• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Kingfishers (2 Viewers)

Birmingham Kingfisher

It was a really good 2014 for Kingfisher in Birmingham and lucky for me - some of them are less than a mile from my house!!
Red marks those seen over the December holidays (left pic) and in the new year (right pic) courtesy of BTO. (Thanks also to Keith R, PJ, S Hares, Baggy Dave and Fisherman Robert for their sightings)
A complete Birmingham/West Midlands list I've seen them at in 2014 is;
Bourn, Bournville
Bourn Brook, Selly Oak
River Rea, Digbeth
River Rea, Wychall Reservoir
River Cole, Hall Green
River Cole, Small Heath, Kingfisher Country Park
Merecroft Pool, Kings Norton
Edgbaston Res.
River Tame, Spaghetti Junction
River Rea, Selly Park
(Also Kinghurst Brook, Meriden Park, Chelmsley Wood, Solihull, Kingfisher Country Park / Olton Mere, Solihull / Kingsbury Water Park, Warwickshire / Sandwell Valley CP)
 

Attachments

  • KF Dec 2014.jpg
    KF Dec 2014.jpg
    95.7 KB · Views: 108
  • KF Jan 2015.png
    KF Jan 2015.png
    249.3 KB · Views: 100
Last edited:
Saturday 10th Jan 2014 Bourn Brook, Selly Oak 10:30
I found the kingfisher on the Bourn again today. It was struggling to land on perches in the wind after fishing. I managed to get a photo and was pleasantly surprised to see the once juvenile kingfisher has now matured to show it's a female kingfisher!! (I then took a look along the Rea and saw a male Bullfinch and Goldfinch feeding and another KF struggling on a perch in the wind)
 
Sunday 11th Jan 10.00
A run along the River Rea valley trail, found a kingfisher perched over the Rea, hidden from the walkers, cyclists and runners passing by on the other side of a thorny bush. Now seen the kf a few times in this bush in the past few weeks. I reckon it was nine or ten years a go I saw my first ever kf here.
 
Last edited:
Saturday 17th Jan 2014 The Bourn, BVT, Selly Oak 1:00
It was time to find the female kingfisher on the Bourn again, as I had not seen it for a few months due to all the local others I have been sighting. She didn't disappoint. One minute I was thinking 'well where is it?' when next minute I heard a loud and repetitive chirping call moving unseen along the brook. This was unlike any kingfisher call I had heard before. It was an amazing eery call, I wonder if it was warning off another? I then tried to locate it and saw it a couple times on perches but it very quickly flew off and dived for fish. That now takes it to five locals so far this year, great!!
 
Last edited:
Had excellent views of a Kingfisher at Sandwell Valley today, from no further than 10 meters. It was busy head-bobbing for a good ten minutes, best views I have had of it at said location.
 
Had excellent views of a Kingfisher at Sandwell Valley today, from no further than 10 meters. It was busy head-bobbing for a good ten minutes, best views I have had of it at said location.

Yeah it's great when that happens, I got this one at Sandwell Valley - it must have flown half a mile down the river, I could hear it coming from a distance and just when it went past me, it stopped on the opposite side of the river bank from me. If you are stationary they will come close, I had one clip my ear with it's wing as it went past. Another flew straight at me and missed me by a foot as it banked. I was a bit too close to it's flight path.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88816303@N08/13929790671/in/photostream/
 
Saturday 24th Jan 2015 River Rea, Selly Oak 10:30
Didn't see the kingfisher on the Bourn Brook, Selly Oak today but the River Rea more than made up for it with two kingfishers, surprisingly both female. (I had to closely check their beaks and they don't appear to be the same bird) The second one might be the one I see on Woodbrook/the Bourn (but not the Bourn Brook Juvenile). It's funny for years (ok a few years since I've been looking) I've not found any KF past Lifford but now finding them regularly. Using the bicycle has definitely helped.
Also found bullfinch feeding.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88816303@N08/16169263919/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88816303@N08/16355458755/in/photostream/
 
Last edited:
Meercroft Saturday 2.45........King shot along dam edge and over the top.....can only think it went towards the stream in the corner...have looked here before and drew blanks so worth another go.

Lots of work going on with contractors tree felling/tidying so very muddy where vehicles have been ...also think they kept the Goosanders away.
 
Last edited:
Triple kingfisher weekend!

Meercroft Saturday 2.45........King shot along dam edge and over the top.....can only think it went towards the stream in the corner...have looked here before and drew blanks so worth another go.
Lots of work going on with contractors tree felling/tidying so very muddy where vehicles have been ...also think they kept the Goosanders away.

Keith - I shall have to take a look at Merecroft pool again soon to see both the completion of the work and look for the King!!

I found the Bourn Brook kingfisher today 10.00 in a new place. I couldn't see it on the walkway or by the Uni, so I continued my bicycle ride heading towards the Rea. I thought I'd take a look at the Bourn from a bridge off the A38 and surprise, surprise I could just see the kingfisher on a tree perch over the brook in the distance. A quick look through my camera confirmed it was the KF and then it flew close to the bridge but I was too slow to get a good shot and it flew up and over my head and down the A38 to the brook on the other side. Great!!
 
