Belted Kingfisher

Native to North America, it was a great suprise to hear of a Belted Kingfisher being seen at Brockholes LWT on the river Ribble from 8th November 2021 until it vanished on 7th December.
Remarkably it was then refound on the River Darwen at Samlesbury/Roach Bridge the next day on the 8th December before going missing again. Then from 20th December it showed well all the way until 19 April 2022, with a great arrangement with a local farmer charging £10 for access to his field.
I visited on the 4th December, with the birth of my daughter looming but my huge obsession with Kingfishers proving too much to resist I got a hotel for 3 days to try and photograph it. Day one was a wasted day with a huge crowd of loud rowdy birders keeping the bird away. Then someone shouted it had been seen on a local canal, I took the bait and headed there to only blank! Day two i decided to spend the day at the canal again blanking. Day three paid another tenner and found a much smaller crowd. I drifted to the side of the gathering to identify some Kingfisher looking perches and before long the Belted Kingfisher decided to hunt...and it continued to do so for the rest of the day. It was a long way down to the bird and quite far away especially in the dark conditions but I did manage to get it and cherish the few pictures I came away with!