NO matter what the weather, no matter what sort of horrible, stressful or boring day at work you may have had, there is one little wildlife gem that can always brighten the day and bring a smile to your face-unless of course you are a fish.

Then the sight of a kingfisher sitting on its perch could be quite terrifying.

From the fish's point of view it is not the magnificent vivid orange chest plumage, nor the wonderful iridescent electric blue back and wing feathers that draw the attention, but the proportionately long and business-like looking beak that is the main focus.

For it is this beak that the kingfisher uses so efficiently to kill and consume small fish.

In the Wyre Forest district we are lucky to have quite a large population of kingfishers. It may well seem that this is not the case though, as they never gather together in any one place as a flock.

Being quite solitary birds, they will aggressively defend a small stretch of prime feeding habitat from other kingfishers. They only tolerate another kingfisher in their territory for breeding and nesting in late spring and early summer.

A pair will excavate a half-meter long tunnel into the banks of a watercourse at the end of which they build a nesting chamber where six to seven eggs are laid.

Within six weeks the eggs will hatch, the young are reared and will leave the nest to begin their own completely independent lives.

The sort of place a kingfisher would call prime feeding habitat would be fresh water bodies with still or slow moving water with shallow areas such as canals, streams, rivers and even drainage ditches.

Another vital requirement is that the water body has a suitable perch such as a low overhanging branch with a good field of view over the water.

This is because the kingfisher hunts its main prey item small fish, firstly by sighting it from its perch, then diving down powered by a few beats of its broad stocky wings before plunging head first into the water and spearing it with its deadly beak.

It all happens in a blink of an eye.

Fortunately for us there are a lot of good kingfisher habitats in Wyre Forest such as the Staffs and Worcester canal, the Severn and Stour rivers and their many smaller tributaries such as the Dowles and Hoo brooks.

Due to the strict territorial nature of these birds once you have seen one there is a good chance that on a return visit to the same area you will encounter the same bird again.

If this spot is a place you regularly visit it is amazing how these small, yet wonderfully colourful birds will soon find a place in your heart.