A kingfisher with a minnow

I was still feeling tired this morning and didn't like the prospect of doing general office maintenance jobs. The weather was brighter than I'd anticipated and by 10am I’d decided to go down to the local river and try to photograph the kingfishers at Fromebanks. The local bird watchers website had recorded a sighting of them there, so it was a good bet.

In the last two years the Gloucestershire Wildlife trust who have taken over the management of Fromebanks have done a lot of clearing of the landscape beside the river. I know that this policy of hard clearance does bring renewal of the terrain to suit wildlife, but for the first couple of years it seems to have had a quite harsh effect. To compound the problem the ash dieback problem has meant that all the ash trees have recently been cleared in that area as well, which has opened up the protective tree cover over the River Frome in that area. 

On all my recent visits to Capel’s Mill viaduct, which allows trains to crosses the River Frome as they approach the centre of town, I haven’t seen any kingfishers or white-throated dippers. I walked beside the railway embankment towards town and crossed the small footbridge that walkers on the ancient local footpaths use to cross the river.

At that point right, beneath the arches of the high brick viaduct, was the site of the old mill race and the river still tumbles over the ruined stonework. I walked a few yards along the stones and as I put my bag and coat down to get my camera I saw a kingfisher on a branch close to its nest site. I was in luck. I didn’t get a good picture as it flew up to its nest before I could adjust my settings. It is a very dark site in the shadows of quite tall trees and very little direct sunlight penetrates once the leaves have formed in springtime.

I persevered for some time, simply enjoying watching and listening to the fast flowing river once again. A white-throated dipper appeared in front of me, landing on a rock in the middle of the river, with its very young offspring, (they nest under the footbridge) close to the bank beneath the kingfisher’s nest. I must have seen a kingfisher appear at least seven times with a fish in its mouth, landing on this branch before flying up to the nest about ten feet above it. I think I’ll try to come to spot it very early on a sunny morning as the sun’s rays may lighten the scene better at that time of day and with low angled beams of light.