This is a blow by blow account of this evening's session at the Kingfisher site. It shows that this breeding pair of Kingfishers, who have already successfully fledged youngsters at this site are tolerant of an incredible amount of disturbance.
"I arrived at the nest site at 6.30 this evening to be confronted with people paddling deep in the water in front of the nest. My heart sank, I don't know how long they had been there of course but I decided to ask them to move away explaining that breeding birds were near here and they were probably causing a massive disturbance. They complied immediately and moved away which was good to see. That small party was replaced by another walker and his dog almost immediately so it will be interesting (to say the least) to see if the birds are going to be able to tolerate this level of disturbance. I certainly hope so, but only this evening's session is going to give me the answer. If I was a Kingfisher then there is no way that I would have chosen this site, the problem being that as the spring turns in to summer there is much more disturbance.
By 6.40 it has gone quiet thankfully and all the other local bird residents have returned in the shape of the breeding crows and a Pied Wagtail that is taking advantage of the massive amount of insect life and a Greater Spotted Woodpecker is calling behind me. But now, at 6.45, two young men are just down river skimming pebbles! It is incredibly frustrating but most people don't stay too long.
At 7.01 two noisy kayakers have arrived, the water is too shallow to traverse so they have climbed out of the boats and then wadded down river, what next? Needless to say, no sign of a Kingfisher yet.
Its 7.08 a dog and a walker arrive and the owner is throwing stones in to the water for her dog to chase. Incredibly with the dog and stone thrower still present I hear the first Kingfisher of the session, that's at 7.12, but not nearby ! Hopefully this is one of the pair coming to relieve it's mate in the nest. Unfortunately the dog walker is lingering and is still here at 1918 but eventually she leaves.
At 7.33 another kayaker gets stuck in front of the nest, he eventually gets free and then I hear a Kingfisher again.
I am still hopeful that one of the birds is in the burrow and has been there through all of this. Perhaps when you are 3 feet inside the bank, the disturbance is tolerable.
Disappointingly, just when I hoped for quiet, at 7.43, a dog and its two stone throwing owners have arrived. In to the water it goes with loud barks and much commotion, even the Wagtial is upset! I pray for peace! They remained for 14 minutes, hopefully now, a Kingfisher will show up?
At 8.07 a man arrives with no dog, a rarity in itself. He takes a few pictures of the river and stands around near the nest burrow, 2 minutes later he is gone and now I hear a Kingfisher close by but flying down river. At 8.11 it returns and calls 3 times. Amazingly I am joined in the hide by a recently emerged Golden Banded Dragonfly, a treat in itself.
But now, at 8.16 there are yet more dogs. They are in the water in front of the nest and then, as the sun starts to go down and the evening becomes golden, our latest dog walker has gone at last. It's 8.25 and a Kingfisher is now back with lots of calling and suddenly I can see it. (that's after a wait of 2 hours). I can now hear lots of calling with interaction between 2 birds, there is that churring sound that I mentioned the other day and then, suddenly I see a Kingfisher enter the nest....... amazing! It seems that there was a bird in the nest for the entire time that I have been here. It's partner arrived then called to let the sitting bird know. The sitting bird emerged and they greeted each other and then the new bird took over it's incubating duties. Its now 8.30 and I can still hear a Kingfisher, then I see it as it flies low over the water to the trees by the hide and now I have a clear view of it to my left and behind me, it's turquoise back glowing in the setting sun. Now there's much excited calling and flying around and at 8. 33 silence prevails. At 8.40, unbelievably, more doggie walkers arrive and a Golden Labrador plunges in to the water as a Jack Russell barks encouragement. I hear the recently emerged Kingfisher calling it's disapproval. Eventually as the dogs depart, the Kingfisher lands on one of it's favoured perches in front of me and I get to see that this is the male. It's an incredibly difficult shot with the bird silhouetted with the sky as a background.
Before I leave at 8.51 I see another bird enter the burrow and I decide that the lure of a cold lager is too tempting to resist, I pack up and come home happy to know that in spite of all this incredible disturbance they are incubating eggs."
