The Club.

Have you ever seen a kingfisher?

  • Yes,

    Votes: 10 58.8%

  • No,

    Votes: 1 5.9%

  • Yes, unplanned.

    Votes: 6 35.3%
  • Total voters
    17
Dale.

Dale.

Bo Derek
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Dale.
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Yes
It struck me one day last week, I was out for a walk with my wife and daughter, along the river. I knew there would be a good chance of seeing kingfishers as I know they are nearby to where we live and there was even a young bird on the river, within 200 metres of our house, during September, October last year. We'd been walking for about 10 minutes and I heard the tell tale 'peep'peep and I said to my girls to 'freeze'. They did and seconds later, a kingfisher bombed past. My daughter wasn't fazed, she saw her first kingfisher aged 5 on an outing with me one day and it's a regular occurance for her but it was the first time for my wife. I said to my wife' welcome to the club'.

That comment has been on my mind since. I saw my first kingfisher aged 13 but they weren't the passion for me then as they are now. I was thrilled back then of course but I was into all sorts of birds and birdwatching back then. I waited another 39 years or so before I knowingly saw another kingfisher at a paid hide day out I did a few years ago. My first proper wild one though, if that's the right term, was later that year, on our local river and was the start for me of my passion and current kingfisher projects.

Whilst on one of my kingfisher forays over the weekend, I was walking to a nest site (I'm licenced) to check on progress for the records I have to keep as part of my licence obligations. It's quite a walk to the site but on the way, I bumped into a guy walking his dog and got chatting, as you do. I heared a kingfisher and looked at the river, it bombed past and I asked the guy did he see it. He said he didn't and had never seen one. A rough guess at his age would have him mid to late 50s, so that's a long time not to knowingly see a kingfisher. Then I remembered my own experience and despite the fleeting glimpse I had aged 13, it was another 38 years or so before I saw another.

It's made me curious, how many people have actually seen one? I've only been seeing them lately by actively seeking them out. I've not seen one by chance in all those years.

How many of you have seen one and were you actively seeking them out or was it a chance sighting? No need for locations, I'm just trying to gauge the numbers of sightings and were they planned so to speak and how many have actually seen one? Was it a prolonged sighting, or a fleeting glimpse?

ta. :)
 
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I was fly fishing on a lake in Gloucestershire, my pal and I watched one fishing for an hour or so, lovely :)
 
I haven't seen one for a few years. Nearly all of my sightings were one behaving like a cruise missile as it hurtled along a river; only once or twice have I had a good view of one perched.

Dave
 
Seen them at Slimbridge, but that is sort of seeking them out. I do know in advance they're there. Chance sightings - loads, on the local small reservoir, canal and RSPB reserve. Oh and many years ago I stood for ages watching one fishing at a weir in the middle of Taunton - the last place I would have expected to see one. Maybe I just live in the right place.
 
Yes, unplanned. Never tried planning specifically to see or shoot one (photographically!!!) but have managed a couple of grab shots with a compact when one has landed on mooring ropes within reach of the short telephoto end of the zoom. Had one land on a rope about 6' away from us a few years back - we were sitting on the bow of a fishing trip boat. By coincidence, we spotted one on the Otter yesterday when walking up for lunch at Otterton Mill.

Jan. I've seen one from the bridge near the big supermarket close to the cricket ground (sorry, don't know Taunton well at all to be more specific!!!)
 
Nod said:
Jan. I've seen one from the bridge near the big supermarket close to the cricket ground (sorry, don't know Taunton well at all to be more specific!!!)
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That's Morrisons. The weir was the one at Firepool, the other side of the road from the cricket ground - the derelict mess where the market used to be. Nice to know it's not just me who's seen one there.
I must do the walk up the Otter again soon.
 
I do remember seeing the turquiose flash going past at high velocity on occasion down by the riverside when I was much younger. More recently, I've seen them pretty regularly - we're lucky that several of our local nature reserves have Kingfishers in the locality so I tend to see them reasonably frequenty albeit usually at great distance :)
 
Hi Dale, I've seen 4 in my 39 yrs on this rock,

1 was a blue flash down a canal while I was piloting a narrowboat

1 was at a RSPB site, we had no idea they had one on site

A pair sat on a branch over a river, only had a 300mm lens at the time, this made me take the jump to long lens ..... never seen any since .. :LOL:
 
Jannyfox said:
That's Morrisons. The weir was the one at Firepool, the other side of the road from the cricket ground - the derelict mess where the market used to be. Nice to know it's not just me who's seen one there.
I must do the walk up the Otter again soon.
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From (unreliable!) memory, I was looking from the bridge with the supermarket on my right.
 
I used to see them regularly when I was fishing. Not for a few years now though.

Hopefully, now Covid is less of a problem maybe I'll get to go fishing again - if I do, I'll make sure I take a camera and decent lens too.
 
I only started seeing them when I started looking for them about 5 years ago.
Seen a few, but still not that many, maybe 5 or 6 on several different occasions....
 
More on topic!

I reckon we've seen more on holiday than here and the ones we see there (in Crete) are almost all over salt water rather than fresh, although there is a reservoir where we've seen them a couple of times. The Cretan ones seem a fair bit darker than the English ones.
 
The OP's account with his daughter sounds very similar to the one I had last year with my son of a similar age. I heard one on our regular Saturday walk by a stretch of river they are known to frequent, told him to be quiet and we were treated to a flash of blue. For me the best thing was he was even more excited to see it than me and is still telling anyone he can about it :)
 
Like Jan, I spot them from time to time in the centre of Taunton - never thought about standing on the river bank with expensive gear to have some smackheads try to take it :(
 
First one I saw was on a midlands canal, then I saw big one in Turkey in a harbour. Have been seeing several local to me over the last 3 or 4 years flying between the banks of a small river, tend to see the blue flash as they fly away from you. I see them over a course of a couple of days then it's weeks before seeing them again (but I'm not trying to stalk them, just out walking the dog). I know I would never gat a photo of them flying, they are so fast. I did get a photo of one on a tree, but it is so small in the image and not sharp.
 
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