Our First Kingfisher

This was our last day of a long bank holiday weekend visit. The choice was whether to finish packing or take a last trip out on our boat Waterhen. We decided to visit Martham broad, a broad that is very quiet and has only limited boat access through a marked channel. As it does not lead anywhere much, few people go there by boat.

We could tell that few people visited as the water was clear. Most of the broads and connecting rivers are a muddy brown colour through the summer months as the trail of holiday makers in day boats stirs up the sediment. When left to settle for a few days, you can often see the bottom and this was the case as we approached Martham broad, the Water Lilly stems and leaves could be seen stretching down to the mud below through the tea coloured water (presumably the colour comes from the peat that remains after the original peat digging that formed these lakes in medieval times).

As we entered the broad, we were followed by a small broads authority work punt. It was clearly on a mission and we pulled to the side to let it pass. Just as it had overtaken, I noticed a small Kingfisher sitting on a pole within six feet of us. It sat there few for a few moments until my wild gesturing and pointing made it decide to find another fishing spot. There it was, out first Kingfisher.

We had heard from our neighbors at Halycon that there were Kingfishers around, but we had never managed to see one. Halcyon is, in fact, the name of a family of Kingfishers, tree Kingfishers, and comes from a mythical Greek bird with wonderful colours that lived on a floating nest. It's rather fitting we should see one so close to the house.