IT was a few days into September, and fairly early in the morning. The beginning of autumn was definitely ‘in the air’. I headed down to the river Wharfe, walked along a stony area beside the main stream, and took up my station - perching, rather uncomfortably with my camera, on a low folding stool. This had become something of a routine. I had been visiting the same location for a few days. As usual, I arrived a bit after sunrise. Perhaps that was through laziness, but I tell myself that, for photography, it’s often better to wait until a little more light makes its way over the tree line and illuminates the river. Well, it sounds plausible, doesn’t it?

I began photographing the Dipper that was near the opposite bank. It was feeding in just a few inches of faster flowing water. Over recent days we had spent some time in each other’s company and I hoped it was getting used to me. I tried to be as unthreatening and as predictable as possible in my behaviour. On the mornings that I was there, I sat in roughly the same place and wore roughly the same clothes. I arrived as quietly as I could and, at the end of each session, made a particular effort to leave without disturbing it. I hoped that the dipper would reach the conclusion that we could share the same space and all would end well. If, in response to my presence, the Dipper felt the need to fly off, how would it know that it hadn’t just made a life-saving decision – and one that should be repeated on all subsequent encounters?

As I watched through my camera lens, it seemed to be doing quite well for itself. In addition to digging out invertebrates from between the stones on the river bed, it had caught two or three small fish. This latter component of their diet places Dippers in competition with Kingfishers. However, based on differences in fishing methods and locations, it is interesting to consider the extent to which inter-specific feeding niches exist.

Kingfishers take their prey from relatively calm, slower-moving parts of the river, perching (usually), observing, and attacking from above. In contrast Dippers, forage with their heads (and perhaps bodies) underwater. They typically do this in faster-flowing, more turbulent areas of the river, and sometimes seem to just ‘run into’ fish. So, does it follow from these different patterns of behaviour, and different fishing locations, that Dippers and Kingfishers will catch different types of fish?

www.wharfedale-nats.org.uk