Kingfishers Day Two and a Bit of Luck.
13th September 2018
Following on from my morning on the River Usk two days ago I was back up early for one last try at my Kingfisher site. This time I got up 30 minutes earlier to avoid the Kingfishers seeing me. I know they tolerated me on Monday of this week but you never know if they will be spooked, so I wasn’t taking any chances.
I arrived at the site at 05.30 and I was greeted by a beautiful rolling mist on the river, you get this sometimes in the summer. Usually when this happens then there is going to be a fine day and that is what the weather forecast had predicted. This time I got set up underneath the overhanging willows straight away, (see previous blog), the cut willow braches were still there, as expected, and I arranged them around my hide and got undercover. It was just breaking light and I could hear that characteristic ‘Peeping’ that Kingfishers make. Then there was a blue flash as a bird zipped past me going up river.
It was now just a matter of waiting and after about half an hour the Kingfisher came back down river and flew past my perch, but then put the brakes on, did a ‘U’ turn, and then landed right on it. Perfect! – I took a few shots but the light wasn’t really good enough yet. I was confident the bird would come back because one thing I have found is the difficult part is getting them to initially use your perch. Once they have used it they will come back and I knew that they liked this perch in that position because they had used it previously.
As I expected the next time the Kingfisher came back up river it landed on the perch straight away, the light was much brighter so the shots got a little better. Quite quickly now the light began to intensify and when the sun had risen in a cloudless sky there was a beautiful light illuminating my perch.
Kingfishers are very busy birds and they are up and down their territory all day long, there must be a thousand places for them to fish from, especially when the river levels are low. However, they still have their favourites and I have watched them flying to the same spots time and time again and hopefully my perch would be one of those favourites!
I needn’t have worried because a bird landed there again and I shot it in glorious light,
this time it was an adult female, no sign of the juvenile from Monday.
I had taken many shots so I decided, once the Kingfisher had gone out of sight, to rotate my hide ninety degrees to see if any Dippers would show up. I took a few shots of Grey Wagtails as they fed around the hide, they are totally unfazed by people
and then a young Dipper flew in and I added that to my collection but there were no more around.
What happened next perfectly illustrates how fickle this wildlife photography game is: Another birder said to me a few years ago that I was lucky to get some Kingfisher shots I had posted on my website. I didn’t enter into any discussion about how lucky he thought I was – because, if he thought that getting up when it is still dark, carrying heavy kit through soaking wet grass, wading into a river, erecting perches and waiting in a hide for typically three hours is lucky, then our definitions of luck are very different. I have heard a few people say that it’s all luck, some of it is, but most of it is just plain hard work! If you do your homework, prepare properly, be prepared for failure and above all be persistent, then you will get results.
However, I had done the hard work and was just sitting in my hide enjoying a glorious morning, there was nobody around, there never is. Suddenly the Wagtails, the Juv Dipper and two Kingfishers scattered up river – I knew something was there, I thought perhaps a Raptor had flown across but even that doesn’t usually warrant that response. Then I could see something sliding along the shallows, in the undergrowth and tight up against the opposite river bank. I couldn’t get a clear view and I thought it was a mink, there are a few around, but then it disappeared and I thought that was it.
I settled back down to wait, but I sat bolt upright as there was an almighty splash as something rose up out of the river in front of me.
I couldn’t believe it, an Otter, it was now so obvious, I had seen some bubbles earlier on – a tell-tale sign, but I just didn’t think! I have seen these animals near the Kingfisher site a few times and I think I know roughly where their Holt is but I don’t disturb them.
Here’s where the luck comes in, (I’ll admit to this one!), I was facing the right way and I shot it as it rose up out of the water time and time again. I could see it was catching small fish which looked golden coloured with red fins, they looked like Rudd.
The Otter stayed fishing for about ten minutes giving lovely views and allowing me to watch its hunting technique.
