Tuesday 30 December 2008

Kingfisher!

No, not the beer. The bird.

I saw a kingfisher for the first time in England! I didn't even realise that they are resident here, so on Sunday, when I saw one on the river in Piddinghoe late in the afternoon when it was already quite dark, I thought surely I was mistaken? But no, when I followed it to look more carefully, I was indeed convinced that it was a kingfisher. And cursed that I didn't have my long lens with me, especially because I would have been able to get lovely shots of the grey heron to boot! Crumbs.

This morning we went to Piddinghoe again, with the long lens.



And after some frolicking along the river, ...



...I saw it again - the kingfisher! I couldn't get close enough to take a proper photo, but here is the evidence anyway.



Huh?
Well, that's how far I was from it. The above is the full frame taken with 400mm (x camera censor crop factor 1.6). Here is a very small crop from it, just to prove that it IS a kingfisher.



...and a few more shockingly poor snaps for further evidence.









Zebedee met the two working cockers along the river.



By the car next to Piddinghoe Church, a rather irate-looking sparrow.



And a cute, little robin.



In the afternoon we went back to Piddinghoe and walked to the little lake and saw grasses basking in the golden afternoon sun.





And saw guess who?



Slightly closer this time: on the opposite riverbank, so about 100 m away. Hope I can catch him/her on my side of the river next time!

1 comment:

Geminai said...

Yaaaay for kingfishers! haha. Awesome. Your little birds are just coming out so well lately. And of course Zebedee is as cute as ever. :) He sure looks happy!