I was stumbling along in the gloom of another grey day at the WWA. And at 3:30pm it was starting to get dark. Very poor conditions for wildlife photography! Then I noticed a small blue bird on a branch and bingo, there was one of the kingfishers in a spot I'd never seen it before, and handy for me to rest my camera on the rail of a bridge only about 8m away. Here are the best couple of shots I got (the first was actually entirely handheld).
These are the best shots I've ever managed to get of kingfishers so I'm very pleased. They're a long way from decent by any professional standards (the things I see on TV or in magazines make me sick with envy and incredulity) but the opportunity was fleeting and the light dim, with my kit and technique straining at their very limits: 400mm, ISO 3200, f5.6, 1/100s. To top it all, the elusive water rail then walked along beneath it, though I didn't manage to get a shot of that, and still never have.