Early Start at Tringford Reservoir

I am not an early bird by nature. I tend to work till the early hours of the morning, and generally need little more than four hours' sleep; except when very tired, I rarely find I can sleep uninterrupted for eight hours.

So the thought of arriving at Tringford Reservoir at or before seven o'clock in the morning was daunting, I set the alarm for 5.15am and because I had been undecided till the last minute, I actually went to bed around 1.30am – then woke before the alarm – around five. I got up after a five-minute doze, before switching it off.

I arrived at the reservoir about a quarter to seven, and walked along the Trout stream, just catching a pair of Mallard ducks coming in to land in the field bordering the stream, there were already a handful of greylags in the centre. There were no other signs of conspicuous activity either along the length of the stream or in the Tringford lake, so I strolled over the road and into Marsworth where there were more signs of life and spotted a well camouflaged duck in the bushes, some other ducklings and Greylags on the bank and in the water, and a small birds singing its heart out!

I wandered along to where the path forked to go to Startop reservoir then turned back, and it was now that a biting wind came on, and I was heading straight into it as I headed back to Tringford and the Fisherman's jetty to meet up with the bailliff, Bob.

For the rest of the day I was capturing swans landing and taking off, Coots and Mallard trying their damnedst to get their evil way with their females, I missed several opportunities to get the heron in flight, I spotted the capture of a crayfish by a crested Grebe, the flighty visits of a Robin, and a soaring Red Kite.

I witnessed the success of two fishermen in their boats, and conversations regarding buzzers and lures, I managed to stay wakeful till around three o'clock, and reached home with definite signs of tiredness, but it had been well worth it for the images I captured.