My career job put me in touch with all sorts birdies, there are some I like more than others, and a couple I am not to keen on, Magpies being one, there are far to many of them. But for me it has to be the Kingfisher, agile, stunning, busy and always a joy to watch.
I have seen hundreds of them, but I did spend a huge chunk of my working life near, on or in rivers. So I guess I would!
About two years ago, I was sat in my local pub, in a small Dartmoor village, having a pint. In walked Mr visitor, down from Essex, complete with a small rucksack and baggy shorts, he was staying at the pub. I overheard him saying to the landlady how disappointed he was not to have seen a KF on his walk, and that they were very rare, the LL explained we have one just below the pub on the brook, he said, and I quote “I very much doubt it, they are rarely seen in the U.K.” Oh really, have a chat with the chap sat at the bar, which was me, he was a River Warden/Bailiff for over 30 years……..He didn’t bother!