I had a very close call with a Kingfisher today.Landed close up.but only had my wee compact camera.and by the time I got it focused it was gone.Dam and blast.
Jim
I was chasing the KF in the botanics up and down last week, Jim. I was standing on one of the bridges over the stream, looking for it, when it flew straight past me, going up the way. I went round and up to look for it. Stood patiently. No sign... then a "Splosh!", and it emerged from the stream, right in front of my nose! Must have been hidden by branches a few feet away. When it emerged, it didn't go back to where it came from, probably because I was so close to it. It went on, further up. So, I went on upstream. When I got there, there was a woman with a baby in a pram. She saw me with the camera and asked, "Are you looking for the kingfisher?" "Yes", says I. "It was here a few minutes ago, but it went downstream", she says... Aargh!!! I went back down. Never got another look at it.
Meanwhile, my mate has got shots of it just about every time he goes there... so many he has got bored with kingfishers (otters too) and is looking for something more challenging now!
Here are a couple of his ones - the sort he's been getting every time he is there...
Smack-bang in the middle of Edinburgh!
Col