Riverside Birds, Bedford

          On this visit to Bedford, I parked very close to the river, and took a gentle stroll back to the bank having already taken the soft case off, and set the zoom and exposure in anticipation of what I might be capturing initially. This turned out to be one of the Greylag geese who looked up towards me in anticipation of my throwing a handful of seed in its general direction. The action of doing so caused others to react more speedily as all were far swifter and more nimble!

          It also attracted the interest of others on the wing, mostly gulls. My interest was in trying to capture some of those in the air, as the LUMIX, my camera on this occasion, is less easy to master in such situations.

          The LUMIX is far less obtrusive than my EOS cameras with the bulky Sigma telephotos, so the Squirrel in the tree felt safe and although it was very much aware of me, it was confident and not threatened, which allowed me to spend quite some time capturing shots of it, both in the tree and on the ground.

A Walk Along the River Great Ouse in Bedford

        The sun was favouring the River Great Ouse with its warmth and light as I arrived to spend a relaxing couple of hours in early September. I strolled through wooded shade towards the riverbank, and as if to confirm the warmth a paddleboarder came into view, soon followed by a narrowboat. By now I was right by the riverbank, and spotted an unusual gourd-like plant floating on the surface on a long stem, which disappeared from view into the depths. A Robin paid a fleeting visit to a shadowed branch of the canopy, so my eye turned elsewhere and a small butterfly caught my and unlike the Robin, it seemed unfazed by my presence. I walked on with boats passing by on my left.
        My lens and I caught sight of the first Dragonfly of the day and from my low viewpoint it appeared to match the desiccated and web-strewn seed pods of its vantage point. Soon I was to spot an abundance of dragonflies choosing far more fresh examples of vegetation, greener reeds waving slowly in the occasional breeze. A Cygnet gently passed by as I captured yet more dragonflies moving from one vantage point to another with occasional dances with potential suitors. I found interesting eddies to capture in the gently swirling waters caused by raised stones close by the riverbank, or clumps of vegetation. Also in the shadows and shallows, the water seemed to glow in the dappled light coming through from gaps in the overhanging trees that had started to shed their leaves by the bank. Drapes of Ivy hanging by the path’s edge seemed to provide a silhouette of an Elephant and its trunk, and I mentioned that to a passing couple walking past me, and they smiled and agreed with my observation! From my constant seeking of suitable viewpoints to choose clear views of birds and insects, I often note that flying insects are always willing to practise their skills by attempting landings on unstable waving reeds and leaves. This day was no exception; several times a landing will be attempted, then abandoned shortly after, when the blade of grass or reed drastically dipped under the extra weight! I also observe shape similarities in nature that have equivalences to human engineered tools — I tempt the reader to spot a dragonfly on the handle of a whisk!
        I don’t only observe the denizens of the animal kingdom on these photo sorties, I also capture fellow humans making the most of these areas, as once again I capture appealing scenes of wave-rippled reflections of brightly coloured paddles and cascading water as they leave the water. Leaf textures and shadows add to their appeal, and overlapping backlit leaves can form shapes that can be recognised as entirely disconnected impressions of other familiar objects — see if you can spot a caricature dog?! Or a Duck in the healed wound of a tree that years earlier had lost a branch. Or the basis of tic toe in blades of grass, or individual characters of the Alphabet? This park also can trace incidental architecture from the time of Egypt’s Pharoahs, and to continue this game see if you can spot a lamp standard keeping its eye on a runner?
        Perhaps it’s just me, but the world is full of interesting shapes and juxtapositions, and this trip just seems brimming with subliminal artefacts! Hopefully, I can catch up with some more of my backlog of images yet to see the Light of Day.

Nature Calls — so I head for the Country!

          Yes, I need relief, but from enclosing walls, where outside, the sun is beckoning. I gather my camera and lenses and a small amount of sustenance and a flask of weak orange juice to guard against dehydration. I head north and the River Great Ouse, to keep body and soul together, and ensure my reflexes and brain get exercise.
          Damselflies, flowers, and fresh air ensures that no cobwebs are woven into the fabric of what I loosely call a brain. Currently my ongoing concern is for a failing memory, something which in earlier times I held with great pride that recall was speedy and accurate, nowadays I often struggle to remember simple descriptive words, the names of friends and places, and worst of all, why I went up or downstairs or for what item! When that happened in earlier times I would laugh at myself, and the block would melt like ice on a hot plate, and the word, thought or name would appear in a trice. Then it was funny, now it is unnerving. However, I do try to avoid getting too stressed over it, but it is tough!
          Already the grass I cut barely a week hence beckons for the mower, but I have more pressing reasons to be out, so it will have to grow some more, as I need my fix, not photographic fixer, but photographic scenes, and challenges, and the exercise of limbs and brain, and on this day blue sky almost edge to edge was the clarion call that urged me to gather my camera, which was already encased with fully charged batteries, spare cards, and a separate case with an alternative lens and spare caps. However, knowing my memory is absolutely fallible, I open the case and double check! When I reach the car, I check not only my tripods, but my monopod with ball head, which is now my main support, the tripod is there for the off chance that clouds appear. I was never a Boy Scout, but the Cubs motto was similar!
          My destination was Milton Ernest, as I can park close by the river and at this time of year birds, flowers and insects abound, so with the trusty support of the monopod and ball head, the Sigma 60-600mm on the EOS R6 is entirely manageable and really flexible, as I keep reiterating. To be visited by the woodpecker, albeit somewhat shielded by the feeder was a delight! 

