The kingfishers have returned to my local nature reserve in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Every year at this time I eagerly wait for the first brood of young kingfishers to arrive at the local lake, having been driven off the breeding territory of their parents which is further downstream on the river.

This is a young inexperienced male that made an appearance for a few short minutes but was unable to catch any fish at this spot.

Taken from a hide about 9 feet away from some conveniently placed sticks, using a Nikon 300mm F4 lens and 1.4x teleconverter.