In the kingfisher hide, and out on the water
Thanks to GG Wildlife Experiences for two sessions in their kingfisher hide in Streatley, and an early morning boat trip on the Thames.
The hide overlooks a quiet backwater, visited by kingfishers to chill out and to fish. In our first session, four chicks had just fledged, and for two of them at least this was a safe place to learn to fish. The hide is not baited; there’s no tray of fish hiding under the water, which makes it harder to get the “diving and splashing” shots, but on the other hand, everything is natural, and the poses are lovely.
Here’s the environment – the view from the hide. there’s a stick, just in front of the old bridge, where they hangout the most.
It’s not just kingfishers – a variety of other birds also show themselves, including a hard to see Cetti’s Warbler
A wren
A Great Spotted Woodpecker
Robins were building a nest right in front of the hide
and got close to the young kingfishers
The young pair – look left
and look right
I don’t think that’s a fish you’ve caught
A bit of preening
From the river, the kingfishers lurk in the trees and zoom up and down the banks, far too fast to follow with a camera, and often not so easy to find when perched in a tree. This one was right by Goring Lock
Early moring on the river, the first thing we saw was a Reeve’s Muntjac- looking almost as if it’s a mural, painted on the wall
Plenty of swans, still with their cygnets
Two adults after a late night – Sleeping Beauties? (can’t work out how to introduce Swan Lake)
A family of Common Sandpipers must have just fledged, and were swooping up and down the river, and landing, unusually, in the trees.
Lots of grey heron, elegant in flight
A Great Cormorant, making a big splash of taking off
A beautiful female Mandarin Duck
Back near Goring Lock, and weir, a grey wagtail
A common tern
And a newly arrived Little Egret, flying in front of the Swan Hotel
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