Think Like A King(fisher).

Whenever I'm on the river, canal or near a lake my mind starts trying to imagine where a kingfisher might sit. I look at overhanging branches and gauge the height from the water, I look at the speed of the stream or river and I try to spot where small fish might be swimming. If I was a kingfisher I'd be sat there fishing, definitely.

When I first set out looking for kingfishers I spotted what I considered the perfect branch, nice height, nice light, slow water but I've never seen a kingfisher on that branch so what do I know.

That all changed this week when I began to see three kingfishers regularly on this stretch of the river and they were using my branch!! I haven't worked out the dynamics of the threesome, is it a pair and a juvenile or a pair and a rival?

I found a spot on the opposite side of the river from the branch and settled down for the morning. It wasn't long before the first one landed on the perch.

The activity was some of the best I've witnessed on the river with birds flying up and down, chasing each other and even perching above my head.

This morning I decided I would try and set up close to the branch on the side of the river and within 10 seconds of settling into my chair the male landed right in front of me.

Through the bracken and branches I had the almost perfect view and he sat for a few minutes before the squabbling began and he raced off upstream chasing another kingfisher. However it wasn't long before one returned, and this continued for a couple of hours, perching on the branch and then flying off allowing me to get my best "wild" kingfisher shots.