Kingfisher update
by Unknown - 12:42 on 24 July 2012
I haven't seen much of the Kingfishers lately. I've been focusing on my local pair at Croft and so haven't seen the Connie pair at all. A parent and offspring were spotted this morning though at Low Connie, so it can be said they have raised one this year.
My conclusion for now on the Croft pair is that they have given up breeding for this year. There seems to be no localised activity anywhere on the stretch of river they operate on. I have seen, (mostly heard) them on a couple of occasions at both ends of where I think their territory is, and have followed up each with no luck. I did however at one point think they might be nesting up the Skerne after hearing and seeing them around the entrance to the Tees. I followed this up by spending a while sitting where the Skerne joins the Tees. After about 2h, I heard some sharp whistles and was faced with one of the croft pair perched about 2 metres away from me, whistling hard and bobbing. This was a reconnaissance mission so although I had my camera on me, it was not set up and not pointing at anything. Getting a shot was impossible so I just enjoyed having it that close. I knew it would see me eventually - I wasn't particularly well camouflaged up close so, as still as I kept, it wasn't long before it got wise of me and flew off. It flew downstream towards the Skerne but I couldn't see whether it went up it. Judging by its calls, it had landed on the other side of the entrance to the Skerne. I tried to follow it, but it must have flown off.
After that, I had a look up the Skerne for areas that they could nest. It's a nice river, a good size for Kingfishers, but there was no where that I could see they could nest, and not many places to fish. However, there's only so far up the Skerne one can go, and it's possible there are suitable areas upstream. At the moment, I think this is unlikely, though for a couple of reasons. First, the territory size of the Croft pair is already quite large, I think. They would have to travel a long way between the farthest extents of their territory if they were to include the Skerne. Second, I haven't seen or heard any subsequent evidence of them going up the Skerne.
So for this year, I think the breeding season is over, which sucks! There are still the swallows though at Croft, which I'm very much enjoying taking pictures of, but I think that will be another entry.
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