Brogborough’s Lake Life

  The warmth and sunshine invited me to the nearby lake at Brogborough that would normally be the venue of Windsurfers when the wind provided the power for the practitioners to perform; but on this occasion, the water was barely ruffled by more than a whisper of a breeze, and the origins of the lake could clearly be seen by the abundance of bricks that lie strewn below, close to the shore. Amongst the reeds, the dragonflies occasionally landing would create momentary stirs in the stillness and, if the perch seemed too insecure the dragonfly would take to the air in an instant. The damselflies with their lesser weight were more patient, and on occasion, even when coupled with a mate could be seen congregating on a single reed stem.

It was this life I had come to record, as on the last visit I had spotted their arrival in small numbers, and the week long warmth had resulted in an explosion of activity since my earlier visit. I sat down intending to stay at the nearest bay to the entrance to the field, careful to avoid the Swan’s and Geese’ droppings, but after a short while I felt I needed to be closer to the water’s edge, so returned to the car for my small rucksack that has a cushion within, I use for such eventualities. I also picked a few bricks from around, to give me a sound base.

A short way into the water was a small group of bricks that I suspect was an earlier addition by either an angler as a support, or by another ‘Smudger’* as a prop for the likes of dragonflies to alight and provide a ‘natural’ backdrop lapped by water. Certainly, both Dragonflies and damselflies visited this small outcrop of bricks as did simple flies, and it is a workable distance from the nearby bank to serve the purpose of providing a resting place for these species to be captured by photographers. I have now provided a temporary seat as yet not covered by incontinent geese and swans!

I later found a sun-bleached wooden plank from another ‘Swim’ to give a clearer backdrop to see whether it attracted as a landing pad for Dragonflies, and it proved successful, but may well be removed by following anglers. Fortunately, the current Camera, (Lumix FZ10002) that accompanies me works well at these distances, but once the limitations due to the current restrictions are lifted, I will go back to using my longer lenses and larger format, but before that period ends I do wish to get some help to try to more fully understand how to reprogram some of its controls to allow me more instant access to some of its functions. Looking into the capture data afterwards, I do note, I could have lowered the overall sensitivity to lessen the Noise more when the sunshine is so prevalent, or to add greater depth of field, by stopping further down. 

          *Smudger was an early, sometimes mildly derogative description of a travelling photographer.