Our first brood of kingfishers have fledged, hurrah!
As has been the story with this pair in 2015 things did not go as you would expect! The first chick fledged on Tuesday 11 June, followed by another on Wednesday with a third seen at the entrance to the burrow. However at the end of the day the adults were still taking fish in to the burrow and this continued until the end of the day Thursday. Today, Friday, chick number 3 fledged and since then we have not seen any fish going in to the bank. So we can confirm 3 chicks but it is likely some more fledged in the evenings or early morning.
Normally a whole brood will fledge in a morning with the possibility of activity for a day. But for a fledging to continue over 4 days, i have never heard of.
The adults continue to be active around the nest bank and mating started around the 5 June on the second brood, so we are again waiting for incubation to start, hopefully following more of the usual course.
Thanks, see you soon
Vicky