF with Canon's lenses/teleconverter by taping over 3 of the pins - I can't remember who first put me onto this but Boddie has a very useful photo/description of the technique on his own website.

I chose to invest in a 1.4 converter (and certainly haven't regretted it) after seeing the high quality results John achieves with his. Incidentally, I'm assuming you're a Canon user but whatever your camera preference I'm told it's important to match your choice of converter with your lens(es) - ie. Canon for Canon, Nikon for Nikon, etc, as I've seen various reports of poor results with cheaper unmatched converters. There's probably been a thread about this in the Photographic section but, if not, why not start one and I'm sure the real camera wizards will be only too pleased to offer all the help/advice you need.

Jeff

[John]

Originally Posted by Rookie 300d

Jeff, I have just noticed in the Gallery that these shots had been taken with a 1.4 convertor. Was this using MF or AF? (I am very interested to see if a 1.4 is worth an investment?)

Hi Rookie

I use the canon 1.4 converter coupled with my 30D and 100-400 IS USM lens and I think it was a remarkable purchase. I never take it off now (except on very few occasions). Virtually every DSLR photo I have taken has had the 1.4 attached.

For me personally I highly recommend it.

John

[JeffH]

APRIL FOOL'S DAY UPDATE

Here's a couple of photos from this morning's Kingfisher observations:-



OK, not that funny I know . Here's one of the real thing and I hope to post a proper update/report (with some more photos) later today -



Jeff

[buzfuz8149]

Loved all the photos and reports - really glad you are sharing these wonderful shots with us.

Carol.

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by buzfuz8149

Loved all the photos and reports - really glad you are sharing these wonderful shots with us.

Carol.

Thanks Carol and I'm delighted to share my photos with you all. BTW I'm a Wigan-born lad myself but have now been exiled here in the flatlands of East Anglia for 30 years.

Jeff

[mim]

Lovely pictures Jeff and your pictures highlight just what beautiful birds they are.

[JeffH]

UPDATE – 5th April

Since my last report there has been a noticeable change in the birds’ behaviour which leads me to believe that the nest tunnelling stage is now complete and we are now into the egg-laying phase, which will be the subject of my next update.

Whilst digging the nest tunnel the birds showed a great deal of nervousness at the presence of any other birds. The area of water where they are nesting has Coots, Moorhens, Mallards, Canada Geese, Cormorants and Herons as daily visitors and each time any other bird(s) swam by the nest hole whichever of the pair was on ‘sentry duty’ (usually sat on a convenient perch I’ve positioned on the opposite bank about 8 feet away) would become quite agitated and give out an alarm call resulting in the other one emerging from the tunnel and joining its mate nearby to wait and watch until the intruder had left the area. Here’s a couple of photos – one of the male calling his mate from the nest hole and one of the pair of them waiting for a pair of mallards (just out of shot) to leave the area –





Digging the nest tunnel and chamber is obviously quite a dirty business and, as I mentioned in an earlier report, each time one of the pair emerged from the hole they would make several quick shallow dips into the water to cleanse their beaks, breasts and tail feathers. During the tunnelling stage (ie. before the nest chamber itself is completed) the birds reverse out of the hole using their stiff tail feathers in a sort of bulldozing action to push out the loose soil – it’s now obvious to me why evolution has given them that short stumpy tail!

Once the day’s digging was over both birds would then spend a surprising amount of time preening and generally cleaning themselves up. They each had a favourite perching position for this activity with the male preferring a perch in a fairly open position and typically spending up to 40 – 45 minutes sprucing himself up, whereas the female tucked herself away in the rather bushy lower branches of a nearby overhanging tree, often just above the level of the water, and would spend anything up to 1 ¼ hours on her beauty treatments. Noting this time differential I’m tempted to draw a comparison with humans but I’ll resist making any further comment for fear of upsetting the ladies

Here’s a couple of photos (of rather poor quality I'm afraid) showing some preening activity –





Incidentally, in an earlier report I confirmed that I do hold the necessary Schedule 1 Licence from Natural England to “disturb” these birds at or near the nest for the purpose of photography. I’m pleased to say that thus far I haven’t actually disturbed them once, being able to access and exit my on-site hide from behind the mound of earth on which it is situated and out of sight of the birds. However, I’m aware that many WAB members are strongly opposed to any kind of nest photography (authorised or otherwise) and during my own 30+ years of interest in birds I have always adhered to a self-imposed rule of not engaging in such photography, save for a few minor exceptions in my own garden.

With this in mind, I should perhaps also explain that my observations, records and photographs at this particular nest site are not some mere ‘flight of fancy’ on my part – there is a serious conservation purpose behind all this. Although we do not live close to any rivers or large lakes, there is a network of drainage dykes plus 6 largish ponds well stocked with fish (and many more small garden ponds such as my own) within a local area of about a square kilometre. These disjointed areas of water have been sufficient to sustain a local breeding Kingfisher population for 25 years or more and the particular nest site I am currently monitoring has been used several times in the past. However, this site is now under threat from possible development and my work is intended mainly to provide irrefutable proof that it is the nest site of a Schedule 1 protected species and to ensure that adequate measures are taken to protect the birds and the site. I don’t really want to say anymore on that issue at this stage for fear of heightening local sensitivities but I thought it important that WAB members should be made aware of the reasons for my actions.

Finally, I’ll post another update in a week or two.

Jeff

[jennyb]

Thanks for keeping us up to date, Jeff. The photos are amazing and I have learned so much from your posts.

Jenny

[mrs fish]

I agree with you totally with what you are doing and enjoying it too
You can't let anyone destroy the area
You are not going to take a pic of the nest anyway, or are you going to tie a mini camera to a bean pole

[smartie]

Thanks, Jeff. I'd hope no-one here doubts your motives - and we're loving the reports as well. I wish it was me in the hide, but since it can't be your descriptions and photos are the next best thing

[aeshna5]

Well done Jeff- let's hope your amazing photo story helps save the habitat for these stunning birds + all the other wildlife that inhabits them. Your passion + commitment to them really shines through- wish you + them every success!

[glsammy]

This is a superb thread Jeff, If anyone had to monitor the site I'm glad it's you. Your care and passion for the birds shines through, and we can bask in the reflected glory of it all through this thread and your images.

[rlchew]

Excellent stuff Jeff!

Keep the reports and photos coming .... this is just so interesting!

Richard

[mim]

Lovely photos again Jeff, really hope no one destroys this, and yet again wildlife loses out.