• 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.

Watching Kingfishers (1 Viewer)

M

Malmesbury

Member
I live in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England. Yesterday was a wonderful day so went looking for the kingfishers on the River Avon. I found my perch and sat down with flask and a good book. I knew they would come and they did. For a period of over four hours I watched a Kingfisher do what they do best, fishing. The kingfisher was far more successful than the trout fly fisherman that came and visited the pool I was observing.

Well off to do some lawn bowls this morning, it's near the river so might see another Kingfisher or a pair of Yellow waytails. Well I better go off and find my jack.

Have fun and I hope you have enjoyed my rantings and writings.

Richard :bounce:
 
Richard, in case it hasn't happened yet, let me offer you a welcome from all of us on staff here at BF!

What a delight to be able to watch your Kingfishers so closely for such a period of time -- they are such handsome birds! Hope you'll continue to share your observations with us.

Enjoy yourself!
 
Very interesting - I'd really like to see Kingfisher. I planned to visit Slimbridge once a month this year until successful. I'll probably go there next week anyway, but Malmesbury's a lot nearer to me than Slimbridge. I don't visit it much as it doesn't really seem to have come to terms with the motor car, but I might give it a go. Have I a chance if I just try and wander down to the river somewhere obvious?
 
Locations to See Kingfishers near Malmesbury

AG

In the Malmesbury area I have seen Kingfishers at two places.

First Location. Park at the Duke of York Pub on the B4020 on the East side of town. Then walk along the river towards St John's St. My last sighting was week last Thursday at about 7.30 pm.

Location Two. The place I was on Saturday was on the River Avon near Cole Park. I parked my car at the old Lucent Buildings on the B4042 just before the bridge if your leaving Malmesbury. Walking South South East along the river towards Angrove Wood and Summerford (sp). If you keep your eyes open near ordinance survey map reference 394500,185500 (OS Grid reference x,y) (http://www.streetmap.co.uk) you should see them flying from there fishing grounds to the nest. I have not located the nesting area.

Have fun!

Richard :t:
 
Last edited:
I have beaten my last years list already but I still haven't seen a kingfisher!

Thank you thouigh for painting a picture for me to keep me going until I get lucky

Gillian
 
kingfisher sightings

gillian said:
I have beaten my last years list already but I still haven't seen a kingfisher!

Thank you thouigh for painting a picture for me to keep me going until I get lucky

Gillian
Click to expand...


Gillian

The best way of finding your first Kingfisher is to ask other birders where they have seen them. Good luck in your search

Richard
 
The best way to see Kingfishers is to take up fishing, it's a very rare day that I don't see one when I'm fishing, either on the Hants Avon or the Dorset Stour.
 
According to some people I met in the hide at Slimbridge, it will not be so reliable as usual, as the Kingfishers have deserted their nest. No luck for me this time anyway, nor during a very quick wander - in the wrong place - near Malmesbury.
 
mcdowella said:
According to some people I met in the hide at Slimbridge, it will not be so reliable as usual, as the Kingfishers have deserted their nest. No luck for me this time anyway, nor during a very quick wander - in the wrong place - near Malmesbury.
Click to expand...


AG

Sorry you did not see any while you had a quick wander round Malmesbury. Only today I saw one from the car park of Malmesbury Bowls club going towards the Duke of York pub. He must have been popping over for a drink because it was about 1 pm Sunday

Richard
 
I've seen plenty of kingfishers in the past but just can't get them this year. There is even one seen regularly at the river in our village but not if I'm around! Oh well one day ....

GIllian
 
Hello all
We spent some time yesterday watching a pair bringing food to the nest, on the R.Wear in CoDurham.

Sit at any river/stream side & it shouldnt be too long before one flashes past.

(nest sites can be easily located in a sandy bankside, just scan for the white-wash of droppings on a convenient perch nearby. NB. Use caution. If the bird comes back with a fish & won't enter the hole, then your probably too close..)

We could see through the scope yestday that the enterance hole had two grooved tracks, made by the trampling of feet in & out !

A great bird where ever you see it.
SE.
 
John P said:
The best way to see Kingfishers is to take up fishing, it's a very rare day that I don't see one when I'm fishing, either on the Hants Avon or the Dorset Stour.
Click to expand...

I'm with John P on this one, as both my closest encounters with kingfishers have been while I was fishing. On the first occasion I was sitting behind some lakeside rushes when I spotted a pair of kingfishers flying fast and low across the water and heading straight towards me. I'm convinced that the leader just didn't see me at all, because it shot past within inches of my head. And its mate only spotted me at the last moment, providing me with a fleeting opportunity to inspect its undercarriage at close quarters by standing on its tail and climbing vertically for a few feet, before levelling out and continuing its journey.

On another occasion, a kingfisher mistook my fishing rod for a handy diving branch. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts it caught a small fish, which it promptly brought back and 'whacked' into submission against the rod before carrying it off. It's not often an angler hopes and prays that he won't get a bite, but this was one such occasion I can assure you!
 
Anthony Morton said:
On another occasion, a kingfisher mistook my fishing rod for a handy diving branch. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts it caught a small fish, which it promptly brought back and 'whacked' into submission against the rod before carrying it off. It's not often an angler hopes and prays that he won't get a bite, but this was one such occasion I can assure you!
Click to expand...

That must have been brilliant!

I reckon a good way to watch Kingfishers is from a canoe. You can drift right past them and get point blank views (presumably they think you are a just big log!). Also had my best views of Grass Snake, Water Vole, Otter and Bittern and a host of common birds and dragonflies in the same way. Even had an eye to eye encounter with an adder once! Its good exercise too. ;)
 
One thing I have noticed while watching in Wiltshire is that although when walking the singing sounds loud, just stop for a couple of minutes and you will certainly know how loud, loud can be! This can be applied to kingfishers you will see more if they think your part of the habitat, and especially watching in woods and meadows.

This may explain why our fishermen have reported good sightings.

Just my thoughts!

Richard
 
I saw a Kingfisher today at Caen Hill locks, Devizes - I was scanning along the far edges of the pools looking for ducks when I spotted what at first glance looked like a bright blue ribbon fluttering in the wind, but turned out to be a Kingfisher up near the top of the reeds. It wobbled about on the reeds for a minute or so, and then flew off.

This is my first real Kingfisher sighting - I've seen them in captivity, and I've been out with groups when somebody said "Did you see that Kingfisher fly over there?" (answer: no), but I've never really seen one in the wild before, despite a number of trips to Slimbridge specifically for that purpose. And yes, I did think that if I had been using 10x50 or higher binoculars I might have got a slightly better view - but then I might not have conscienciously scanned every pool edge, or perhaps even had the tops of the reeds in my field of view (my current ones show 144m at 1000).

Oh, is a Common Sandpiper reasonable there at this time of year? I saw this thing trying to pretend it was a swallow, but it was bigger, had a white pattern visible on brown wings, and had a brown head contrasting with a white belly.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 20 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

Evan Atkinson
A nice weekend out and about.
Replies
1
Views
696
watcher347
W
wolfbirder
Wonderful winter's birding in the East Midlands yesterday
Replies
0
Views
731
wolfbirder
wolfbirder
wolfbirder
Xmas Day Birding - The Dee Estuary at Parkgate, Neston
Replies
4
Views
963
3Italianbirders
3Italianbirders
Evan Atkinson
2 days at Pig Bush, Hampshire.
Replies
4
Views
886
Evan Atkinson
Evan Atkinson
SueO
Six Day Texas Trip
Replies
2
Views
639
wolfbirder
wolfbirder

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top