UKC

I saw a kingfisher on our canal today I was cycling to work and caught the flash of blue out of the corner of my eye. I stopped to have a wee look and it settled on the pontoon for a moment so I got a good look. What a treat on the commute!

Lovely sight. My kids used to see them regularly on their walk to school on the River Ecclesbourne. It was a long term before they realised that they are quite a scarce bird, because they would see one most days, I later found.

Back in the day I used to see one by an otherwise post-industrial wasteland in St Helens, a flash of blue wildness in an environmental forgottenness.  It always surprised me that it found anything to eat.

T.

Took this photo on a stroll through bakewell a couple of weeks ago 

I managed to save one from death on a local lane a couple of years back. It stood out bright blue against the road, so I stopped the traffic and picked it up. It’s claws curled around my finger and I carried it to the side where it flew off!

Magical birds!

A small tidal harbour near to home is regularly visited by a female Kingfisher at high tide. She seems to have developed a liking for the tiny juvenile flat fish in the harbour and often perches on the mooring ropes of the boats whilst scanning the water. She is quite used to people being fairly close by.

Lovely shot with a great background.

Lovely.

Have you seen your eponymous birds, BTW?

Yes. Did the night time Mousa Broch experience on Shetland a few years back.

I've also had plenty of good views from the Western Isles ferry. Last year there were lots around the Hawes Bank shallows north of Coll. Also saw a few Leach's Petrels in Village Bay on a trip to St Kilda.

I'm also hoping to get down to the Scilly Isles sometime in the next few years for a trip with Scilly Pelagics. They seem to have quite a bit of success with seeing Wilson's Petrel, a tiny southern hemisphere species which can be found off the west of the UK during our summer.

Hard to imagine birds smaller than a Blackbird living most of their (often quite long) lives out on the open sea.

As an angler, it is very rare that I don't see one when I'm fishing. You can often hear them coming before you see them. Just skimming the water as they flash past.

I was surprised that it wasn't scared off being really close to me and my dog