Marston Lake Afternoon

 

I drove to nearby Marston Lake, having first ascertained that it was open once again. I parked up at the very first swim, where there was already a parked car, that I believe belonged to the local bailiff, but I could see no sign of anyone nearby, so perhaps he was checking out the various anglers on foot. After a while having taken a look across the lake to see just who was around, I returned to the car, to make my way around further swims to gain some idea of what life there was around the lake. It was very quiet on the lake, with a lone swan close to the far shore, and a few black-headed gulls endlessly working their way around the lake generally a short way offshore for most of the time, would drop to the water presumably in search of fish close to the surface.

I stopped at each swim as I made my way round the road to get differing views of what life there was on the lake, and disappointingly, it was the quietest time I had spent there, perhaps possibly due in part to the cloudy and cool weather; there was minimal birdsong, or calling. Along the way as I travelled between the various swims, I would chat to any anglers I met to question whether they had seen or heard the Woodpecker I had come across at one of my earlier trips to this lake, or had sightings of the Grebe I had come across before I learned of the mink, which gave me cause to wonder whether it was this incident that caused the Grebe to disappear.

l parked the car at the last swim accessible to the car, and took a walk to the last few swims, and finding no one, returned and took out my Sigma Sports lens — initially using it with the attached 2x Converter. With the front two Benbo tripod legs placed in the water,  I set up the camera as low as it would go, so that I could sit on the bank and be as close to level with the eyepiece to shoot. At first  I took some shots of the water lilies, and then the mating water boatmen both walking on water and on the flat lily leaves, bobbing in the wind-rippled water. I watched the gulls as they flew just a few yards from the shore, occasionally swooping down to the water presumably to catch some fish.

As I was at the bank with two of the tripod lengths in the water (a feature made possible using the Benbo tripod) so I could shoot from as low a viewpoint as possible, a Swan I recognised, due to its noticeable swelling to its neck came in close — I judged rightly or wrongly, assuming I might offer it food, but I verbalised my apologies in case it might bridge the species divide. Capturing this varied subject matter, especially the panning shots of the gull on the wing, provided me with the opportunity to continue to hone my skills with fast-moving and somewhat unpredictable direction changes, and overall I did manage to retain focus much of the time. The only noticeable failure on my part was moving the focus point around the screen; somehow that feature eluded me absolutely, so I shall have to consult the manual to work out how to unlock this currently stubborn resistance to my moving it from the centre of the screen!

This flaw apart, it was good to be using this camera and lens combo once again, but this hiatus has allowed me to get to grips with the Lumix, so the LockDown period has had some side benefits. I am hoping that in future handling, either will not be too daunting a readjustment between both cameras.