Kingfisher chicks hatch at wildlife reserve

Image source, WWT Slimbridge

Image caption, The kingfishers will spend about four weeks raising their chicks

As the name suggests, kingfishers tend to get through a lot of fish, but did you know a nest full of chicks will eat up to 100 of them every day?

A pair of kingfishers have successfully bred at a wetland wildlife reserve in Gloucestershire with their eggs hatching earlier this month.

The parents are now on with the very busy job of feeding the chicks - for around four weeks - before the little birds fly the nest.

It is estimated that there are 4,900 breeding pairs of kingfishers in the UK.

Where were the baby kingfishers born?

Image source, WWT Slimbridge

Image caption, The parents will bring up to 100 fish a day to the nest for the chicks

The kingfisher chicks hatched at the WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre, in Gloucestershire, where the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust team have been monitoring the activity of the chicks closely.

Kingfishers normally incubate - keep the eggs warm by sitting on them - between five to seven eggs for about three weeks.

Image source, WWT Slimbridge

Image caption, The team at Slimbridge have been monitoring the birds closely

This happens in a nesting burrow in the river bank, usually a vertical wall of soil about two metres (6ft) high.

Once the chicks hatch, the parents feed them with small fish, increasing the size of the meal as their offspring grow.

The young are expected to fledge and possibly leave the nest at the end of May.