Belted Kingfisher
I have had three failed attempts, or dips as birders call them, to see the Lancashire Belted Kingfisher over the last few weeks, including two harrowing encounters with the slope of death, see here.
So when the bird was relocated a few miles away from its original location in an altogether less challenging spot I was soon off on my 4th attempt to see this truly stunning mega rare vagrant from North America. We had friends from the village coming to dinner on Wednesday night so I really didn’t fancy a strength sapping silly o’clock departure. I hence left home at 07:00 on Wednesday morning and heading north again up the car park previously known as the M6.
The Kingfisher had relocated close to Samlesbury at a place called Roach Bridge on the river Darwen. I arrived at 09:30, found a parking spot very close to the bridge, and set off along a muddy footpath towards the reported location. Disconcertingly, many birders were heading back to their cars already having had good views of the Kingfisher but they told me that the bird was still showing well when they left. From the footpath it was a short walk up hill over a muddy field to the location overlooking the river where many birders were gathered. My heart sunk when I discovered that the Kingfisher had just disappeared upriver – was this destined to be dip number four? After a very long 30 minutes a birder next to me spotted it very distantly through his scope and kindly let me have a look but by the time I looked it had gone again! Someone then saw the bird flying down river towards us and it was soon relocated at the back of some trees on the bank. Again a very kind birder gave me very clear instructions as to where the bird was and at last, to my enormous relief, I found it in my bins.
The Belted Kingfisher is a truly rare bird in the UK with just four records of the BBRC database up to 2019. It breeds near inland bodies of water and coasts across most of North America including Canada, Alaska, and the United States. They migrate from the northern parts of their range to the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies in winter. It is a stocky bird, noticeably larger than our Kingfisher, with a shaggy crest and a long heavy black bill. Both sexes have a slate blue head, large white collar, a large blue band on the breast, and white underparts. The back and wings are slate blue with black feather tips with little white dots.
The Kingfisher flew a short distance back up stream and very obligingly perched out in the open on a tree overlooking the river. Here it stayed for a wonderful 15 minutes giving us all stunning views and the chance of a few photographs. The disappointment from previous dips was now but a distant memory as I watched this truly stunning bird in awe. The Kingfisher was the 25th addition to my UK life list this year, a total I would have bitten your hand off for in January.
A week or so ago I did another twitch across to Wales to see a Pacific Diver located on Eglwys Nunydd reservoir. This is yet another mega rare bird with just 9 records on the BBRC data base. The Pacific Diver, or loon as it is called over the pond, was previously considered a subspecies of Black-Throated diver but was elevated to full species back in 1985. The Pacific Diver is very similar to its sister species but a good view shows it to be smaller and somewhat sleeker. In all plumages the lack of a white flank patch distinguishes this species from the Black-Throated Diver.Pacific Diver Grey Phalarope
The least said about access to the site, however, the better but if you want details please dm me. In-between extended fishing dives the diver was showing very well close to the shore allowing some quite close up photography. Also present was a nice Grey Phalarope which was being very confiding, oblivious to human presence as they often are. It is always a marvel to me that this tiny fragile looking bird spends its life far out on the rough and wild ocean, normally only returning to land to breed.
Glad you finally connected! Awesome bird.
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