Diving Dippers

I spent some time in the lovely setting of  Kennell Vale earlier today,  The river was running strong as I watched the behaviour of a local pair of Dipper diving for insects and Larvae

In this sequence of images below our first Dipper dives in and seconds later it emerges almost as dry as when it went in but now it had skillfully trapped a Dragonfly Larvae in its beak

In the next sequence the second bird dives mid stream with the water flowing directly over it but as it emerges near the bank its head is dry before its body even comes out of the water

Once the Dipper had their fill of Larvae they moved out of the fast moving waters and settled for a while in the quieter margins soaking up the midday sunshine, relaxing and making the occasional display to each other

 I am hoping for some mating shots from this fine pair of birds but for now I left them soaking up some rare sunshine as their River Kennell continued racing on towards the sea