Last edited:
Kingfisher Sunday

Sunday 8th Feb 2015 9.00
It must have been the sun that bought them out as yesterday it was dead quiet.
Kingfisher present on the River Rea. It's great when you can see it from the bridges over the Rea and even better when they fly to a closer perch and then an even closer perch. It was in the same spot as where I got the following photo the other week;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88816303@N08/16169263919/
(I was running today without the camera)
Also present was a heron and plenty of blackbirds, robins and tits. Yesterday whilst waiting for a no show KF, there was a treecreeper and bullfinch present. A guy told me he saw the heron catch and eat a rat!!
Then I found the kingfisher on the Bourn Brook, again in the same spot as previously where I got a photo and with a good sized fish.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88816303@N08/15900961407/in/photostream/
I might have seen one on the River Cole, Sarehole but it was too quick for me. There was a heron present and one of the loudest thrush singing overhead. Great morning!!
 
Saturday 14th Feb 2015 Bourn Brook, Selly Oak 9.00
The kingfisher was again on the Bourn and due to the muddy brook water from the rain it was perched fishing on a culvert joining the Bourn. Similar to the kingfisher I've seen on both the Rea and Cole, fishing in culverts. Others birds of note on my cycle ride was several tufted ducks and a lone GCG on Lifford lake and a kestrel in a tree on Kings Norton canal junction.
 
Saturday 21st Feb 2015 Bourn Brook, Selly Oak 10.30
The kingfisher was again on the Bourn, it shot past up the brook and I think was then calling. (the worst was rubbish dumped in the brook from my fav viewing point)
 
Todays Birmingham kingfisher sighting was on the River Cole, Kingfisher Country Park, Small Heath, just down from the A45. In the poor light I could just see it sat on a perch over the river, sat by a culvert. It then flew up the river and did some pretty impressive flying. At one point it went to fly up another culvert but circled back on itself (a loop to loop) to carry on flying up the river. The same culvert I got this photo at the start of the year https://www.flickr.com/photos/88816303@N08/15542729444/
It then stopped on a river perch (to have a look at me?) before continuing it's flight. It was pretty good to have a kingfisher join me for part of my run.
 
Last edited:
Saturday 28th Feb 2015 Bourn Brook, Selly Oak 9.00
I checked the Bourn, Edgbaston Res and the Rea for KF with no luck. Best on the Rea was a female bullfinch. I then returned to the Bourn Brook for another look and saw the kingfisher flying out from under the bridge and it did a quick hover before landing on the same perch where I have photographed it before. https://www.flickr.com/photos/88816303@N08/15900961407/
It's colour blue was very bright and vivid against the dull background. Great!!
 
River Rea Kingfisher pair

Saturday 7th March 2015 River Rea, Selly Park 7.00
Before I got to the River Rea I could hear 2 Kingfisher calling each other from the Pershore Road - over a hundred metres from the river. They were continuously calling each other. I knew I was in for a treat. I was running so did not have my camera but this enabled me to keep up with them as they chased each other along the river, stopping off at perches, sometimes opposite each other and sometimes on the same perch. They were never more than twenty metres apart. I was able to see them from the three bridges over the Rea and used bushes and trees as camouflage. I was so still and silent behind one bush with the kingfisher a few metres away I was joined by feeding long tailed tits one metre away. I was wearing the right colours to blend in. The Kingfishers pursued each other for up to a mile along the Rea stopping every so often and then flying up and down calling each other. I watched them for over 30 minutes. At one point I was on the bridge when they stopped either side and were calling. They dived for fish as well as flying close and into or stopping at the bank and taking turns in looking as I presume they checked out nesting locations. It was a thrilling sight. Last year I was lucky to see a pair on the Cole and now this year a pair on the Rea. Great!!
 
Saturday 14th March - River Rea Lifford 7.15
I was hoping for a repeat of last weeks double kingfisher pair on the Cole and Rea. I was not quite that lucky again but did the double of a kingfisher on both the Cole and the Rea. The Rea Kingfisher was calling very loudly around Lifford, I did wonder if there was two. There was also feeding LTT and then to top it all a buzzard swooped in and stopped on a river perch before flying off. Great!!
 
Last edited:
Sunday 22nd March 2015 6.15 till 9.45 - Wood Brook / The Bourn / The Rea / Canon Hill Park / Lifford Res / Merecroft Pool / Wychall Res - total approx 14 miles
I had not found the kingfisher on the Rea for a couple weeks. I found it almost straight away when I got to the Rea. I then cycled to Canon Hill park and heard it pass me which was approx 1 mile from where I first saw it. It then flew back up the river and I stood on the river bank to watch it go past but it saw my dark shadow and took a detour along the path to avoid me. It then rejoined the river just after me and went under a foot bridge and stopped briefly on the bank before continuing it's flight. I then continued my cycle ride and saw along the Rea; 2 pairs of grey wagtail, 2 pairs of bullfinch amongst other finch, 2 pairs of Jay and a pair of nuthatch at Kings Norton. There were a further 2 pair of bullfinch feeding next to tits that included a pair of LTTs as I entered Wychall Res. At Merecroft pool it was great to see 2 heron in the tree on the island together, calling each other. At Bournville Valley Parkway there was a further pair of Jays. It was a great morning!
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top