Goosanders doing well but Kingfishers suffer a setback

2 pairs of Goosanders have bred succesfully in theOssett area on the River Calder.Each pair has hatched 10 youngsters and all are at present doing well.

Its allways worrying when you come across so called wldlife photographers lurking in the vicinity of bird nesting sites and  a recent encounter proved to be disaterous.Kingfishers have been a regular breeding species in the Dewsbury /Ossett area of the river Calder  over the last few years

I recently came acoss a couple of photographers with long telephoto lenses sat directly above a active Kingfisher nesting hole with the photographers even sat on chairs.There was no sign of the Kingfishers which taking into account the mens proximity to the nesting site didnt surprise me.

The very next day I learned that these people had posted pictures of a Kingfisher on social media.Sad to say the nest is now deserted with the Kingfisher now frequenting a different part of the river.

These sort of examples of people trying anything to get a good image no matter at what cost to the bird seem to be getting more and more frequent as a saimilar even worse scenario occurred at St Aidens reserve in Leeds when photographers where found belly down in the reeds close to breeding Black Necked Grebes.

The local Barn Owls disapeared around the first week in April and I cant help thinking the suffered the same fate as the Kingfishers.