The Hope only Partially Fulfilled

I set out hoping to get better shots of kingfishers, in the plural, but after a long wait, despite catching flashing flypasts, I only photograph the one, but in two awkward spots.

I had arrived before sun up, set my tripod and gimbal head up, and although over the water's edge to get the best viewpoint, I would have to stand the entire time, it was over an hour before even a hint that there might be any kingfishers about, and as on earlier visits it was the 'plosh' of a dive for fish that alerted me, the first close to the bank to my left, and then I saw a flash of blue crossing low over the water to disappear on the far side. In the meantime I was visited briefly by a grey squirrel, who promptly turned about and scurried back from whence he came.

The pigeons were their normally noisy selves, with one couple in particular destroying the early morning calm by their boisterous mating ritual, moorhens and mallard sailed serenely along the overhanging reeds on the far bank.

In the past the only kingfishers I have seen were iridescent blue, but the one that paid me a visit this time, albeit fleetingly, was green in colour, it also chose a spot to my right on a tree stump, only just visible through the intervening branches, which proved to be painfully difficult to swing the camera to, so I took to handholding the camera as he patiently stayed in view.

After he flew off, it seemed permanent as a further hour passed with no sighting. By now I was beginning to feel the cold, so packed up and returned to the canal towpath, along the way I spotted a blue tit gathering twigs for its nest, and a really chirpy chaffinch, and golden reeds in the sun. Later still a different chaffinch cheekily stole a piece of bread a family had thrown to some ducks and geese on the the path. It swiftly grabbed it and moved to the safety of a tree branch to feast on its booty, and I just managed to capture it as it pulled a piece off it to nibble.

When I arrived back at the car, I was thinking I would text Lizzy, when the phone rang and she wondered what I might be doing! My reply was to get everything stowed and make my way over, and I spent the afternoon with her, Tilly and Joshua.

Christmas Birds at Burnham, Buckinghamshire

Inside wood logs burning in the grate provide warmth and a friendly glow, whilst outside the kitchen window it is cold, yet somehow inviting. To humans inside it is a pretty picture, but for birds it is a time of hardship, but fortunately thoughtful humans have provided food for them in the form of nuts and apples. The range of birds was wide, there were great tits, coal tits, blue tits, chaffinches, nuthatches, robins, green parakeets, jays, collar doves, pigeons and wood pigeons, all in the space of less than an hour. Crows flew overhead, but kept their distance.

For the most part I kept very still inside and tried simply to capture them as they fed, but when I went and sat equally still on the window ledge outside it took only a few minutes before most of the birds returned – the need for sustenance overcoming their fear of me. Oddly the pigeons were the most wary, the blue tits were the first to return, even before the robins.

Walking the lanes it was far quieter, so human kindness was definitely having an effect – the birds were very reliant on the food we provided when so much else was covered in a thick blanket of snow.