Hides or locations for Kingfishers in Oxfordshire or nearby

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Mark_D

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Mark
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Hi all,

Kingfishers have been top of my list of birds I’d like to photograph for quite some time, but I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing one in person. I’ve just moved to Oxford and I’m trying to research possible locations for photography (since research is all we can do at the moment!). Does anybody have any first hand knowledge which might help me out?

Thanks in advance!
 
From my experience getting such information is difficult as they are a protected species. Try local bird watching clubs/RSPB sites, but be aware they are often set up for users of binos or telescopes rather than cameras. There are many photo shoot sites offering access to kingfishers, but they charge.
 
I know of a couple around London and Cambridge but even then it's not easy to get good shots and takes a huge lot of time and patience with quite a bit of reach.
But due to pandemic the hides have been closed so not sure you'll have much luck at the moment
 
There's an RSPB site on Otmoor, though I've no idea if there's kingfishers there. I've also occasionally seen them on the Cherwell (30 years ago when I used to fish) though not recently.
 
Brentor said:
From my experience getting such information is difficult as they are a protected species. Try local bird watching clubs/RSPB sites, but be aware they are often set up for users of binos or telescopes rather than cameras. There are many photo shoot sites offering access to kingfishers, but they charge.
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Oh yeah of course. I’m not looking to disturb any nesting pairs, I wouldn’t dream of it. I’m just looking for a good starting point and I’m willing to put in days of work if it will pay off in the end.

ancient_mariner said:
There's an RSPB site on Otmoor, though I've no idea if there's kingfishers there. I've also occasionally seen them on the Cherwell (30 years ago when I used to fish) though not recently.
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Funny you should mention that. I’m going to take my son for a walk there this weekend! I’ve never been before and I’m looking forward to getting out of the house for once!

Thanks for the replies guys. If anybody else has any info they can share it’d be gratefully received.
 
Mark_D said:
Hi all,

Kingfishers have been top of my list of birds I’d like to photograph for quite some time, but I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing one in person. I’ve just moved to Oxford and I’m trying to research possible locations for photography (since research is all we can do at the moment!). Does anybody have any first hand knowledge which might help me out?

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...


Lots of pay for the privilege hides in the UK - be prepared to pay up £200 a day though :) Google is your friend

Les
 
Mark, i've seen kingfisher on the windrush, which is probably the thames by the time it gets down to you.i'm based north and west of you. Just the other side of the wolds. Your best best of finding......... in and old skool kinda way ...............is to find your most local streams rivers.........,probably with footpath access and walk them. Talk to dog walkers, ask them about kingfisher. Once you have a spot where you know there are residents then put in the time .

Yes I know lockdown and all....................... I've been out less than a hand ful of times since chimbo it's driving us all nuts.........but you are allowed exercise locally. I'd dig at the maps and search out your very local water courses . Kingfisher are around you buddy like most of our wildlife, it's there tis just pinning it down. Even without going out you can dig up alot of info read everything you can on kingy the more you know will help you to search out the best most likely local habitats . I'd also read up on schedule one just to arm myself causing disturbance is so vague, know as much as you can ........it doesn't matter how honorable your intentions are you want to know the law :)

Mark I don't tend to use the web to find subjects, ie to use somebody else's sightings......................... I use it to learn about subjects and to help me recognise likely habitats. where I might find them.......................... Maybe that is slightly different to what many do , it isn't the easiest option...................... but it does mean I tend to make images on my own and it's also incredibly rewarding if and I repeat if the graft pays off

Hope this helps, the obvious thing to do is use the web as you have , nowt wrong with that bro , but there's a hell of alot of other stuff you can learn that will really help. you hone in on a subject.

all the luck

stu
 
As Stu says, find them, watch them to see where they feed and perch up, once you've done that get a bag hide or camo net and put a suitable perch that they can use to fish from.....and enjoy. Just remember to remove your perch once you've done a session and reuse it on the next session, they can be very inquisitive when there's a new perch up.
 
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