It was much of the same this morning. Both birds coming to the nest burrow as normal bringing fish of various sizes. When I arrived at 6.40 it was very calm and peaceful with the just the sound of birdsong and Kingfisher calls in the air. There was a fisherman who had obviously been there all night but he was at least 200 metres from the nest and he wasn't causing any distress for the birds so I didn't get involved. Fortunately the river is quite shallow just in front of the nest so it is not a favourite fishing spot. As normal when the birds had caught large fish they paused in front of the nest before flying in and today I did see some different behaviour. The male perched on the branch with his large fish but instead of taking it in to the nest he flew off with it. It seemed like he was disturbed but there was absolutely nothing to be seen, perhaps a bird of prey flew over and I didn't see it but something definitely upset him. There is an optimum time when the light is the best its going to be, that is between 7.30 and 8.30 when the sun shines on the the face of the bank and I made the best of it, trying to get some good in flight shots. It is just so unfortunate that the river is so wide at this point and for really good photographs I would need to be about 30 feet closer, but never the less it's still been a wonderful experience and opportunity to watch these breeding Kingfishers and record the action.
Later on in the day I went back to see if things were still OK, its hot now and the "worse case scenario" would be someone playing in the water in front of the nest or picnicking above it. Dog walkers and dog paddlers can be tolerated because they dont stay to long and the Kingfishers have learned to feed in between people so to speak. However, long term stayers are a different thing. I was horrified to see 6 almost adult youths fishing very close. I told them what the score was and they immediately packed up and went to fish somewhere else which says a lot about the young lads living around here. As if to reassure me that everything was OK, even as I spoke to the lads, one of the birds flew down river opposite then crossed over and flew straight in to the nest with a fish. Amazing really because we were very close and I would never have imagined that they would still carry in with people so nearby.