A better kingfisher day

Since my husband was working today I returned to the flash for another crack at getting a better kingfisher shot as I love seeing them. 
Patience is the key and I don't have much of this, but am getting a little better. I started with an hour at the Tom Edmondson hide which is where they are normally seen, but not today. Then I moved onto the Ramsdale hide which always seems to be is facing the wind and the light was terrible so I didn't stay there long. I walked along the canal and found myself in Teal Hide which I have never taken a decent shot of anything from as the birds are so far away. But today I scanned the posts and found a kingfisher happily perched on the farthest one (of course!) It was only just visible with the naked eye, so it was quiet far away. I was quite hopeful that it would come to one of the closer posts and do some fishing, but after 55 minutes of watching it do nothing more than swivel it's head, I gave up - it was obviously having a rest! 
I dropped back in on the Tom Edmondson hide for my last half hour and as I arrived there was a whirr of camera clicks. Of course it was one of the lovely kingfishers, but on the farthest post again. It did come one post closer, which is where this shot was taken, but the light was not so good either. We got a few unsuccessful dives and it did a bit of preening before being scared off by a buzzard that flew into a nearby tree. 

So even though I didn't get the magical shots I am after, it was still such a joy to see them and in two different places too - I'm so very lucky. 

Will start my catch up with commenting a bit later on and plan to finish it tomorrow when it's forecasted to rain for most of the day.