I saw the kingfisher in the Olympic Park again this week. It was here, in the reeds just to the south of the cycle circuit bridge. I've updated my sightings map with the location.
The kingfisher normally appears on the east bank, in my experience, so the best chance of a view is from the riverside path opposite. In this case it was nipping briefly out of the reeds and then back in again, repeatedly, and so making its way gradually downriver. The bird appeared a few times during the few minutes I was watching. It looked smaller than I remembered, which might be because it was a different bird or might be because my memory is dimensionally inadequate. But its presence left a grin on my face which continued for the rest of my walk.
I should say that this was the eighth time I'd walked along the riverside since my last sighting on Christmas Eve and followed seven abject failures. Spotting a kingfisher remains a rare event so you probably won't be lucky you turn up on spec. But a number of blog readers confirm they've now seen it, in much the same place, and generally at quiet times when not many other people are around.
It wasn't flying free or hovering high above, it was firmly tied to the gauntlet of a lady in a black raincoat. Initially I wondered if she was just taking it for a walk, but the more I watched them the more I decided there was more to it than that. I first saw them striding down the riverside path opposite Kingfisher Central, but was surprised when they then broke off up a slope through some trees where no proper path exists. Their progress looked deliberate rather than casual, and this steady pace continued as they crossed the footbridge and descended to the bank on the opposite side.
Occasionally the bird of prey flapped its wings and rang its bells in a "look at me" manner, but most of the time it perched contentedly on the lady's covered fist. I suspect the pair are part of a paid-for service to frighten away the pigeons, of which there are too many, but that's not something I've seen in a public park before, only in places like Trafalgar Square. I hope this avian deterrent doesn't have the unintended consequence of scaring off the local kingfisher.
