We have proper winter in Gothenburg

We have winter in Gothenburg now and I can’t remember the last time we got this amount of snow overnight. We received around 30 cm the night between Monday and Tuesday, which meant trouble in the traffic on Tuesday morning.

I like when we get snow as everything brightens up. It should be like this during winter and not just wet like we have had for several seasons. Still it means trouble for the animals to find food. Nowadays we have migratory birds that stay for the season due to the mild winters.

One of birds that have it a little tougher when winter arrives is the Common Kingfisher. I think the population of Kingfisher is both migratory and resident. During winter we often have a bigger chance seeing them in town. They come to the spots with open water as they need to fish for food.

Looking for the Common Kingfisher

I had seen reports the last week of Kingfishers at several places in Gothenburg. Therefore I went to one of the places to see what it could bring.

As soon as I arrived I felt this morning would bring me my first photo of a Common Kingfisher in my hometown. It sat in a small tree overlooking the open water. It plunged into the water flying off with a catch. I watched it for some time and I realized it had two favorite spots from where it fished. When it caught fish it often flew off to a wooden fence where it bashed the fish to death and swallowing it. Then back to fishing again.

I stayed on site for three hours and during that time more photographers arrived. We kept a good distance to the bird as one must think of the birds best and not scare it away.

My aim for the day was to work from a low angle, which meant I crawled around in the snow most of the time. With a slow shutter speeds I also added the falling snow in the pictures. When I felt I was too cold I tried to capture the bird flying back and forth from the hunting ground and its dinner table.

It was nice to be able to spend time with the Blue Jewel here in Gothenburg. It was also nice to spend time with the other photographers on site. During the few dull moment one could chat with the others and also build up some warmth for next session on the ground.

I have included more winter pictures from the week in the gallery. I took them during an evening at Surtesjön.

Photo Gallery: We have proper winter in Gothenburg