I was determined to get mum to Slimbridge this week, as she had never seen a Kingfisher, and the reports on the Slimbridge web site indicated that the Kingfishers were very active clearing out the nest hole.

The weather was actually rather good with broken clouds and sunshine but occasional heavy wintery showers and a strong bitterly cold wind.

Firstly, I managed to get my Country Innovation coat and a new pair of Opticron Discovery binoculars, then we set off for the Kingfisher hide.

We’d only been there for about 20 minutes when the female Kingfisher showed up, and did a nice show of fishing.  We waited around for a bit, and she showed up again, so I was well pleased, as mum had never seen a kingfisher before.

We went for Lunch, then moved down to the feeders, where we got great views of a water rail, and that was the other thing I wanted to see.  There was a distant Peregrine seen from the Holden Tower, then the weather closed in, and we made a move.

My best shot of the Kingfisher is below (after a massive crop).