Mrs King and Mr Kes at Cranford Park

On Wednesday I was at the park for a short visit with a good friend of mine, Nathalie (the godmother of the Fulham and Barnes peregrines, Tom and Flame ). We walked up and down the river, and I was really hoping two of the birds I've been watching recently, would be in their usual predictable perches. 

The female Kestrel was in her usual perch on one of the taller trees on the river bank, and as we watched she suddenly swooped down in front of us into the undergrowth on the bank we were standing on. Seconds later she came out with prey, which she proceeded to tear apart on the path just ahead of us. I didn't have my camera but Nathalie did, and this is one of the photos she took....

photo by Nathalie Mahieu 

We saw the Kingfisher several times, always along the same stretch of the river between the M4 viaduct and the Iron Bridge. As I've said before, one of the Kingfishers preferred perch is the grate at the M4 viaduct, and she didn't disappoint on Wednesday. In fact she positively posed ! And again I silently kicked myself for not having my camera. Below is one of Nathalie's pics...

photo by Nathalie Mahieu

This morning I was back at the park to hopefully capture Mrs Kingfisher in the same place but this is the sight that greeted me....

This is the grate by the M4 viaduct. The water level is very very high after all of this rain, and the banks had burst in several places. So I didn't get to see Mrs King in her favoured perch......but I did manage to see her later on...….

Also on Wednesday, Nathalie found this pellet on one of the twigs of the oak tree where the Fly Agaric fruited a few weeks ago. 

We were both fairly confident this is a Kestrel pellet. When I gently broke it apart there were hardly any bone fragments, just lots of short hairs and fur. However I wanted confirmation so I posted the photo on the UK Bird Identifcation Facebook page and the jury is out. Half the group think it is Kestrel and the other half think it is Little Owl. In Little Owl pellets I would expect to find insect casings and small bone fragments, but as a few people on the facebook group pointed out, the Little Owl may have decided to have a rodent snack instead that day.

Today I arrived at the park as it was raining but luckily for me, the clouds soon cleared and I had a lovely wander around Cranford Woods. The photo below shows just a fraction of all the mistletoe that's dotted around the woods. It is pretty amazing to think that every clump was accidentally placed there by a bird. 

Either love them or hate them, Ring-necked Parakeets certainly look handsome when the light is right...

Back at the river I checked Mrs Kestrels favourite perch and found Mr Kestrel instead. I have had to considerably lighten the photo as he was sitting quite far back against the sun....

I watched as he took off and flew above my head and landed in a much better place for me. It's almost as if he read my mind.....handsome chap isn't he ? 

I didn't get to see Mrs Kestrel at all today.

The Kingfisher, who Nathalie and I confirmed was a female, was whizzing up and down the river the whole time I was there. As the 'grate perch' was out of action, she tended today to stay mid way between the two bridges and I watched her successfully catch at least three fish.

Sometimes she was hard to get my camera to focus on with all the twiggy branches around, but I managed a few...

A dog walker was also fascinated by her almost 'bold' behaviour and we watched her for over ten minutes perched in the same place in the open.....

Also seen today but not photographed was a Sparrowhawk, probably a female given the huge size of her, a Red Kite, a large mixed flock of Long-tailed Tits, Blue Tits, Goldcrests and Great Tits, and a distant view of the Little Egret by Frogs Ditch. 

This will be my last blog before Christmas, so here is a seasonal Robin to end my blog post with....

Merry Christmas to all of you, and I hope you all have a great one with family, friends, food and drink. 

Bird stalking at Cranford Park along the River Crane

Bob Barton set me a challenge the other day...…. photograph the Cranford Park Kingfisher. 

So today I tried..... and I tried...…. and I tried...….for three hours I tried !

I saw the lovely little blue bird loads of time whilst I was stalking it up and down the river. I kept to the same section of the Crane walking from the iron bridge down to the stone bridge and including the M4 viaduct and back again several times. So if any of you saw a lady with piled up pale pinky blonde hair, glasses, light khaki jacket and a serious expression on her face, tip toeing along the river .....that was me ! 

careful stalking.....walking silently and slowly...…..keeping to the shadows where possible...….hiding behind trees...… peering through fence posts....

The Kingfisher was so active today, but was almost always flying rather than perching. There are two perches by the viaduct where I often see the beauty, and twice he was there today but both times a dog walker spooked him before I could get a decent photo. If you position yourself carefully behind the second tree you come to if walking from the church side entrance, you can see both perches clearly but the bird cant see you.  

Today I had to make do with him perching where there were always twigs in the way, or so far away that my lens could barely pick him out. So here are the best I could get...….

Spot the Kingfisher......

In this photo I was actually trying to get a clear shot of the Little Egret when I realised the Kingfisher was sitting directly above it on the second trunk (at the top of the photo)

The Little Egret, although just as easily spooked as the Kingfisher, obviously showed up much better due to its size and colour. You cannot miss a 'white heron' in these pics...

Luckily for me the regularly seen Little Egret flew towards the M4 and landed in one of the trees on the left hand side of the River Crane between the viaduct and the stone bridge.....

More careful stalking.....walking silently and slowly...…..keeping to the shadows where possible...….hiding behind trees...… peering through fence posts....

and finally I got some really lovely views.....

Only 25 years ago, seeing a Little Egret was a rare thing and would have all the 'twitchers' going mad for a sighting. Now they are fairly common, and we've had regular sightings of an individual at Cranford Park for some years. A couple of weeks, and today, I saw two Little Egrets, both of them appearing to be quite relaxed and happy in each others company, so maybe we'll have a breeding pair of Little Egrets next season ! 

Whilst sticking to my chosen route of between the iron bridge and the viaduct, this female Kestrel landed briefly in front of me. I managed just a couple of hastily snatched pics, so they are not as sharp as I'd like. When she took off, I saw another one join her and it would be nice to think they are our resident pair starting their courtship.

Not many photos to show for my efforts, but it's nice to know that both the Kingfsher and Little Egret are being fairly predictable and sticking to the same stretch of the River Crane. It also means that the recent fuel spillage has dispersed as you wouldnt find these two birds there if the water was heavily polluted.