Kingfishers

[blackrose]

Kingfisher seen through my window. 

[Wanderer Vagabond]

25 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Kingfisher seen through my window. 

Where in the country were you? Someone said they'd seen them on the Thames, but having travelled the Staffs & Worcs, Trent & Mersey, Coventry and Ashby Canals, I haven't seen one this year, yet.

[agg221]

On 15/06/2024 at 20:31, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Coots are my favourite. 

Lots of character. 
And for smallish birds are pretty hard, they’ll keep the gulls away when they got young ones. 

I ought to have said moor hens too

I wasn’t so impressed with the teenage coots at Bradley. Extremely loud at a very uncivilised hour of the morning!

 

What I did like on the Wednesbury Oak loop was the little grebes, aka dabchicks. @Francis Herne mentioned them so I kept an eye out and saw quite a few on the way back. Fiendishly difficult to photograph whilst steering though.

 

Alec

[Francis Herne]

Dabchicks are nice. When I went up to Bradley in 2022 I spotted a couple of pairs, this year I've seen them on the main line around Deepfields too.

 

I'm always amused on the quieter BCN canals by coots drifting around haphazardly on their nest rafts.

 

The Weaver, especially the top end, is good for great crested grebes and also cormorants. The latter are very fond of the old crane at Northwich.

 

I saw several kingfishers on the Shropshire Union but they're a bit camera-shy. Lots of photos of bushes that could be captioned "a kingfisher was here a few seconds ago." Stourbridge arm has a couple.

 

Edited June 19, 2024 by Francis Herne

[Chris T]

Saw this chap catch a fish and eat it whole. 

[MtB]

1 hour ago, Chris T said:

Saw this chap catch a fish and eat it whole. 

 

Brilliant photo. 

 

I'd be even more impressed had it filleted, sliced and grilled it lightly before eating...

 

 

[blackrose]

On 19/06/2024 at 19:40, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Where in the country were you? 

 

Near Oundle, river Nene.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

18 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Near Oundle, river Nene.

Yes. there invariably has to be a river somewhere nearby for a kingfisher to be around.

 

Possibly on the wrong thread for a Friday?

[Torblimey]

5 hours ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

Yes. there invariably has to be a river somewhere nearby for a kingfisher to be around.

 

Possibly on the wrong thread for a Friday?

That so made me snigger 😂

[Onewheeler]

I've seen them at our mooring in Oxford and plenty in France this year. The boatman at our mooring says he's had one shit in his mouth when it dropped a load during a banking turn. Before you ask, fishy and not in a good way.

[Torblimey]

Just spotted one keeping pace with me up the Thames near Goring 😁

[Wanderer Vagabond]

4 hours ago, NarrowboatTor said:

Just spotted one keeping pace with me up the Thames near Goring 😁

I'm finally happy, one joined me on the Staffs & Worcs today at Acton Trussell for about 5 minutes, doing what Kingfishers do, sitting on a branch until you just about catch up then flying ahead for a couple of hundred metres to wait for me to catch up (which is what yours would seem to have been doing).

 

 

[Torblimey]

3 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

I'm finally happy, one joined me on the Staffs & Worcs today at Acton Trussell for about 5 minutes, doing what Kingfishers do, sitting on a branch until you just about catch up then flying ahead for a couple of hundred metres to wait for me to catch up (which is what yours would seem to have been doing).

 

 

And don't they flash brilliant blue in this wonderful sunshine? It was the flash that caught my eye and yes it was flying ahead then waiting until I caught it up then off again, made me smile big time 😊

[Ronaldo47]

On 15/06/2024 at 18:28, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

But I’ve never seen a heron catch owt 🤷‍♀️

I saw one in 1976 on the GU somewhere between Cosgrove and Stoke Bruerne. We saw it in the distance standing stock-still on the bank with bill erect. As we approached, it took off and  flew over the land before circling round, gliding across the canal ahead of us at a right angle, and then taking up another position further along the bank. As we got nearer, the same thing happened, and on the third or fouth pass, it swooped down and caught a fairly large fish, probably around a foot long. Of course by then I had put down my cine camera,  so had only filmed earlier unsuccessful passes. Never seen it happen since. 

Edited July 5, 2024 by Ronaldo47
typos

[Stroudwater1]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

I saw one in 1976 on the GU somewhere between Cosgrove and Stoke Bruerne. We saw it in the distance standing stock-still on the bank with bill erect. As we approached, it took off and  flew over the land before circling round, gliding across the canal ahead of us at a right angle, and then taking up another position further along the bank. As we got nearer, the same thing happened, and on the third or fouth pass, it swooped down and caught a fairly large fish, probably around a foot long. Of course by then I had put down my cine camera,  so had only filmed earlier unsuccessful passes. Never seen it happen since. 

We saw a heron with a seriously twitching neck. It took a while to realise it wasn’t a bad case of neck spasm and that it was a fish. We missed seeing it caught though.
 

It does seem to be a rarity to see. Considering their size they seem to eat little 

 

We passed a coot nesting on the Bradley arm recently it is Coots Ville there. The coot was nesting on a floating lump of weed. It was swirling round and round  just where the pumping comes in by the workshops. It did look rather like a slow Waltzer ride if that’s possible. 

[PCSB]

We've seen Herons with fish ...

 

This was near Scholar Green.

 

We've seen 3 Kingfishers today between Aston Marina and Great Haywood

[Ronaldo47]

A GEC factory in Coventry that I visited in the 1990's, had an ornamental fish pond outside the visitors' entrance. In the middle was a life-sized plastic heron, leaning at an alarming angle. Apparently it was there to keep real herons away, as a heron will respect another heron's territory. I was told that, despite its drunken angle, it was still effective. 

[IanD]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo47 said:

A GEC factory in Coventry that I visited in the 1990's, had an ornamental fish pond outside the visitors' entrance. In the middle was a life-sized plastic heron, leaning at an alarming angle. Apparently it was there to keep real herons away, as a heron will respect another heron's territory. I was told that, despite its drunken angle, it was still effective. 

The plastic heron we put on our pond had no effect, the real f*cking heron still ate most of the fish... 😞 

[Iain_S]

12 hours ago, IanD said:

The plastic heron we put on our pond had no effect, the real f*cking heron still ate most of the fish... 😞 

The one on ours became a liability during the breeding season. Its suitors demonstrated their prowess by emptying the pond in an afternoon.