In the bleak midwinter

... there are sometimes flashes of brightness.
I had an hour to spare this morning, in the midst of various bits of Christmas preparation. It was overcast but dry, so I decided to have another go at spotting the pair of kingfishers that perch and hunt around a large pond in Endcliffe Park.
As I was walking up to the pond, I saw one of the pair flying low across the water. He promptly disappeared into the bushes. But the sight of that brilliant blue streak was encouraging.
Then I met another woman with a camera, and we stood and looked and chatted for a bit. No kingfishers to be seen. But we had fun watching a gull swooping and diving for breakfast - bringing up a tiny iridescent fish each time, and gulping it down.
We were both so engrossed in watching the gull that we entirely missed the arrival of the kingfisher on a low branch, just the other side of the pond. Fortunately a third photographer appeared, and tactfully pointed it out :-) I realised that I had been trying to spot patches of blue against the dark branches, when really it's the broad russet breast that's easier to see at first.
The light was pretty poor, and so these are high ISO images. But what a treat! The main is a nice clear shot. There's a second one in the extra - not so good technically, but one of those shots where the bird looks straight back at you. I like those moments of (apparent) connection.
Just over 106,000 new Covid cases reported today, and the local numbers here are rising fast too. No sign, that I can detect, that anyone in government has any idea what this could mean for the health service, even if this variant does prove to be milder than earlier ones.