I knew that the roads would be busier than of late, but definitely, it was immediately obvious that traffic behaviour was less aware than it had been before the LockDown; it struck me strongly that skills and awareness had yet to return to normal; I had barely been on the A421 from the Slip Road for a couple of minutes when the car in the left lane began moving into the outer lane in which I was now travelling; it could have simply been a momentary lapse on that driver’s part, but since the car was barely going faster than the vehicle being passed, and there was no indication, it alerted me to there being less traffic awareness due to a long period of low volumes of traffic. From that moment on, I was on higher alert!
The SatNav was set for Priory Park, in the hope of finding plenty of activity from birds on the lake, in the woods, and in the air, I was not to be disappointed. It was better news from the cycling fraternity on this occasion, they were far better behaved than the car driver I had recently encountered! Surprisingly, the Car Parks were not full, but since the sun was from a minimally clouded sky, I opened the sunroof to the tilted position, and slid the cover forward to keep the interior from roasting.
I had come with the LUMIX fz10002, and a spare battery, so left the soft case in the boot, and strolled into the small closed-off area in case there was anything of note, but the Jackdaws I had noted and heard, remained in cover with only a few swift excursions, I suspected they were tending to their young from the excited chatter, but never spotted the nest. My stay there was very short.
I was soon heading into more quiet, wooded areas before venturing lakeside where I spotted a swan gliding along the shoreline, then a far more purposeful pair of Grebe. I soon began looking at the banks and reeds, at far more of the smaller denizens; damselflies, often paired up with customary heart-shaped linking and also dragonflies. Then, on one of the lakes carpetted with tiny green vegetation — algae?
As I moved around the paths, I also found numerous ladybirds, of at least two differing species, whereas there seemed less diverse butterfly species. Soon, a violent flapping alerted me to a Heron breaking cover and flying through the tops of nearby trees, and this was proof, if I needed it that this LUMIX was an ideal tool for a more relaxed photography trip under such circumstances — ladybirds, butterflies to heron, and on to landscapes! And, all without the encumbrance of a heavy tripod! I was very fortunate that I spotted the heron landing close to its nest, as since I carry no binoculars, I would otherwise never had got the static shot.
I also managed to get shots of circling black-headed gulls in flight. Catching sight of a couple of anglers soon after, I got shots of an interesting remote-controlled gadget for discerning the depth and weed cover beneath the lake’s surface, by traversing the area and sending back results to the operator onshore. This gives the angler the advantage of knowing where to place bait, and how to avoid line entanglement by weeds. To a non-angler this seems slightly less than sporting. It does however seem fairer than a wartime pursuit of lobbing hand grenades!
Mallard males tend to be aggressive in their pursuit of either potential suitors and sometimes females, and though I might find this aggression disagreeable, it does make for excellent detail when fortunate enough to be using a fast shutter speed as it is a good advertisement for lens quality!
Overall, I was pleased with the variety of images for this outing, but disappointed that much processing time was lost due to my car being serviced and a lack of replacement courtesy car meant being marooned till the work was completed.
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