Standard behaviour for this Kingfisher. She’s keeping herself well hidden for the most part but she has her favourite fishing spots, albeit still deep in the undergrowth.
When I managed to spot her first time yesterday, I thought she’d hurt herself as she was sitting at a funny angle and looked like she’d hurt her beak. She was too far away and well hidden to focus properly but when I zoomed in on my blurry pics I realised she was just trying to swallow a fish which was not much smaller than her!
Clearly she then just needed to sit and digest it for a while.
No photos I’m afraid but an amazing place. Two brief visits, yesterday and today.
Serious numbers of wildfowl, Lapwing etc, at least 15 Egret.
Fantastic close up views of Peregrine and today a pair of Marsh Harriers. The male was stunning. Will be back.
I’m a total beginner at this stuff, guys. My lens, Canon 75-300 (460 on APS-C), just isn’t powerful enough to pull in a lot of birds out in the wild. This is a shot I managed to grab on a very recent trip to Spain (wet-lands south of Valencia).
My quiz question for you is… What is the type of bird (I think I know ) and more importantly, what is it doing in Spain ?
Little Egret, the givaway is the yellow feet
Native to Southern Europe, Africa, M.East and now have established in UK/Ire…
They used to be a seasonal visitor to UK be have bred in UK since mid 1990’s and have now colonised much of southern UK & Irelend.
NB not to be confuzed with Snowy Egret, also same/similar size and yellow feet but a resident of the Americas. They have been seen as a vagrant in Europe.
The other indicator is the bill & lore
Little Egret is predominatly grey whereas the Snowy is more distinctly coloured, yellow lore and eye, even in the non-breeding season.
) and more importantly, what is it doing in Spain ? 
