Kingfisher! (at last...)

Yes, a real one, not a sculpted one, after my cry of 'Nudity' the other day and it was only carved (very nicely!) from stone...

Nothing to blow the winter cobwebs away than a bright cold lunchtime walk along the River Avon earlier. On my way to shoot wide-angle landscapes up in the fields above the river plain (which I did later) but I soon found myself eking out patterns of reeds, grasses and such, as the low sun sharply contrasted them against my polarised, blue river, swirling and still a bit swollen, from the floods.

A couple, walking dogs then said that they'd just been watching a kingfisher, about 20 yards up the river. I dutifully said thankyou, they walked on but then, when I couldn't see anything within several hundred yards, I thought my chance had gone. As much as I wanted to snap a decent kingfisher shot, my walk had only just begun and unless you see the little bird flying, catching the light, fixing one's sight on one is almost impossible.

As I looked back down the way I'd come, for one final glance, there, silhouetted above the very path, was this scene. I then followed him around, a bit closer but on the bank on my side but amongst the grass - and in the shade, not good for a shot. I tracked him as he whisked across the water, to the other side but he was even smaller in the frame, despite me having my nice 70-300mm, on the DX cropped Nikon D7000.

Then, a cyclist trundled past, Mr Fisher flew on a bit, I followed, then a heavily clomping jogger (the path is made up of wooden gangways) spoiled it just too much for both of us (not sure why a jogger needs a luminous yellow jacket in the bright daylight and away from traffic!) but instead of cursing, just accepted that they have as much right to be there as I had.

Image has been cropped a little and brightened quite a lot, not only to give detail to the bird but also to create that nice halo of light, for that natural backdrop. Instead of heavy cropping and over-sharpening and still not getting a good study, I went for a pictorial composition, where he is King of the River, looking down and how he had eluded my search for him, for so long.