Fit for a king

Creating a nesting site for kingfishers is just one of the many ways Wakehurst is helping to restore the natural balance, and Andrew Jackson is thrilled by its success

Swallow that! A female kingfisher has just landed on her regular perch in front of me. Dangling, head first, from her beak is a young pike that is as long as she is. I wince at the thought of her fledgling choking on this enormous catch in the dark nesting tunnel just a few metres in front of me.

That is the indelibly etched memory of a wildlife encounter at Wakehurst more than 15 years ago. I was sitting in the kingfisher hide in the Loder Valley Nature Reserve – a regular spot for me to relax and gain perspective on the value of Kew’s conservation work.

I have witnessed some remarkable things from my favourite spot in the hide. At 5am on a spring morning I saw both male and female kingfishers launching themselves at their nesting bank like darts. Over the course of several hours they created a small dent, sufficient to gain a precarious foothold and to begin the serious task of digging a nesting tunnel. A week later I watched both adults shuffling backwards to the edge of their long tunnel, flicking large quantities of sand out with their feet. In the same week there was lots of courting behaviour: the male presenting fish to the female – sometimes alive and ready to be dispatched with a swift shake of the head, thwacking the hapless fish against the perch.

My most dramatic sighting was a plunging attack by a sparrowhawk. I had been enjoying watching this keen-eyed predator in a relaxed perch on the fringes

of the oak woodland above the nesting bank. Naively, I hadn’t considered it as a predator of kingfishers. As the female returned with a small fish for her young, the sparrowhawk descended with surprising speed – more like the stoop of a falcon. With heart in mouth I watched as the female darted away at the very last second and kept close to the water for the next 100 m or so. I reflected on the value of the kingfisher’s bright blue plumage. I’m sure it must be disorientating to an aerial predator. The buff-coloured feathers on the chest are an effective camouflage when the bird is perched with its back to the nesting bank. Such extravagant colours clearly have a purpose.

When you sit in the hide today, you could be fooled into thinking that the nesting area is natural. When Ardingly Reservoir was created in the mid-1970s, it flooded the lower reaches of Ardingly Brook and the natural, steep-sided riverbanks were submerged. The reservoir provided a super-abundance of quarry for the kingfishers, but nowhere to nest. So we decided to create an artificial nesting bank for them. In the spring following its completion, a pair took up residence, and in the 17 years since then kingfishers have nested here three times a year, every year. Well over a hundred young kingfishers have fledged from this created habitat.

For me, this exemplifies one of the most significant challenges for us

all in the future. As our actions continue to dominate the habitats of other organisms, we should be inspired by the opportunities to repair, restore and re-create places for wildlife to thrive. In this case it’s a charismatic bird, thrilling to watch and loved by many of us. The opportunities are also there for us to restore grasslands, woodlands and wetlands for the benefit of animals and the plants on which they ultimately depend.

– Andrew Jackson is head of Wakehurst Place and a finalist in the environmental category of the Garden Media Guild Awards 2011

» Kew’s Breathing Planet Programme includes an innovative restoration ecology programme. To find out more, go to www.kew.org and search for ‘restoration ecology’

I N T H E G A R D E N S

Visit the nature reserve

Adjoining Wakehurst Place, the Loder Valley

Nature Reserve covers 60 hectares of woodland,

wetland and meadows, and also includes part of

the Ardingly Reservoir. The kingfisher hide is sited

opposite the artificial nesting bank, allowing you

to watch and photograph these elusive birds

without disturbing them. Entry to the reserve

is free but limited to 50 people each day –

please enquire at the Wakehurst Visitor Centre

on your arrival to get your pass and further

information. For more on the reserve, go to

www.kew.org/visit-wakehurst/garden-

attractions-A-Z and click on the link.

To tell the difference between male and female kingfishers, look at the lower bill – it’s entirely black in males but marked with orange in females

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