Last week I spent some time at Lackford Lakes which is a Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve that is re known as a good site to photograph Kingfishers. The weather was not brilliant so the light was far from perfect but after a little time a female bird arrived and spent a little time fishing but she was not the most spectacular looking specimen I had ever seen being very tatty in appearance. I was informed by regulars at the hide that this was because she had just finished raising a brood of youngsters, had chased them off when they had fledged (which is normal for Kingfishers), and was now chasing and fighting off all trespassers into her territory including males (which is also normal behaviour). I observed the bird catching small fish from the water in front of me and then taking them to a perch she would beat them against the wood and then swallow them headfirst. In one of the pictures I took of her you can see her throwing the fish in the air and catching it again in order to turn it round ready to swallow.
Later when the female bird had disappeared a male showed up and did some fishing too. He was a much more attractive bird whose plumage was bright and immaculate and you can tell he was a male because his bill was all black whereas the female has an orange underside to the lower bill. This bird spent quite a while fishing and caught several, but more spectacular was his hovering above the water before diving, unfortunately he was too far off to photograph when doing this but its definitely worth another visit to try and capture it. I was told by the locals that the best time of the year to photograph them is between June and the end of August when many birds may be seen but usually at least one bird is present all year.
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