Kingfisher at Capel's Mill

I went looking for a kingfisher and there they were.  Yes, I saw a p[air and they both went into their nest hole in the soft sandy bank about two yards above this perch.

I arrived at the site where I have seen them nest before and another photographer was already in position and I knew what his objective was.  I noticed that he had the exactly the same camera and lens as me too.  His name is Mike and he is a now retired so only films what he wants.  

He told me that he'd seen a kingfisher and that it seemed to be returning every twenty minutes to its nest.  He had to leave not long after I'd arrived and as soon as I had taken up position a kingfisher duly appeared about twenty yards downstream and perched on a branch just above the water.  I tried to film its flight when it finally chose to approach the nest, but I failed.  It perched opposite me and  despite being in the deep shade I managed to get a few pictures.  You can see it has a small fish, probably a stickleback, which stayed in its mouth for several minutes while it stood looking about this river scene.

I am very pleased because I can now try to get even better pictures having at least got a proper kingfisher blip sorted. This one was with avery high ISO setting, as it was quite dark.  I also managed to film a delightful pair of dippers including one photo of them building their nest under a footbridge.  I shall try to blip more of that type of scene as well, in due course, possibly when the young are being fed.  It won't be long.