Kingfishers on the River Camel. 10th May 2022

 

Male tussles with a large salmonid.

Both parents were very busy this morning carrying food to the nest burrow. 

I'm guessing the young should be about 17 days old now and it's evident that the size of the fish being carried bears that out.

Prey was bullheads and salmonids with no sign of lamprey on the menu today.

They frequently stopped to wash & preen with both birds taking time out to ensure their flight feathers were in perfect condition.

Dippers whizzed past all the time I was in my hide as I think the young have recently fledged. Also a female grey wagtail used the "kingfisher stick" a few times to call.

The female has a broken tip to her lower mandible...beak... so is easily recognisable but I was a bit taken aback after she turned up from upstream with earth on her beak. This is usually a sign of nest burrowing so I'm not sure of her intentions as she's not fledged the current brood yet. Seems a bit soon to be starting a nest for her 2nd brood but who knows!

All photographs taken under my Natural England Schedule 1 licence.

Male cleaning his feet

Male preening

Male preening

Female with a salmonid

Female fishing...note damaged lower mandible

The pair

Male with large salmonid

Female preening

Female with earth on her beak