A summer of Kingfishers and drought.

It's been quite a while since my last blog, as although I have been busy with the camera, I have simply not got around to writing anything about it on here. It's a shame, as this summer has been one of the hottest on record and the difference in the behaviour of our wildlife has been noticable!

Even in our small region of France, global warming is having an effect, with many of our regular garden birds arriving earlier in the year, along with seeing new species, that would normally only be seen a long way further south. Equally, some birds that would normally be seen here, have already found new pastures further north!

Fortunately, the Kingfishers that I have been photographing for the past few years, are still in situ, although for how long, is difficult to tell, as the water levels in their lake, are now at dangerously low levels, never seen before. My hide which was positioned at the very waters edge of the lake, is now marooned some 10 meters away from the waters edge. This equates to a drop in water level over a meter in depth in just a few months. In fact, the water has receded so far, that I can now walk from one side of the lake, to the other without getting my feet wet!

The view from inside my hide - The Kingfishers are normally photographed on these 'perches' that I positioned in the lake. They would normally be largely submerged!

The water should be just 6" in front of my hide and extend 50 mtrs to the right of this image - The level in the centre has dropped in excess of 1 mtr!

This not only has implications regarding the food source for the Kingfishers now, but also for next year, as many of the eggs that were earlier laid under water on 'marginal' plants by Dragonflies etc, have subsequently been deprived of water and will therefore not survive to hatch next year. This negatively effects the entire food chain of the lake!

It may sound overly dramatic, but whilst we are rightfully concerned for our own larger world, the Kingfishers 'world' that is this lake, is disappearing in front of their eyes and there is nothing that they, or I can do, other than for me to record this devastation.

Fortunately, we started this season with the lake at its full size and depth and the Kingfishers were busy raising and providing for their young. So here are some of my favourite images from that period up until now.

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