Brogborough Lake – a Lens Test

Friday was an early start to be at Egleton, by Rutland Water for BirdFair 2014. One of the primary reasons for the visit was to see whether I would be able to check out a lens that Tamron had recently brought out that covered the focal lengths of 150 - 600mm. I was hoping it might bring me larger images of kingfishers without too much cropping.

Another reason was to catch up with two photographers who were manning a stand to promote their Wildlife Photography Courses and some of their prints and photographs. I arrived early enough to be towards the front of the queue waiting for the 9 o’clock opening of the event, and it was not long before I found David Tipling on their stand, and we chatted till Chris Gomersall’s arrival a short time later. I discussed my plan to contemplate the purchase of the Tamron telephoto zoom as I was hoping there might be one I could handle and obtain a file from at Park camera’s stand. I soon left them to hopefully deal with hordes of eager photographers wanting to sign up for their courses.

At the Park Cameras stand they had both Nikon and Canon versions of the lens on each of the two marques of camera body, and they carried a stock for sale. I was able to put my own camera body on one to take a few sample images to give me an assessment of the quality I might expect, and the results impressed me enough to take the plunge and buy one. Later after committing the deed, I returned to Chris and David on their stand, and whilst there was greeted by a photographer with whom I had once worked, yet not seen since 1970! He recognised me, but it took me a moment to realise who he was – Robert Paskin – forty-four years! We chatted awhile and exchanged cards, said our goodbyes, and I headed back south, looking forward to a visit to either a reservoir or a lake to give the lens a proper test.

Brogborough Lake won the day, as it allowed me a longer rest, and Saturday found me setting up the 5D MkIII on a gimbal head at the water’s edge as a few surfers took to their boards. It proved to be a poor location as I could not see their faces due to the wind and sun direction, so I set off through the woods to position my self better, and stayed there till late afternoon, before grabbing a bacon buttie and a welcome cup of tea. The real work would begin when I began processing the images back at base…

Tring Reservoirs' Birdlife

Sunday promised fair weather with just a chance of a shower, so I decided that as I had not visited the Tring Reservoirs in a while, I would take myself off there with just the one lens and camera, the 5D MkIII and the 100-400mm lens. I intended travelling very light – not even the monopod.

I went to Tringford initially and met up with a couple of anglers, took a few shots of Common Tern as they swooped and dived for small fish close to the jetty. I did catch a quick glimpse of a pair of kingfishers skimming the water's surface before parting from the anglers and taking a wander a short way along the Trout stream, on the offchance I might catch sight of them there, but all there were were damselflies, a single dragonfly, a butterfly, and a multitude of insects.

I crossed the road and took to the path between Marsworth and Startops End reservoirs, stopping occasionally to capture more Common tern, black headed and common gulls. Eventually I took to the reeded area to patiently wait to see whether I might catch sight of a kingfisher at the far end of Marsworth reservoir. I was in luck, as after forty minutes a pair actually circled a bush on the far side from me, before beating a hasty retreat back across the main lake.

 I waited another twenty minutes before getting another chance when a singleton landed on a far bare branch before flying off; I just managed to capture a shot on the edge of my frame as it disappeared, and that is the shot that heads this text. More than an hour passed before I made my way back towards Tringford and capturing a few more shots of the gulls and tern.