And, We're Off.

Stuart Philpott said:
I sort of understand both sides of the baiting debate, hmm maybe not.the raptor thing and anti kinda puzzles me. I guess I see the world though simple eyes.sometimes times are hard ( hmm and getting ever harder it must be said) Those at top of food chain are often hit hardest, so although I'm not terribly comfy with fish in a bowl and kingy and images (not really my thing either mate), I'm def not anti.......simply there are probably times in a king of fishers life when the bird is on a kinife edge and a reliable food source get's it through.

But yes Dale I'd rather grind it out like you have...hmmm maybe there's more reward doing things slow and I strongly suspect one learns more ;)
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I love it Stu, I need something to battle with and this is it. I don't really see it as difficult, even though it can be in reality. The hard bit for me is when the KFs are not doing well, last year was tough on them and that affected me too. They are doing well this year though by the looks of things. I do think one brood failed early on but the weather and those storms didn't help, we had colossal rainfall over a few days, the river spated high and flooded the surrounding fields and I think that did for the first brood (at both sites) but mercifully, it would've been at the egg stage. They have bounced back at this site though and are now onto a second brood.

The other site this year has had a mixed success, with 2 fledglings that I know of. There is no sign of that pair at the moment though. They might well have moved downriver and I've just not found it yet.
 
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Probably not one for the portfolio, it's not sharp enough but it's been busy, first time I've gotten 2 in frame at the same time. :LOL:

The adult, flying under the perch, trying to drive Junior off site.

(image taken under a Schedule 1 licence issued by NatureScot, unbaited)


just for fun............

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The weekend didn't bring much KF image wise but I did go to both sites and they are very busy. Mainly adult male flybys but the females too, carrying fish, so they are feeding something.

I had a break from the stint side and just enjoyed the walk and observations. I did have a 100mm macro lens with me and enjoyed taking pics of the local Damselflies. I may try a stint one evening this week, weather permitting.
 
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Back to it this weekend and plenty of activity at both sites. I didn't set up for images on Saturday, I just observed. Yesterday though saw me doing a 5 hour stint and I was well into the 3rd hour before a KF finally landed on my perch.

I am a little confused though, as it's a juvenile and I'm inclined to think it's the same juvenile I photographed 2 weeks ago here. I would've thought the adults would have driven all the juveniles off site by now but this one seems to be hanging about. The adult male was chasing it though. I got the adult male a few minutes later too. The current brood is still in the burrow.

This is Junior, despite him obviously being aware that something (ie me) was there, he carried on his business at the perch for 16 minutes, before flying upriver.

(Image taken under a Schedule 1 licence issued by NatureScot. Unbaited).

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The adult male, looking scruffy now. The light was fading fast when he came in, down to 1/125 sec for this and not as sharp as I'd like but, here he is.

(image taken under a Schedule 1 licence issued by NatureScot. Unbaited).

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For the first time I can recall, I had 2 KFs on the perch at the same time today. One was the adult male (pictured) the other was a fledgling, which hasn't been out of the nest for more than a day or so at a guess. They were too far apart to get them both in frame and the fledgling was also partially hidden by some long grass.

It was good to see though.

I got the adult male and once again, the light was challenging, there's either too much or not enough. As I've said before though, I'm still going to take the shot.

(image taken under a Schedule 1 licence issued by NatureScot. Unbaited.)

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The office............

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and some companions............

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She frightened the life out of me. I chopped her feet off in the panic, ................. amateur. :D



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Adult male, having just boshed a fish to be able to swallow it.

So many times this year I've seen him and the adult female carrying fish for the youngsters but this fish was his.

As you can see, he's been working hard, he's looking a bit scruffy. The sun actually came out for once, which made for a challenging exposure. For context, that's not an orange lower mandible, it's the breast feathers reflecting on it. (y)

(image taken under a Schedule 1 licence issued by NatureScot........... unbaited.)


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Fascinating colours. The orange feet and inner edge of the mandible look somewhat unreal. A kind of, "you've been tangoed", orange.
 
Gary Rawlins said:
Fascinating colours. The orange feet and inner edge of the mandible look somewhat unreal. A kind of, "you've been tangoed", orange.
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Yes, the feet are a giveaway as to age Gary, bright orange like this, adult, the image just before it, a very recent fledgling. (y)
 
The river was up on Friday but it had subsided considerably by yesterday morning.

Today though, it's the highest I've ever seen it in 4 years now under licence, it must be 5 feet or so deep. This is worrying as far as the KFs are concerned as it puts the burrows at risk and one of my sites has an unstable banking. It's upsetting to see this as the KFs are attempting 3rd broods now. It will get higher, it is still raining heavily.

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To say the Kingfishers have been good to me this year is an understatement. Last year was a tough one for them, this year seems to be the opposite, they seem to be around almost everywhere. I've also hit a sweetspot, that didn't work at all last year…… this year, I got images at every visit.

It's coming to a close now, I'm still under licence until the end of October this year. Nesting activity seems to be over but there are still young about, as well as adults.

It's been my best year to date, the Kingfisher's too.

(taken under a schedule 1 licence issued by NatureScot.... no bait.)

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