Drama on the River Usk.
11th September 2022
This week I invited a fellow photographer and friend to spend an hour or two with me on the banks of the River Usk in the Brecon Beacons. I had set up a few perches in an area where I had seen Kingfishers previously. We got under the cover of a large sheet of Camo netting strung roughly between some fallen branches. It was a very makeshift affair but it would allow us to observe life on the river.
It was still dark when we met near the banks of the river and just breaking dawn as we got under cover. We could hear Kingfishers ‘Peeping’ in the gloom, because as usual they are about very early. Unfortunately, (not for me as I have literally hundreds of Kingfisher images), but for him because he is yet to get a really close up, the Kingfishers didn’t play ball and were only seen briefly up river. However, that’s wildlife photography and we both fully understand and accept this. Dippers though were showing very well, at times some ten feet away from us, allowing for some decent shots.
It’s not always about one bird and I’m quite sure with persistence he will get the Kingfisher photographs he wants.
As time wore on we decided that it wasn’t going to be a ‘Kingfisher’ morning and we decided to pack up, but just as we were going to exit the Camo netting we could see, quite unbelievably, what looked like a Pigeon swimming down river. This obviously wasn’t normal behaviour and rightly so because we then caught a flash of a raptor across the river. I thought it was a Sparrowhawk that I had seen a few days previously but as it looped back around and perched in a dead tree we could now see it was a Juvenile Peregrine. The mystery of the Pigeon trying to swim became clearer, it had been hit by the Peregrine and landed in the river and was fighting for its life against drowning. We quickly took a shot of the Peregrine before it flew off.
It had obviously assessed it could no longer access the Pigeon and left.
We watched as, what we could now see was a Racing Pigeon, make land and scramble under the trees to escape its attacker.
Bloodied but still alert.
I tried to catch it but the terrain was too awkward and the bird still had good wing movement. We took some photos and relayed the info on the bird’s rings to the relevant database in the hope some local Pigeon fancier might be able to retrieve it. Quite an eventful end to a quiet morning on the river.
It was still dark when we met near the banks of the river and just breaking dawn as we got under cover. We could hear Kingfishers ‘Peeping’ in the gloom, because as usual they are about very early. Unfortunately, (not for me as I have literally hundreds of Kingfisher images), but for him because he is yet to get a really close up, the Kingfishers didn’t play ball and were only seen briefly up river. However, that’s wildlife photography and we both fully understand and accept this. Dippers though were showing very well, at times some ten feet away from us, allowing for some decent shots.
It’s not always about one bird and I’m quite sure with persistence he will get the Kingfisher photographs he wants.
As time wore on we decided that it wasn’t going to be a ‘Kingfisher’ morning and we decided to pack up, but just as we were going to exit the Camo netting we could see, quite unbelievably, what looked like a Pigeon swimming down river. This obviously wasn’t normal behaviour and rightly so because we then caught a flash of a raptor across the river. I thought it was a Sparrowhawk that I had seen a few days previously but as it looped back around and perched in a dead tree we could now see it was a Juvenile Peregrine. The mystery of the Pigeon trying to swim became clearer, it had been hit by the Peregrine and landed in the river and was fighting for its life against drowning. We quickly took a shot of the Peregrine before it flew off.
It had obviously assessed it could no longer access the Pigeon and left.
We watched as, what we could now see was a Racing Pigeon, make land and scramble under the trees to escape its attacker.
Bloodied but still alert.
I tried to catch it but the terrain was too awkward and the bird still had good wing movement. We took some photos and relayed the info on the bird’s rings to the relevant database in the hope some local Pigeon fancier might be able to retrieve it. Quite an eventful end to a quiet morning on the river.