As the veil of mist lifted, I saw a kingfisher fly off the short narrow pier, and bolt low over the calm lough, revealing its bright blue back and wings, before disappearing into the reeds on the other side.
This was the sight which greeted me as I arrived at Trory by Devenish Island, close to Enniskillen, on an impromptu visit with my dog Oisín on a November morning, during human rush hour. The island’s round tower and St Michael’s Church of Ireland Parish Church oh the hill, both looked down at the still waters of Lough Erne as I absorbed the sights and sounds of nature’s morning awaken.
As is the case for many, my view of the kingfisher was fleeting but still a source of great joy, such is the purity of the bird’s blue and orange colours, about which Welsh poet WH Davies wrote: “It was the rainbow gave thee birth/And left thee all her lovely hues.”
Watching the perfectly quiet water, after the bird flew, I thought of the ancient Greek legend about how a pair of kingfishers built their nest on a platform of fish bones which would stay afloat on the Mediterranean Sea for seven days each side of the winter solstice. The Greek name for Kingfisher is halcyon and to facilitate a successful incubation of their eggs, the god of water, Poseidon, ensured the seas and winds would remain motionless during this period.
Hence the term ‘halcyon days’ which originally described the calm and fine weather at this time in Greece and which is widely used as a reference to carefree and tranquil times in our lives. The name halcyon itself comes from the Greek goddess, Alcyone, who was transformed into a flashing blue kingfisher or ‘halcyon’ bird after her tragic death in the sea.
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Favouring slow moving quiet streams, rivers and waterways, the kingfisher enjoys a varied diet of small fish and larger aquatic insects which are caught by diving at speed from an overhanging branch. Nature poet John Clare in his poem The Fens describes how on a willow branch, “Kingfishers watch the ripple stream/For little fish that nimble bye/And in the gravel shallows lie”. Commonly known as Cruidín in Irish, another of its Irish names - Biorra an uisce, or water spear - is much more descriptive, referring as it does to the bird’s dagger sharp bill. Kingfishers nest in excavated tunnels in vertical riverbanks, close to their food source, mostly minnows and sticklebacks.
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Giraldus Cambrensis, known as Gerald of Wales, a 12th century Norman monk, author and observer of birds who visited Ireland, stated in his Topographia Hirbenica (1187) that a dead kingfisher’s plumage could be used to store inside cupboards to perfume clothes and repel moths. He wrote: “It is remarkable in these little birds, that if they are preserved in a dry place, when dead, they never decay: and if they are put among clothes and other articles, they preserve them from the moth and give them a pleasant odour.” It was also believed that if suspended by a thread, the dead kingfisher’s beak would point towards the prevailing wind, something Shakespeare referenced in King Lear when Kent speaks of those who “Renege, affirm and turn their halcyon beaks/With every gale and vary of their masters”.
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Before leaving, 10 whooper swans, necks outstretched came into view, honking, descending low to fly in a line just metres above the lough, their images reflected perfectly on the still water. Both kingfisher and swans were much more soothing to eye and ear than the human rush hour behind the hill.
