Kingfisher

July 13, 2021

Spotting Kingfishers on the Water of Leith?

I spotted my first kingfisher when I was about 6-7, on the River Braan, near Amulree, in Perthshire.  As we had a caravan on a farm up there for many years, I would be in the River Braan for about 80 days a year, until I was about 17.  I watched the kingfishers whilst I built dams, caught minnows, swam, etc & it would be fair to say that I learnt a huge amount about them, just through observation, as a kid.  Decades would pass before I took my first ever wildlife photograph.  That day came 3 years ago, on 21 Dec 2020, when my first wildlife photo was of a wee kingfisher on the Water of Leith.

After almost 3 years of researching kingfishers on the Water of Leith, I have been able to apply the majority of this research, very successfully, on many rivers, throughout the whole of Scotland, over this time.

Here are some of the key tips that I use for spotting kingfishers:

  1. One of the key points about spotting kingfishers on the Water of Leith is that you have to be on a section of the walkway that is right down at water level. There are many sections, where the walkway parts from the water & rises 30-40 feet above water level.  It is almost impossible to spot kingfishers from this height, bearing in mind kingfishers fly about 1-2 feet above the water & perch on branches 3-12 feet over the water. The section from Balerno down to Bog’s Mill bridge, between Colinton & Craiglockhart, has too many sections where the walkway is separated from the water.  So I tend to stick to the section from Bog’s Mill Bridge right down to Leith, where the walkway is fairly close to the water all the way, except for the section from Dean Village to St.Bernard’s Well, just before Stockbridge.  This also reduces the walkway from 12.75 miles to about 7.5 miles.
  2. Kingfishers can’t swim, so they hunt for fish, over still or slow moving water.  As a rough estimate, you may find 35% of the river is still or slow moving, which would reduce your target search from 12.75 miles to about 4.5 miles. Or, if you’re just doing the Bog’s Mill Bridge to Leith section, then this means your target search area would only be 2.5 miles, of the 7.5 mile stretch.
  3. Kingfishers perch on low hanging branches anything from 3-12 ft above still/slow moving water, so keep your eyes trained, at these heights, as you walk along the river bank.
  4. Fish don’t like sunlight, so they tend to stay in the shade. As a result kingfishers will sit on perches, above these shaded areas of water.
  5. Kingfishers make a high pitched ‘beep’ every 40+ yards as they dart along the water. You can hear a kingfisher coming to you and as you watch it go by, if the beep stops, the chances are it’s on a favourite perch very close by. (Merlin BIRD ID app is free and very useful for ID’ing bird calls) – CLICK HERE for Merlin Bird App website.
  6. Try & identify long, straight stretches of water – this way you can hear & see the kingfisher coming towards you. If you are tucked away then, you may well find that it stops for a feed, very near you, if the water is still or slow moving.  Key point here is to try and stay out of sight.
  7. Over the winter months (when there are no leaves), take note of all the favourite kingfisher perches; it stands to reason that they will still head to those perches in the summer because they are in good feeding areas, above still or slow moving water. You can then position yourself in a secluded spot & watch them diving for fish, from a distance, all year round.
  8. Kingfishers are out hunting for fish during daylight hours and we are fortunate to have them on the Water of Leith all year round.  Winter time is one of the best time to spot them, simply because there is less foliage on the trees.
  9. Kingfishers can have 2-3 broods a year & can have 3-6 chicks, in each brood. Each chick needs about 15 small fish per day, so the adults need to hunt for around 75-90 fish a day just to feed the chicks before accounting for what they need.  What this means is that you will have a better chance of spotting kingfishers diving for fish along any waterway during breeding season.  Furthermore, 2-3 chicks will go hunting with an adult, so it’s not unusual to see a family of 3-4 kingfishers all at the same time on the river, over the breeding season.  The best time of year to see this happening is May to July
  10. The youngsters get kicked out within days, to fend for themselves but their survival rate can be very low.
  11. Finally, if you see a kingfisher on a perch, above the water, make sure you have a good look at the water below. Kingfishers are known to follow otters around & pick off the smaller fish that the otters have disturbed, as they turn over the stones in the water – so keep an eye out for these TWO for ONE offers!

These pointers are the tools that I use every day, when photographing kingfishers.  They have enabled me to turn a ‘blue flash’, into kingfisher photos, that have appeared on TV & published in magazines. Good Luck & I hope these tips help you!

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