Yes ..... I know you are there behind me.

This image highlights the difference that the angle of light makes on the feathers of a Kingfisher, a fantastic colour effect.

The black upper and lower mandibles confirm that this bird is a male, if the lower mandible had a red / orange hue it would be a female.

Either way the Kingfisher, in my opinion, tops the British bird list as far as visual impact is concerned.     

Titchmarsh Kingfisher .......

The reserve has a good population of Kingfishers, however, photo opportunities are few and far between due to the large expanses of water presented by the reclaimed gravel pits.

Its not unusual to see a flash of blue and orange and their distinctive profile in flight as they flit about with their direct purposeful wing beats, normally fleeting and out of range.

So I tend to concentrate on the two brooks that run along the northern side of the reserve, Harper's and Brancey's. The benefit is that the flights of the birds tend to be contained within the relatively narrow water course. 

I was lucky enough to be next to cover when this male alighted on a nearby perch, the light quality was not good against a dark background, nevertheless, a pleasing result.

Lackford Lakes and Burwell, Suffolk and Cambs.

Lackford Lakes is a compact and very friendly reserve run by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust located in between Elveden and Bury St Edmonds. The numerous hides are well located and well managed overlooking a variety of habitats comprising of reed beds, scrapes and gravel pits.  

Our objective was to connect with Kingfishers and we were successful, otherwise the reserve was fairly quiet awaiting the arrival of winter migrants for which it is renowned.

Given the above we decided to relocate to Bakers Fen and Adventurers Fen, Burwell  which abuts Wicken Fen on its south western border. 

Just before we left whilst we were loading our kit into the car a very showy Chiffchaff was in a hedge no more than ten feet from us, the light quality was superb and really made the birds plumage shine.

Again, Burwells' Fens were fairly quiet, I'm afraid its that time of the year, Little Egrets, little Grebe and a Kingfisher was flitting about and fishing  in front of Charlies Hide.

Graham Barker ( https://www.youtube.com/user/gwafilms/videos ) will be posting a video of our trip shortly on his U-tube site. 

                                                                  Heavily cropped.

                                                                  Heavily cropped

Lackford Lakes - Suffolk WT

Lackford Lakes in between Barton Mills and BSE ( Bury St Edmunds ) is one of my favourite reserves, very well run and worthy of comment, the staff are incredibly friendly and welcoming.

It offers very diverse habitats with scrapes, reedbeds and gravel pits.

To tempt providence it is also one of the few venues where Kingfishers can be ( virtually ) guaranteed from a hide overlooking a small reedbed and well supplied with perches, very camera friendly.

There is something about the first digipic that almost makes it look as if I have superimposed the bird and perch over the background, some sort of optical illusion, very strange.