It turned out to be a very special session today. I didn't get there too early because the light is so hard to deal with first thing and I was quite confident that the Dippers would be carrying on with their building. The nest isn't finished yet, there is lots to do. I managed to get in to the hide with no disturbance whatsoever and as I put everything together, the camera on the tripod and then attached the camera to the lens, I could see both birds in front of me, coming and going just as before. The morning progressed nicely with the nest really taking shape now and turning in to a ball of moss protruding from the hollow and almost finished. There is a a small entrance hole now and it is impossible to see inside. It's been quite incredible too see it develop over the last week from a little hollow in the bank that didn't seem as though it was possible to support a nest, to this structure now that is going to be just perfection. It blends in to the surrounding moss bank perfectly and it would be impossible to see if you didn't know it was there. When you consider that instinct is involved in the building of this nest, then you have to marvel at the way that it has taken shape. Perhaps this may be the first nest that this pair has built, how incredible is that? It is certainly a different female than last year who I would recognise by damage to the eye of that bird.
The birds came and went as usual with one leaving as soon as the other arrived. At one point I am quite sure that a 'rogue' male came in to the immediate vicinity of the nest and joined the resident female while the male was away, a few minutes later there was a few exciting minutes when "our" male flew up river in pursuit off the intruding bird, he was calling loudly as he drove the trespasser out of the patch. The female finished off what she was up to inside the nest and then joined in the chase as though she needed to find out what was going on, almost an after thought. The real excitement occurred when the male went off to feed and I watched him emerge with a real catch. He swam to a mid-stream boulder with a fish which turned out to be a Salmon Par, I could hardly believe my eyes. It was the size of a small minnow and even a Kingfisher would have considered this to be a decent trophy and for a bird usually content with small insects, a real prize. He had it firmly held by the dorsal fin and then, once out of the water proceeded to beat it to death in just the way that a Kingfisher would. Eventually and after several minutes he managed to get it down. He stood quietly for a few minutes while it settled in to his stomach and eventually he carried on as normal. The fish was comparatively large for such a small bird and proof that live fish are definitely on the menu, quite a revelation. The birds came and went, working on the nest until way after 13.00. There is lots to do before eggs are laid.