My biological clock is used to my working in the early hours of the morning, so waking early is tough! But I managed to be abed by one o’clock, so setting the alarm for five-thirty and setting off forty-five minutes later after a swift shower and brief breakfast was quite a personal success, but poor by wildlifers’ standards. I then setup the 7D and 300mm lens on the gimbal head with levelling cup and attached a bar and pistol grip to the tripod and set off. I then walked between Marsworth and Startops End reservoirs and along the canal towards Bulbourne.
I am a just in case sort of person, so could not do without two other bodies with lenses attached, and trudged to my designated spot by the red beds at the far end of Marsworth reservoir, and despite the cold was by now steaming and had to shed some outer clothing and my woolly hat to avoid steaming up my glasses!
I then got steadily colder and colder as waited patiently to capture the smaller reed birds as they would fly up above the reeds then swoop down once again out of sight. Every so often they would either climb up a reed, or land at the top and sway about for a while. Focussing was often a struggle as they were a good distance away and it was difficult sometimes to get an uninterrupted view through the nearmost reeds.
The forecasters had suggested a clear start becoming cloudier, the opposite was true, and eventually with a stiff neck and considerably colder I then made my way back to the Tringford reservoir, I had managed some images, but ironically as I walked back I got a few more with the difficulty of holding the tripod up when possible images came my way!
When I got to see Bob Menzies I then met Dave Wilkinson the boss of Tringford Anglers, and we chatted before I left to return to work on my images.
No comments:
Post a Comment