Kingfishers, Peace and a Little Secret

It has been a remarkable week, with so many unusual things to see. It started on Wednesday with several astronomical highlights, including the solar eclipse and the meteor shower. On Wednesday afternoon, I was in the beautiful village of Drimmelen, where I noticed a B&B café called De IJsvogel (Dutch for The Kingfisher). Another coincidence, I thought. Less than two weeks earlier, we had been standing in front of Graanbranderij de IJsvogel in Arcen. Why hadn't I seen a real kingfisher yet this summer, like I did last year?

That evening we went to the Vlietlanden, where we had a beautiful view of the solar eclipse. But even there, at the same spot where we regularly saw a kingfisher last year: no kingfisher. Had the winter perhaps been too harsh?

I let it go and enjoyed the other remarkable natural phenomena instead, like the beautiful light during the height of the eclipse and, a day later, the shooting stars visible from my balcony. I even saw one flash past while lying in bed, through the large window in our bedroom. It happened so quickly that there was no possible way to capture it on camera. You blink and it's gone.

The morning after the shooting stars, I was walking my usual route with Bodhi along the Elsenlaan, beside the canal at the edge of the Rijswijkse Bos. This is also where the tree stands that I wrote about earlier in my ice story. The previous morning, I had seen an enormous carp swimming there and I hoped to see it again. But instead, a blue flash suddenly shot past.

A kingfisher!

So fast that it is almost impossible to photograph. Actually, very much like a shooting star. It disappeared into the bushes, but mostly I was just happy: they're still here!

This morning, during my usual walk with Bodhi, I found myself thinking about the kingfisher again. Would I see it once more? That would be quite special, because the kingfisher plays an important role in my new yearly products and is featured prominently on my mini diary. And not only that: in September, an entirely new collection will be released featuring the kingfisher. But that has to remain a secret until my next blog post.

I had barely finished that thought when, from the bridge, I spotted not one but two kingfishers sitting at a special place in the water.

The Peace Branch

For years, a large branch has been lying in the water here, where all kinds of waterbirds gather. For quite some time, I've called it the 'Peace Branch'. Why the Peace Branch? My father once told me that during the breeding season, birds can be surprisingly tolerant of one another. If different species nest in the same tree, even species that might normally see each other as prey, there is supposedly a kind of agreement that the residents of that particular tree leave one another alone. He calls it 'Horstvrede', which roughly translates as 'nest peace'.

I've searched the internet but so far haven't been able to find anything about this phenomenon. Yet two years ago, I saw something on this branch that reminded me of it. A coot had built a nest at the end of the branch and while the tiny chicks were growing up there, the branch was also being used by all kinds of other birds, including cormorants and herons. A heron in particular may grab a small chick if it gets the opportunity. Yet the birds on and around this branch seemed to live peacefully alongside one another, without much tension. In the video below, I've combined footage from then and now.

Next to the Peace Branch, another tree has since fallen into the water. This morning those two kingfishers were sitting on the branches that were still sticking out above the surface. I quickly took a photo with my phone as proof, but of course it was blurry. So after finishing my walk, I took Bodhi home and went back with my proper camera, which allows me to zoom in much further.

When I returned, one of the two kingfishers was fortunately still sitting in exactly the same place. That gave me my first clear footage of a kingfisher on the Peace Branch.

And then I realised something else rather funny about that name. In 'the Rijswijkse Bos' (the name of the park) stands the Needle of Rijswijk, a monument commemorating the Peace of Rijswijk, which was concluded here in 1697. Huis ter Nieuburch once stood on this site, where negotiations took place that brought the Nine Years' War to an end. The house is long gone, but the monument still stands. The Peace of Rijswijk was concluded on the night of 20 to 21 September 1697. That date is quite a coincidence in this story, but I can't tell you why just yet. That will have to wait until my next blog post.

The kingfisher itself is also associated with peace, tranquillity and calm in old stories and symbolism. So there I was, looking at a "bird of peace" sitting on my Peace Branch, close to the place where the Peace of Rijswijk was concluded. From now on, it is therefore officially called the Peace Branch of Rijswijk.

By then, there was nothing I wanted more than to finally take a really good photograph of the kingfisher. I had never managed to do that before. From the other side of the water I could get much closer, and there was a spot among the bushes where I would probably have a direct view of the bird. But would it still be there by the time I had walked all the way around? And would I be able to get close without frightening it away?

To reach the other side, I had to walk around to the Van Vredenburchweg, where the official entrance to the Rijswijkse Bos is located and where Huis ter Nieuburch once stood. It was quiet and I walked as fast as I could. But once I reached the path beside the water, right opposite the Peace Branch I saw a mother, a grandmother, a dog and a little boy of about two years old. The boy had found something and was calling out so excitedly that I immediately saw my chances of finding the kingfisher still sitting there drop to almost zero.

I could have been disappointed, but a little while later the boy stole my heart. When we passed each other, he proudly showed me what he had found. What I initially thought was a little stone later turned out to be a cigarette filter. Together with a small twig, he gave it to me as a present. Then he became fascinated by my camera and didn't really want to continue walking with his mother and grandmother anymore.

I had lost a kingfisher, but gained a friend.

The kingfisher had indeed disappeared. That was a little disappointing because, if you were willing to stand among the nettles and thorny branches, this turned out to be the perfect secret spot from which to photograph it up close. I waited there for quite some time, half-hidden in the bushes and hoping that passers-by wouldn't wonder what on earth I was doing there. Eventually, though, I let it go and started walking back. Of course, I kept my eyes on the branches and the water. You never know.

And sure enough. A little further along, I suddenly saw that blue flash again, shooting across the water. Straight back towards the Peace Branch.

Okay Michelle, you really have to go back now. Who knows!

And yes. Back at my spot among the nettles and thorny branches, I could see the kingfisher again. This time I was finally able to take photographs and videos from much closer up.

There was just one new challenge. With all the leaves in the foreground, I had to focus manually, and my eyes didn't always cooperate. Unfortunately, you can see it in the video: the image sometimes shifts from sharp to blurry.

Quite appropriate, really, because the kingfisher is also associated with patience and focus. After this morning, I understand why. If you watch one for a while, you notice how attentively it is constantly observing its surroundings. Of course, it is looking for fish, but my footage shows that it notices other things as well. A goose feather floating past, for example. And in the video below you can hear an aeroplane flying overhead and immediately see the kingfisher look up. Perhaps from its perspective it looked like an enormous flying fish.

After a while, the kingfisher flew away like a shooting star and I decided it was time for me to go home too. I followed the same route back through the Rijswijkse Bos, along the canal beside the Elsenlaan. Past my favourite tree, past an ashtray that had been emptied onto the grass - could that be where the little boy's cigarette filter had come from? - and eventually back to the other side of the water, where the Frans Halskade meets the bridge.

And there it was again. This time, sitting among the bushes on my side of the water.

A year ago was the last time I regularly saw a kingfisher during my daily walks. After a long absence, it seems my blue neighbours are finally back in their old spot. Just in time.

Because there is a reason the kingfisher has been on my mind so much lately. Something new will be released in September in which this remarkable blue bird plays the leading role. I'm just not allowed to show it quite yet. And then there is that date of 21 September that I mentioned earlier. I only discovered while writing this story that it happens to coincide exactly with what will be happening around my new kingfisher collection.

How much of a coincidence can it be?

In the weekend before 15 September, I'll share my next blog post. Then I can finally reveal what I still have to keep secret for just a little longer.