Tuesday 15 January 2013

More Kingfishers

The picture on my blog is the kingfisher from Breaches Pool, Halesowen. This is a recent, new sighting for me. I had visited a couple times but not believed there was a kingfisher (the site info claims kingfishers visit). But I didn't spend enough time looking or listening for the tell, tell signs i.e the call. I have now visited a few times and every time have found it, even if it's been the call, a sighting and then it flies off. Been lucky enough to see it fishing in a pool only a few metres from the path and with a dog who joined it in the pool. I usually expect the kingfisher to fly off but on Sunday the 13th January it spent some time just sitting in the tree. I think it used this time for some digestion. It then flew about looking for a perch to rest again. I wouldn't have seen it on the first perch with the naked eye as it was in some trees on the other side of the pool. But I heard the call and then searched for it in the trees using my zoom camera. It was best when if flew from perch to perch as the blue was stunning.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Where to start.....

This is my blog about kingfisher spotting. It all started the middle of last year. I am a runner, I enjoy my weekly run and sometimes would use the roads, sometimes run round Woodgate Valley, a nice country park near me. Sometimes running round Woodgate Valley which has a brook, I would spot a flash of blue flying along the brook. I don't think I saw this blue flash many times but it was always nice to see it and made the run more enjoyable. I enjoy running as I get pretty high from it and it makes me feel good. Then I started to realise how lucky I was to run in such nice surroundings and got even higher from it. I had the sun shining, a valley of trees and the brook flowing alongside me as I ran. Then as I ran along the brook I would look for the blue flash wondering when it would appear. On the times it did, it would only add to the running sensation. And from then on I wanted to see it all the time. Then I wanted to get a picture (egged on by my friend Gary, who's a keen wildlife photographer). Funny cus when I first tried to get a picture, I was using a compact camera and thought I could snap it as I ran along or have the film running and I would catch it that way, as it flew by me running. Course I never got a photo as I rarely saw it. So then I would stop and wait for it, camera poised but again it never appeared. Or if it did it would fly the wrong way to what I was expecting. So I didn't get the photo of the Woodgate valley for quite some time.......