Kingfisher Diary (with photos)

[aeshna5]

Love that sign of "Fresh fish daily" with the Kingfisher above!!

[JeffH]

Cheers Dave.

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Love that sign of "Fresh fish daily" with the Kingfisher above!!

and thanks aeshna5, I'm glad you like it - I'm afraid I just can't resist exploiting such photo opportunities in our garden. I've now got several 'silly' props like this which I rotate regularly and the birds are very obliging little posers

Jeff

[John]

Same here. Brilliant opportunism Jeff.

John

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Love that sign of "Fresh fish daily" with the Kingfisher above!!

[PMG]

Been catching up with your thread Jeff (now that I've finished my own!!) - you have a way with words - smashing narrative kept me on the edge of my seat - I was almost beside you in the hide holding my breath - and the photos - well what can I say - there arn't enough superlatives - thanks for the time and effort - its giving a lot of enjoyment to those of us who don't see knigfishers as much as we'd like to!!

Pauline

[nightshade]

Jeff I do read all your posts they are excellent but I find myself at the coat-tails of more ardent fans who have already used all the superlatives in the dictionary
Why not approach the BBC ( the natural history bit in Bristol) and tell your story as a diary with your wonderful photographs; just a thought

[JeffH]

Cheers John - glad you like the 'Fresh fish daily' shot

and thank you Pauline PMG - I'm truly flattered by your kind remarks.

Originally Posted by nightshade

Jeff I do read all your posts they are excellent but I find myself at the coat-tails of more ardent fans who have already used all the superlatives in the dictionary Why not approach the BBC ( the natural history bit in Bristol) and tell your story as a diary with your wonderful photographs; just a thought

and thank you too nightshade for your equally flattering comments.
As to your suggestion, hmmmm .....I wasn't going to mention this but as you've raised the point - several weeks before this year's Springwatch I was in fact approached by the BBC with a view to being filmed (with 'my' Kingfishers) for inclusion as a feature in the programme .

I must admit to having had some serious reservations about the idea but I eventually agreed to take part and plans were made for Gordon Buchanan and another cameraman to come along the following weekend.

Having sorted out the licensing issues with Natural England (yes, even the Beeb has to have a licence to film Schedule 1 species ), I received a phone call a couple of days before the filming was due to take place saying, in effect, that the production team's lawyers were getting a bit twitchy about possibly showing bias against the developers (from whom I'm desperately trying to protect the Kingfishers' nesting territory ) and that they'd have to pull out .

I confess to not being too disappointed and I'm pleased to say that the connection who introduced me to the BBC (and who was actually engaged in the production of this year's Springwatch) invited me up to Pensthorpe for a thoroughly enjoyable day during the last week of broadcasting.

So, who knows - next year perhaps

Jeff

[JeffH]

UPDATE - 1st September 2008

Breaking News

The 2nd brood of chicks have successfully fledged

Although I've been privileged to witness young Kingfishers leaving the nest on two previous occasions, this time I was lucky enough to see the entire brood of 4 youngsters all come out of the nesthole within the space of about 20 minutes between 5.50am and 6.10am

As ever, the event was not without drama as two of the fledglings hit the water immediately on leaving the nesthole and could easily have drowned

However, they both managed to paddle across onto a branch hanging low into the water (just below my hide!) and quickly recovered from the ordeal. After drying out they joined their siblings in flying around the site chasing after Mum and Dad and all four now seem fit and well.

I'll post a full update later this week but, in the meantime, here's a taster in the form of a few photos -

first, here's the proud Mum (2nd from left) with 3 of her babies - the other one is sat drying out on a branch just below them and out of shot - the one on the left is the other that nearly drowned, you can see how wet it is -



here's a parent bird feeding one of the young -



and finally, one of the parents with breakfast for the kids -



More to follow soon

Jeff

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REMINDER
As a fairly rare 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 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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[John]

Breathtaking Jeff.

Right place, right time again. Congrats for getting those images. I bet there aren't too many people around that have witnessed an event like this.

This thread is still like a breath of fresh air to me.

John

[pressld2]

Wonderful Jeff! Never seen four in one shot before! Just shows how the dedication and commitment in getting to site before dawn pays off.

Dave P.

[jennyb]

Jeff,

This is fantastic stuff. Your dedication has really paid off. The photos are amazing.

Many thanks for posting them.

Jenny