The male kingfisher is definitely in the mood for love at the moment. He’s been cleaning out last years nest hole in preparation for a new breeding season. There is a female about and she has visited the hole to check out his handy-work, however she seems to be playing hard to get at the moment. When kingfishers pair up they seal the deal with the fish pass, where the male offers the female a fish he’s caught. I’ve witnessed this in the past but always at a distance so yester

On Saturday I found a new kingfisher location. I’d been there the week before photographing a heron grabbing some lunch and I thought it had the potential to be a good place for kingfishers. The heron wasn’t about but as I stood watching a couple of male teal a kingfisher flew up from a small tree on the side of the pond. It whizzed off and after some mild swearing I was happy to see it return to another tree on the other side. He hung around for a few minutes and then disapp

A first proper trip out with the new lens this weekend and I thought I’d go to the local nature reserve just to get a feel for it and see what it could do. All the usual suspects were on show but there was one star, a lesser redpoll. The reserve has been well known in the past as a good place to see these birds in the winter months but recently they have been a rarer sight so it was great to have one close up. There was only one but they generally are seen in small flocks at