Over the past several days at varying times of an evening, I have heard the characteristic squawk of geese as they passed over the house, and in several V-formations and generally large numbers; but never predictably enough to have a camera (and preferably on a tripod) at hand, so since it was a Sunday evening I decided I would go in search of where they might be, so that I might put myself in the best position to catch them in flight.
I drove round to Brogborough Lake to the Windsurfing Club to enquire whether they had seen them, and learned that they had indeed, but only in the mid-afternoon, whereas I was hoping to capture them either in the early morning or early evening light. Sam, co-owner with his wife Emma, said well if you cannot find them at least you have the Eclipse of the Moon at three am! At first I felt that was a difficult time for me, but it sowed the seed of an idea, and seeds tend to germinate in my mind, and it did make me ponder a possible timetable, since it was very likely to be a clear night…
I mentioned that the geese seemed headed to the other adjacent lake at Stewartby, and Sam said he had heard there were large numbers seen over there, so I thanked them and headed in that direction, I decided I would not return the way I had come, but head in the direction of Liddlington. It was at the junction of Sheep Tick Lane that the low rays of the evening light was falling on the edge of the Allotments and a bed of roses, some dying Red Hot Pokers, and tall Sunflower heads. I could not simply pass them by, so parked up for a few moments to grab some shots for possible use as cards.
This route to Stewartby meant I had twice to cross level crossings before parking close by the Sailing Club. This allowed me to be be in a possible position to see the geese against the sunset backdrop should they be taking to the skies. I could see that the far side of the lake was certainly crowded with a large congregation of birds on the water with just a few occasionally taking to the air, but they were largely silent, so since geese are notorious for loud conversations when planning to fly, it seemed unlikely they were due for takeoff anytime soon.
However in the foreground at the pontoon, there was human activity by a powerboat and I soon spotted a young lad in a wetsuit with a ski, and the preparations suggested an imminent departure, and a lone angler seemed to sense his fishing activities were about to be curtailed, so decided I would record the scene and hope for some interesting shots of a skier in nice lighting. I proved to have arrived at a vary opportune moment, and was able to get shots of two different skiers before the last glows of sunset had faded from the sky.
I added two shots of the moon either side of midnight; the full moon and the total eclipse of the Super Moon giving me the Rose Moon – I slept for an hour and a half before getting the total eclipse at around three o’clock and back to bed at after four for a lie-in.
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