Kingfishers at RSPB Rye Meads, 25th March 2026

Over the last week or so the Kingfishers have been showing an interest in nesting at the Kingfisher Hub with lots of activity including fish passes from the male to the female. As to be expected the hide has been very busy, so I planned a visit midweek with mixed weather. The rain eased off and when I arrived, the female flew out of the nest bank and perched on a fallen log before flying off, out of sight into a bush on the left.

Almost immediately, the male appeared and perched in the centre of the pond for a while before flying off to the right, where it again perched up and caught a small fish, which it ate and then flew off.

He must have been gone over an hour, with the female just visible in the bush to the left of the hide. I was hoping he was going to return with a fish for the female and was not disappointed. The female however, flew straight to the nest bank and kept going in and out of different holes with the male left sitting on the perch with his gift! Eventually she flew in and the following images capture the fish pass.

The male then went to the nest bank, possibly doing some more digging while the female waited on the perch, at one point looking for danger in the sky before undertaking some essential preening.

At this point, the skies darkened and it started to rain. I adjusted my settings, reducing ISO and lowering the shutter speed to 1/50th second to try and get a different image. This was the result.

Thankfully, I had reset because a few seconds later the male appeared and flew in to mate. The following images are just a selection of the action.

A wonderful couple of hours and hopefully the birds will be successful after at least two years with no breeding success at the reserve. While I was there I only saw the two ringed birds as I know others had reported seeing a third bird. A big thanks to the staff and volunteers at the reserve for their continued efforts.