Cornish Kingfisher

The Kingfisher is probably one of the UK's most colourful and photogenic birds and a 'must have' image for keen wildlife Photographers,  We are blessed with a good population in Cornwall with most waterways that support good fish stocks having resident Kingfisher with predictable fishing habits at favoured locations,  

This Kingfisher Portrait was taken at West Quay on the Hayle Estuary during 2014 where this particular bird had taken to using the mooring ropes of boats tied up along the Jetty to fish within the estuary,  I learnt to predict its favoured position on particular mooring ropes to with 30cm,  set my camera up within the estuary at low water,  retreated to the jetty and snapped away using remote control shutter release,   It soon became evident that this territorial bird had also taken to attacking its reflection in a particular boat porthole and on one occasion it did so with such force as to end up Spark-out on its back on the boat deck only to recover and do it all again.

Ryan's field is a popular location for Kingfisher Photography where two or more birds can be seen on some occasions,  The kingfisher often hover and eventually dive for fish directly in front of the hide creating the opportunity for montage sequences such as the above water exit image

Also at Ryan's field this Particular Pampas flower head was so predictable on the kingfisher perch position during 2015 that I was able to pre-set my composition and camera settings, lock my tripod, wait for the bird to arrive with fish and just snap away...

During November/December this year a Kingfisher has been fishing the small pond [about forty foot around ] at the side of the car park and main entrance into Tehidy Country Park on a regular basis, The bird appears to take little or no notice of the park visitors to the extent that when taking this image I was surrounded by a bus load of children that arrived from Marazion School,