Holly Kingfisher's !

Pennington Flash over the last couple of days has seen several Kingfishers putting on a great display quite near to one of the hides, so with all gear packed I'm on my way arriving just after 8.30 am. Over at the hide there are already three photo togs in position eagerly waiting for the Kingfisher to turn up, so I join in the waiting game

After about forty five minuets I see a KF making a bee-line for the perch in front of the hide...it lands...looks towards the hide and then takes off...thats it about five seconds ! After a further hour or so I spot possibly the same KF flying along the side of the flash disappearing up into a small bay to the left, my thinking is it will shortly reappear and head for the perch conveniently placed in the water just in front of the hide.

After about ten minutes, bullet like the KF appears, skirting the edge of the reed it lands exactly where I had anticipated, I rattle off what must be about forty frames, and within about 20-30 seconds it disappears over the other side of the flash.

Its now 1.0 pm with no sign of the KF returning and the forecast of rain materialising I call it a day, but I think I might just give it another ago tomorrow.

Click image to view....

Kingfisher (male)

Its now the following day...as the Kingfisher's eventually put on a great display yesterday I have returned eager to see if I can improve on the images already captured. The hide is quite full and its only 9.0 am !...I occupy a seat a little further down the hide than the pervious day and begin the wait.

The KF is proving a little reluctant this morning to visit preferring to fly around the bottom end of the flash, on occasion three KF's can be seen sitting on posts that have been placed at points around the flash, then a KF heads up the flash, fingers ready, it lands and fly's off, a two second visit...doh.

Its now mid morning and apart from another three second visit its becoming a long wait. At 2.45 pm the Kingfisher appears from the right off the main flash which is unexpected and I hadn't seen, it lands on a different perch than pervious and I'm half expecting it to fly off, it didn't and I grab a bag full of images, then it fly's, but only to the next perch changes positions several times to give different image posses.

I'm getting so many image the rapid firing of the camera buffer is stuttering, but I'm happy I have got some great images. Tomorrow will be a day off and let someone else experience photographing these great birds and such a close location

Kingfisher (female)

During the long periods in between KF visits, you look for other photo opportunities to fill in, there are two Little Egrets close by but the light reflecting off the water is not favourable, never the less the two images below look ok, especially the black and white image of the Egret