Product Description

The kingfisher is one of the most bewitching of birds - strikingly beautiful in colour, unmistakably elegant in profile, incomparable when plunge-diving for its food. It is shy, solitary and hard to spot when it perches motionless on a branch above the water, ready to strike the moment of fish appears. It is also notoriously difficult to photograph, which makes Charlie Hamilton James' achievement in producing "Kingfisher: Tales from the Halcyon River" all the more remarkable. From a hide attached to his home by a West Country river, and from a number of vantage points along that river, he has watched and photographed kingfishers for literally thousands of hours, starting work before dawn and continuing until there is too little light for him to see. This dedication has enabled him to build up a unique photographic portfolio, showing behaviours that have not appeared in scientific papers. We see kingfishers courting and mating, rearing their chicks, hunting and defending a territory. Charlie's skills as a film-maker are also apparent in his photography - his shots of the kingfishers diving make us believe we are watching them in motion. The accompanying text is equally exceptional. Written in diary form, it covers the kingfishers' habits season by season and describes them with real intimacy - 'The birds appear together, very excited. The male lands in the wood pile at the base of the ash tree and the female lands on the perch next to the nest. They whistle to each other excitedly and the male flutters his wings to a blur'. It also opens a window on the tribulations of being a wildlife photographer. The combination is an unparalleled record of the life of this beautiful bird, a towering achievement from a brilliant photographic talent.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12203 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 168 pages

About the Author
CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES has been filming and photographing wildlife for over 20 years. He is particularly passionate about otters and kingfishers and has become an authority on both. He has won numerous international awards for his work, including Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 1990 and 1991 and Best Cinematography at Wildscreen 2004. In 2007 he won the Royal Television Society award for Cinematography was nominated for a BAFTA for his camera work.

Customer Reviews

Kingfisher Tales from the Halcyon River
What a great book, bought it for my sister's birthday and decided to have my own copy as well.
I have only had it a few days but I have read it all and the pictures are out of this world. Charlie Hamilton James is a very clever photographer and I felt the book was worth its price, although I was lucky enough to buy it on Amazon at less than the Retail Selling Price of £25.

A great catch!
I saw this book reviewed in the Friday edition of a national newspaper and knew it was something I just had to own so ordered it immediately and received it within 5 days from UKPaperbackshop.

Like the author I too have a bit of an obsession about these stunning birds since seeing one for the first time 2 years ago. I know from experience how difficult it is to photograph them even when they are perched motionless on a branch so I found the quality and range of the images in this book absolutely incredible.

There are close up shots of the bird on a perch, in flight photos, images of very young featherless chicks on the nest, action shots of the bird fishing, and even photos taken below the water surface! Although the majority of the images are from the author's own patch in the west of England there are also shots taken in Borneo and on the Zambezi.

This is not just a book full of stunning photos however. There is a great deal of text written in diary form giving a marvellous insight into the behaviour and habits of the bird. The author has also added notes at the end of the book explaining briefly how he has set about capturing the bird in different situations and the equipment he has used.

This book will be of interest to birdwatchers, nature lovers and mere mortal wildlife photographers like myself!

Buy this book!
First of all full disclosure, Charlie and I have been friends for the last 25 years and I am acknowledged in this book. The river he talks about was one he first visited in my garden and we frequently bunked off school together to explore it.

That aside I still love this book and despite knowing Charlie for most of his life, I still learned a lot. Many people looking through this will assume photographer's of this calibre have some magical, 'natural gift' - that somehow they were born taking great photographs. I don't believe there is such thing, an incredible amount of hard work goes into this - I can tell you, as I was there, at least some of the time (especially in the early years). Charlie would come & stay for the weekend and get up at 4am and stay in his hide until midday. - standing still for up to 8 hours at a time, sometimes up to the top of his waders in freezing water. Often he would see NOTHING and do this the next day. Then he'd be back the next weekend and do it all again. This would go on for months - Sometimes he'd get a glimpse and occasionally a blurred photo. Then there were years of experimental shots using different ways of getting the kingfisher where he wanted it using assortments of baths, fish tanks and custom made devices. Basically - what you see in this book took the best part of a quarter of a century to get. The results speak for themselves.