Little Owls, Kingfisher and Woodpeckers

Ken, John and myself had arranged to visit Mark Hancox site to photograph some kingfishers.  Due to the rain the week before it looked like we were going to miss out on the Kingfishers as the hide had been under water.  We decided mid-week to go anyway and photograph some little owls with the hope that the water levels may fall and allow us to also photograph some Kings.

We met Mark at 7 am and by 8 am we were sitting in pop up hides waiting for the little owls.  We could here a owl calling very close but it did take several hours before they appeared.  At first the adult came down for approx. 10 mins and then one of this years young followed.  It wasn't long before they both left again but we did manage a good 15 mins of photo's.

We continued to sit in the hides in the hope they would show again soon.  Whilst sitting in the hides we had heard a green woodpecker and a spotted on several occasions but they were nowhere in sight.  I heard the green again and a quick scan around and i noticed he was sitting on the posts.  We rattled off a few shots and with John shouting "what are you taking pics of" we also pointed him in the right direction :) 

Then out of the blue a spotted woodpecker landed on the same post for a few split seconds.  I managed to take about 6 shots before the spotted returned to a nearby fallen tree.

This was amazing to see them together and I was chuffed to get the shot.

We sat in the hides for a few more hours in the hope the owls would return but they weren't playing ball.  Mark arrived as planned and we asked if we could photograph the kingfishers and he said yes but the hide was still muddy and wet.  I didn't care as this is what I really wanted as it had been 2 years since I last photographed a kingfisher.

On arrival to the hide Mark was waist deep in the water making sure the BG was clean for us, what a top guy.

I had several shots in mind and in particular the diving shots :)

It was only about 5 mins before the first Kingfisher appeared,  by now the sun was out and it was time to try for the shots I wanted.  Both John and Ken laughed as I was firing off the shots in attempt of the diving shot. It didn't take long before Ken saw some of my attempts and joined in on the fun.

Here are a couple of shots I manged in the end.

It was great fun trying for the dive shots but as they were perching so well at times it would be just rude not to take a few perch shots also.

Mark had explained that the Owls seemed to show well later in the afternoon so we returned to the hides again before leaving.  He was spot on as we only had to wait a hour before the young showed again.

All in all a great day out and one I would recommend to anybody.