A first for me ...

[Clicker]

I have never seen one of these beautiful birds  in the flesh so to speak until walking down  by the large pond at the bottom of my garden  last week....  a sudden flash of  electric blue and turquoise  told me that a kingfisher  was in the area . I saw it land  30 metres away and wondered if I had time to get  back to the house and get my camera before it  flew away .. Amazingly after slowly backing off to sneak back to the house, 60 metres away, I returned to find it was still perched on the same branch. I could barely lift the camera up slowly enough  to get it in my viewfinder   for fear of it taking off   but my patience was rewarded ...I managed  a few shots  before it took off  but to say it made my day is an understatement ... Then  blow me down  my internet connection  went down due to a  fault locally and didn't get fixed for 5 days   so today is the first time I have been able to post it ... 

[Ryewolf]

Nicely caught Clicker

[mikbone]

Nice shot...what lens?

[Clicker]

Thanks Rye ... thrilled to bits with seeing it and even more so as it has taken up residence and he has been there every day now for a week !  I thought they  usually inhabited areas near fresh running water ... our pond is fed by a  natural spring and is  probably 30 metres x 10 metres ... it has  large goldfish in it  but too large  for the Kingfisher to catch I think ... 

I used  my  XF 100-400 mm  with a 1.4 x teleconverter Mik ....didn't have time to get the tripod out so hand held ...  

[colinb]

Oh wow Polly that is one superb shot of a male Kingfisher.

If you need to make access easier for you to photograph, place a stick overhanging your pond and you may find they use that too.

[Clicker]

Thanks Colin ... He seems to have found a favourite spot  and keeps using  it  so I feel happy that  the angle works well  for me ... I hope to get  more pics soon ... unfortunately  a neighbour about 70  yards  away has had 50 foot of  dead conifers   ( a hedge)  removed in the past two days so he may have been frightened off with the noise of a chainsaw and a chipper at the moment ... typical eh ..

[Paul]

What a beautiful bird Polly, you're clearly pleased as punch, and rightly so.

Paul.

[Clicker]

Thanks Paul … it is a heavy crop but I am pretty pleased with the result considering the distance involved … they are so small too !!!

[Clicker]

I have looked again for this little gem over the past two weeks but sadly he appears to have gone … mind you the weather has been blowing a gale  with persistent rain so maybe he is staying at home watching movies by the log fire too !