Sunday 23 September 2012

Kingfisher and Gold Crest

This afternoon I took a visit to Marbury Park and to my surprise when I arrived at the bird hide by the lake there were hardly any birdwatchers there. There wasn't much there the first time round, however the second time me and my mum got one of the most extraordinary pictures of a Kingfisher perched on the edge of a dead Birch tree. 


My first Kingfisher picture has to be my Wilde Bird Wednesday.

When I arived at the woodland birdhide there were most birds there that I have seen before. I recorded 16 Nuthatches, 4 Coal Tits and a lot of others, but despite all that after a while a very unusual visitor popped up just in front of me and my mum - it was a Gold crest. The pictures aren't very good because I was so flipping excited. 


As you can see they not brilliant, but you can just make out his lovely yellow crest.
My favourite part of watching them was when they were hovering, almost like a humming bird.


There was a boat race out on the lake disturbing the waterfowl, however not as much as a Buzzard was disturbing a Jay which we watched for about 10 minutes


We walked along lots of enticing forest paths.


This was quite difficult to get a picture of, because it was at the very top of a scots pine I think it's a squirrel drey.


There were more Canada Geese than I expected, there were about 30 of them.


At the end of the trip I called at the rangers office to see Chris and to tell him what I had seen. Because I was talking about Nuthatches he gave me a dead one he found to take home and examine (my mum wasn't very impressed).  Chris thinks it is a young fledgling that has not survived the last two very cold nights.


It is very sad, but it did let me have a good look at one of these lovely birds up close.

22 comments:

  1. It's always hard to see nestlings on the ground. It breaks my heart as well. But your walk looks wonderful....and lush! Love all that vegetation....plus a Kingfisher is always a good luck charm:) Haven't seen one of these birds this year....I'm hoping eventually one will come my way. Have a good week!

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  2. A wonderful image of the Kingfisher Findlay and well done capturing a pic of the Goldcrest.

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  3. Sixteen Nuthatch Findlay....WOW. And the dead one....sad but reality.

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  4. Looks like a great walk and cool sighting of the Kingfisher and Goldcrest. Great post, Findlay!

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  5. You had an excellent day Findlay. Better shot of a Kingfisher than I've ever managed.

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  6. Great shot of the Kingfisher Findlay. The first of many I'm sure. Goldcrests are always tricky to capture. They're just so flighty. Great stuff.

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  7. Hi,
    You are lucky to have been able to observe this kingfisher ;-)
    CĂ©line & Philippe

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  8. Hi Findlay! Love your post; I can see you're getting so much fun with not only your birdwatching but also photography and writing your blog posts too. Good on you (and your parents) for starting out now in this wonderful outdoor hobby. It IS exciting when we see a new bird to photograph isn't it and is IS even more exciting when those photographs turn out kind of special too. It happens sometimes, we just get lucky. I haven't gotten a kingfisher photograph to brag about yet, but your Mum did; well done Mum! You explored some lovely country that day Findlay; cheers from Australia!

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  9. getting the dead nuthatch to take home made me laugh. :) i love your kingfishers! so much prettier than ours! and i think your goldcrest is just like our golden-crowned kinglet here. tiny, flitting little birds hardly as big as your thumb. so great to see, though.

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  10. A very interesting afternoon and the Kingfisher photo is especially good.

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  11. Love the Kingfisher too. It is a lovely bird. Sadly they are not where I live.

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  12. Great to see the kingfisher. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  13. Awesome shots, Findlay! I love to spy a kingfisher along the shores here in New Zealand.

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  14. Beautiful photo series showing .... really like the last picture :)
    Hanne Bente

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  15. Beautiful photos glad you got to see so many different birds.

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  16. Hi there - good to get a shot of a kingfisher - they are star birds! I hate to tell you, but it never gets any easier photographing birds when you are excited - I keep having to tell myself t take a deep breath!

    16 Nuthatches? Thats a good day. They were one of my favourite birds - we don't have them in Australia.

    Cheers - Stewart M - Australia

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  17. Thanks for the story. Almost felt like I was there. I hope you learn a lot from the nuthatch (although I would be hard pressed to carry a dead bird).

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  18. I'd love to see and photograph a kingfisher. Well done.

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  19. it's always good to see a Kingfisher Findlay and they are so elusive it's dificult to get shots, so well done. My Bee Eater shots were taken in Menorca in May although they occur everwhere in the Med.

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  20. Love this blog :) well done young man. A budding Chris Packham

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  21. you have a great mum and some pretty impressive pictures!!

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