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For that, read 'me', because I wasn't. 
The new Kingfisher season is upon us, for me it starts on February 1st and runs until September 31st. That's not to say you can't get images outwith that period, you can, it's just the time of year I visit a nest site (I'm licenced
) and when I choose to keep records of nests and broods as well as the odd, cheeky image.
This last couple of weeks, I've been putting into practice some of what I learned last year. At the moment, there is one kingfisher onsite and it's a male. I'm sure he is waiting on his mate (or a mate) to come back after the winter and pair up. I know his haunts, he has hung around the nest site and not left. It's only him though, as kingfishers are very territorial druing the 'off' season. As mentioned, over the last few weeks, I've been preparing the site without changing it at all. All I've done is put out 2 perches, opposite where the nest was last year, as there were branches that they used last year to perch on before entering the nest. They would call each other from those, one would vacate the nest and the other would take food in. Those naturally placed perches got swept away in some big rivers that we had recently, so I have put out 2 more eye pleasing ones that should stay put. They are very discreet.
I noticed today that one of those perches had dropped, so I had to turn it so that it sat a little higher, for composition and background. I did this, then decided just to watch for an hour or so, not even taking my camera out of its bag. It's pretty tough going in there, although not so bad at this time of year, so I rarely carry my camera in hand until I've settled. I had no real intention of images today, as last week, the river was high and I never saw the kingfisher, he was probably on the local ponds instead (as the river was so high) and I was expecting more of the same today, even though the river has dropped by over 4 feet to what it was last week. I was thinking though that today might be my first chance of a proper image this year but I was resigned to probably not even trying.
This is where I went wrong and why you just never know with wildlife.
I've switched off a little over the winter and become a little rusty too. I found myself having to look at my camera today rather than just hitting the buttons and putting in the settings without looking away from the viewfinder.
I stayed onsite for almost 3 hours, 90 minutes of that just watching. I stayed put, on the same spot, camera in its bag at my feet, tripod still in its pouch and strapped on said bag. I was about 20 feet from the main perch. At one point, I needed to move, I'm not as young as I used to be and needed to move my joints, so I walked towards the perch and stretched. I was less than 10 feet from it. This is the very moment, as if by magic, that the kingfisher perched on it. Where was my camera? 10 feet behind me, in its bag. I was kicking myself (not literally as I'd frozen to the spot) but I decided just to enjoy the moment and watch him, less than 10 feet away. He had no clue I was there, none at all, even diving into the water, not that far from my feet as it goes. He came back to the perch, without a fish, shook himself, wiped his beak on the perch and headed to the OTHER perch. He spent a minute or so there too and then was off.
So there you go, another valuable lesson learned, this site has taught me so much and this year looks like it's going to be no different.
I'm phylosophical about having no images, I spent time with one of Britain's most iconic birds, very close, not many can say that. As I say, he had no clue I was there, not a jot.
I will say though, when he left, I did set my camera up, on my favourite of the 2 perches, never to see the kingfisher again today.
Lesson learned.
The new Kingfisher season is upon us, for me it starts on February 1st and runs until September 31st. That's not to say you can't get images outwith that period, you can, it's just the time of year I visit a nest site (I'm licenced
) and when I choose to keep records of nests and broods as well as the odd, cheeky image.This last couple of weeks, I've been putting into practice some of what I learned last year. At the moment, there is one kingfisher onsite and it's a male. I'm sure he is waiting on his mate (or a mate) to come back after the winter and pair up. I know his haunts, he has hung around the nest site and not left. It's only him though, as kingfishers are very territorial druing the 'off' season. As mentioned, over the last few weeks, I've been preparing the site without changing it at all. All I've done is put out 2 perches, opposite where the nest was last year, as there were branches that they used last year to perch on before entering the nest. They would call each other from those, one would vacate the nest and the other would take food in. Those naturally placed perches got swept away in some big rivers that we had recently, so I have put out 2 more eye pleasing ones that should stay put. They are very discreet.
I noticed today that one of those perches had dropped, so I had to turn it so that it sat a little higher, for composition and background. I did this, then decided just to watch for an hour or so, not even taking my camera out of its bag. It's pretty tough going in there, although not so bad at this time of year, so I rarely carry my camera in hand until I've settled. I had no real intention of images today, as last week, the river was high and I never saw the kingfisher, he was probably on the local ponds instead (as the river was so high) and I was expecting more of the same today, even though the river has dropped by over 4 feet to what it was last week. I was thinking though that today might be my first chance of a proper image this year but I was resigned to probably not even trying.
This is where I went wrong and why you just never know with wildlife.
I've switched off a little over the winter and become a little rusty too. I found myself having to look at my camera today rather than just hitting the buttons and putting in the settings without looking away from the viewfinder.
I stayed onsite for almost 3 hours, 90 minutes of that just watching. I stayed put, on the same spot, camera in its bag at my feet, tripod still in its pouch and strapped on said bag. I was about 20 feet from the main perch. At one point, I needed to move, I'm not as young as I used to be and needed to move my joints, so I walked towards the perch and stretched. I was less than 10 feet from it. This is the very moment, as if by magic, that the kingfisher perched on it. Where was my camera? 10 feet behind me, in its bag. I was kicking myself (not literally as I'd frozen to the spot) but I decided just to enjoy the moment and watch him, less than 10 feet away. He had no clue I was there, none at all, even diving into the water, not that far from my feet as it goes. He came back to the perch, without a fish, shook himself, wiped his beak on the perch and headed to the OTHER perch. He spent a minute or so there too and then was off.
So there you go, another valuable lesson learned, this site has taught me so much and this year looks like it's going to be no different.
I'm phylosophical about having no images, I spent time with one of Britain's most iconic birds, very close, not many can say that. As I say, he had no clue I was there, not a jot.
I will say though, when he left, I did set my camera up, on my favourite of the 2 perches, never to see the kingfisher again today.
Lesson learned.
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