Kingfisher nests 2016

I've got lucky again this year in finding two Kingfisher nests.
At the two sites I've seen the Kingfisher going in and out of the nest.
Both nests are on the River Cole, Birmingham though they are quite some distance between each other, on opposite sides of Birmingham.
One nest site bank is as you'd expect it. A very high bank, a few metres up from the water.
The other nest site can only be a metre high and hid by growth at the river bank.
The calls the Kingfisher make to each other is great. The male letting the female know he is close by. It's the female I presume sitting on the eggs in the nest.
The male stops by to sit on a perch by the nest. Then the female comes out for a break.
At one site the male Kingfisher cuts through the trees nearby to do a U turn and go back down the river. Twice it flew past me only a few feet away. Great stuff!!

2016 Kingfisher news

So 2016 has started well.

There have been Kingfisher on the River Rea at both Selly Oak, Stirchley and Wychall.

The Kingfisher on the Bourn Brook has been present over the winter. When it got to late February and then early March it started to disappear. This was backed by a couple times when it appeared to fly in. I could hear it from a distance, calling as it returned I presume from the River Rea. It would fly up and down the Bourn Brook to check it's patch.

The same River Rea, Stirchley Kingfisher could have been on the Bourn in Stirchley / Bournville, I saw it on the Bourn myself and it was reported at Stirchley park as well as Bournville.

I think the Bourn Brook Kingfisher then made it's way to the River Rea in early March and had chases with the River Rea Kingfisher that had been present over winter.

It's hard to tell which Kingfisher won, but there now appears to be three Kingfisher in a short stretch on the River Rea. Two kingfisher have paired up and a third is trying to get in on the action.
The pair of Kingfisher that wintered on the River Cole, Small Heath at the start of the Kingfisher Country park have moved along the river. I saw them flying along together over the Christmas holidays. They have now started nesting. I saw them digging the nest hole. One watching, whilst the other did the digging.
I heard my first kingfisher flying over Babbs Mill lake. It then flew along the River Cole next to the lake.
At the River Cole next to Trittiford, at the Dingles there has been a wintering Kingfisher. When the river levels were high due to the rain I saw it on Trittiford Mill pool and then on the Chin Brook next to the Cole. There was another Kingfisher early March at Sarehole Mill, on the River Cole. I've not been checking this spot very much so it was good to see a bird back on this patch as they were regular in 2014 and 2015. A pair were then reported mid March at the Dingles so I think they've paired up.
Another spot I am pleased to have regularly found a kingfisher at is the River Rea, Wychall. I've known for a few years there's been a kingfisher on this patch but I've never found it in a regular spot. Well in 2016, late February and early March I finally cracked it. I've seen it a number of times now and one Sunday it was disturbed by dog walkers a couple time and flew as far as Northfield, where it was hidden by a tree canopy over the river and caught a fish.
My final Kingfisher news for this report is my work patch at Stanford Warren, Essex. There are kingfisher on Stanford Warren and Warren Fishery. I saw a pair on the fishery a couple times, the second time in almost the exact spot where I saw them in 2015 at this time of year. They were calling and chasing each other for over thirty minutes. I think they nest on one of the islands in the Fishery, though it's never easy to tell, as typical of kingfisher one day they are present, the next day nothing! Typical kingfisher but that's what makes it interesting.