Finally it disappeared down river as quickly as it had arrived, I was really pleased to see this charismatic and secretive creature and nothing else could top that so I packed up and left very happy.
For more Otter images please see, Latest Images, Otter - River Usk, Brecon Beacons.
I arrived at the site at 05.30 and I was greeted by a beautiful rolling mist on the river, you get this sometimes in the summer. Usually when this happens then there is going to be a fine day and that is what the weather forecast had predicted. This time I got set up underneath the overhanging willows straight away, (see previous blog), the cut willow braches were still there, as expected, and I arranged them around my hide and got undercover. It was just breaking light and I could hear that characteristic ‘Peeping’ that Kingfishers make. Then there was a blue flash as a bird zipped past me going up river.
It was now just a matter of waiting and after about half an hour the Kingfisher came back down river and flew past my perch, but then put the brakes on, did a ‘U’ turn, and then landed right on it. Perfect! – I took a few shots but the light wasn’t really good enough yet. I was confident the bird would come back because one thing I have found is the difficult part is getting them to initially use your perch. Once they have used it they will come back and I knew that they liked this perch in that position because they had used it previously.
As I expected the next time the Kingfisher came back up river it landed on the perch straight away, the light was much brighter so the shots got a little better. Quite quickly now the light began to intensify and when the sun had risen in a cloudless sky there was a beautiful light illuminating my perch.
Kingfishers are very busy birds and they are up and down their territory all day long, there must be a thousand places for them to fish from, especially when the river levels are low. However, they still have their favourites and I have watched them flying to the same spots time and time again and hopefully my perch would be one of those favourites!
I needn’t have worried because a bird landed there again and I shot it in glorious light,
this time it was an adult female, no sign of the juvenile from Monday.
I had taken many shots so I decided, once the Kingfisher had gone out of sight, to rotate my hide ninety degrees to see if any Dippers would show up. I took a few shots of Grey Wagtails as they fed around the hide, they are totally unfazed by people
and then a young Dipper flew in and I added that to my collection but there were no more around.
What happened next perfectly illustrates how fickle this wildlife photography game is: Another birder said to me a few years ago that I was lucky to get some Kingfisher shots I had posted on my website. I didn’t enter into any discussion about how lucky he thought I was – because, if he thought that getting up when it is still dark, carrying heavy kit through soaking wet grass, wading into a river, erecting perches and waiting in a hide for typically three hours is lucky, then our definitions of luck are very different. I have heard a few people say that it’s all luck, some of it is, but most of it is just plain hard work! If you do your homework, prepare properly, be prepared for failure and above all be persistent, then you will get results.
However, I had done the hard work and was just sitting in my hide enjoying a glorious morning, there was nobody around, there never is. Suddenly the Wagtails, the Juv Dipper and two Kingfishers scattered up river – I knew something was there, I thought perhaps a Raptor had flown across but even that doesn’t usually warrant that response. Then I could see something sliding along the shallows, in the undergrowth and tight up against the opposite river bank. I couldn’t get a clear view and I thought it was a mink, there are a few around, but then it disappeared and I thought that was it.
I settled back down to wait, but I sat bolt upright as there was an almighty splash as something rose up out of the river in front of me.
I couldn’t believe it, an Otter, it was now so obvious, I had seen some bubbles earlier on – a tell-tale sign, but I just didn’t think! I have seen these animals near the Kingfisher site a few times and I think I know roughly where their Holt is but I don’t disturb them.
Here’s where the luck comes in, (I’ll admit to this one!), I was facing the right way and I shot it as it rose up out of the water time and time again. I could see it was catching small fish which looked golden coloured with red fins, they looked like Rudd.
The Otter stayed fishing for about ten minutes giving lovely views and allowing me to watch its hunting technique.
Finally it disappeared down river as quickly as it had arrived, I was really pleased to see this charismatic and secretive creature and nothing else could top that so I packed up and left very happy.
For more Otter images please see, Latest Images, Otter - River Usk, Brecon Beacons.