Belter of a Kingfisher!

Today, the gods were on my side. I'd long since resigned myself to the fact that I'd missed the mega Kingfisher down south a couple of weeks ago; the one day it seemed to be showing reliably, I'd chosen to go for the Isabelline Wheatear up north instead. But news came through yesterday of the bird being seen again and twice in the same location, the second time close to dusk. Would it still be there the next morning? I didn't set my alarm but woke soon after at 4am; it was now or never. I was out of the house by 5.15am and arrived at the village in question (Roach Bridge, near Samlesbury, a few miles south-east of Preston) by 7am. A group of fellow twitchers were there already, about to set off; this was a godsend, for I had no clue where I was going and even less so given that it was still dark. They were kind enough to let me tag along...We crossed fields and dykes and waded through boggy hollows, and it came as a relief when we eventually arrived at the banks of the river (where we flushed a Woodcock). The intel was that the bird we'd all come to see was last seen here and it made sense just to wait, motionless, silent, until dawn. A few of us searched the distant overhanging branches for signs of life in the gloom but to no avail. Then, out of nowhere, something whizzed past us and headed towards the distant bend in the river. Nobody called it until the last minute; I should have done as I must have been the first onto it - I just didn't want to make a fool of myself. We then spent the next hour (c. 7.30-8.30am) watching this magnificent mega: my first ever British Belted Kingfisher! (Indeed, it was a world first for me.) This (below) is my best effort - heavily cropped.

Sadly, it spent most of its time keeping its distance, but showed well enough - perching, hovering, diving into the water, despite the terrible light. At one point, it disappeared for a while and I made the mistake of changing my location; the bird was soon back where it was! Anyway, I got some shots but most at a ridiculous 4000 ISO! (Most of my evening was spent trying to remove the grain!) Seeing the bird so easily was a welcome change from previous twitches, and I was back home by midday - with a broad grin on my face. This was another one-in-a-lifetime bird - and a real toughie by all accounts. (The bird had been popping up in odd places over a vast range, at different parts of the river and on various canals - and only intermittently; connecting with it required considerable luck and local knowledge. I learnt later that the bird vanished at about 9.30am and wasn't seen again until 1.30pm.) Nearby I saw Common Kingfisher perched and in flight, another Woodcock, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Common Buzzard, Goldcrest... and I'm pretty sure I heard Green Sandpiper too.