          I hope that others can enjoy the shots as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Another Nature Walk with a Camera

                At a time when being close to others is fraught with difficulties, getting out in fresh air and carrying a camera come together as not only a good idea, but also a healthy one from a purely selfish perspective — I need to ensure that my brain is active, and being challenged. On this occasion, although I set off in a northerly direction, I did not actually have a specific destination, because to be too specific might result in expectations being unfulfilled. I did however have a preference for subject matter — Nature.

The weather was warm and on my recent excursions had been to cover birds that were of reasonable size whose habitat was both on the water and shoreline. On this trip I found myself close by Oakley and the River Great Ouse. I walked from my car close by the bridge and away from the village and church and the shady path that could lead to the windmill. I could hear the chatter of young voices coming from the far end and heading towards me, and leading from the path several areas had been cut back to give access to the water’s edge, so I took one of these to both avoid close contact, but more to see what might be  found among the reeds.

There were damselflies flitting around, but as there was a fair abundance of light, flight was sustainable, and at their size, I was far more likely to get photos of them when static on leaves or reeds. There were different species of Damselflies, and different body colours — blue, red and gold, and their prevalence certainly characterises much of the content of this gallery. Damselflies have two sets of wings, and whilst observing some of them, they would very rarely, but occasionally flick them open briefly whilst still static, and this presented me a challenge to capture such moments, but my success rate was poor! But frame 16 was a success, but considering that I witnessed this behaviour numerous times and with different damselflies, my reflexes were certainly challenged, thus my success rate of one was pleasing! There were far more challenging times for the damselfly males, as although I saw much activity on the mating front, I only saw a single example of dual flight despite many forays! Another challenge I enjoy is the capture of alphabet shapes — see if you can spot W-A-X? And surprisingly, I have not re-ordered the images for the letters to create the word!

What also amuses me on occasion when I am met outside, I can be asked what am I actually photographing, and this often when my camera is fixed on a tripod — so in the past I have suggested they look through the back of the camera! I was often looking at a small insect that has yet to move, and the viewer had not seen it till looking away after viewing it through the camera!

On one memorable occasion, I was outside with some College Students; studying photography! and I was amazed that all had passed a four seat chair table beneath a crab apple tree that was absolutely overloaded with windfalls on both table top and chairs! And not one had made the observation — I told them later that a photographer had to look in order to see! On that occasion I was not viewing some distant subject with a long lens!

This trip was definitely insect-oriented, but far from creep-crawly, butterflies and moths can be fascinating in their colours and behaviours, so being out with a camera at this season is never dull. And, the end of this foray, I was challenging myself to capture black-headed gulls, and specifically when in prominent places related to the bridge arches, which adds to the challenge, and one pair were very obliging!

A Lake and a River Visit

           This is a gallery from two different locations; one at the nearby lake at Brogborough, but then moves to the river Great Ouse at Great Barford, on an exceptionally bright day. The early shots at the lake had several shots of the reflections on the water, which handily provide me with background images for greetings cards, which provide backgrounds for messages or for inserting small separate images. I also took various other lake views, and some tulips in my own garden before transitioning to the shots I took at Great Barford.

          Parking was no problem, but I had almost reached the river before realising I had not brought my mask from the car (if asked how do I exercise, it is by forgetting to bring my mask from the car, having walked most of the distance to my destination, and have to return to the car, and make the initial journey a second time!) I find this failing memory extremely frustrating, especially as I seem to have damaged the cartilage in my right knee.

          For the early part of my trip I mainly used my general purpose wide angle to medium length zoom, with its extremely handy button for when I need to do closeup shots. Later, I changed to the 100-400mm for some more distant shots. It was pleasing to find that here social distancing was being observed very well, unlike some of my earlier trips, where the main offenders were groups of inconsiderate cyclists who seemed to consider themselves above such considerations for others.

Sent from my iPad

Milton Ernest Flowers

Every so often, I feel blessed that not only is the sun out, but I am somewhere that really benefits my choice of venue to take photos, and this afternoon at a spot by the River Great Ouse, Spring flowers greet me. My lens of choice for such a situation is the extremely versatile 24-70mm lens with its handy macro facility. The gallery of images displayed on this occasion are taken close to the river at Milton Ernest.

The size of the flowers I captured range from the smallest, a few millimetres in diameter to clusters of full-size variegated tulips, which shows how versatile this one lens can be when used exclusively on the EOS R6, as I was that afternoon. After my long telephoto zooms this is one of my favourite lenses because of this very versatility.

What pleased me amongst these images were the interesting curves that the leaf blades formed alongside the flowers themselves. I rounded off the set of images with shots of the river bank and, as I walked back up the lane, the clouds looked ominous over my parked car, so I captured that as a fitting end to my afternoon.

Two Riverside visits — Oakley and Milton Ernest

I drove to the village of Oakley, which has several areas with easy access to the banks of the river Great Ouse, at this time of year, this is an area with a wealth of different indications of different stages of fresh young growth. This was especially noticeable on the trees alongside the road heading towards the church at Oakley, close by a small park and the river Great Ouse. I had parked up in a small area opposite to the gate to the river bank park that has a gate leading to a path across a green field and also an entrance to the riverside path on the other side of the road bridge across the river.

I was fortunate to have some sunshine in the early stages of this trip, but it was not destined to last. One very noticeable observation I made was just how many large tree branches were caught in the various barrages at the bridges and weirs. From my walks in the nearby woodland paths, I was pleased that it was far less muddy than it had been a few weeks earlier, and that some of the clearings had small stacks of collected fallen branches. The barrages on the river were well-filled and the buttresses of the bridge were holding back some very large tree trunks. Also in the small park that stretches from the bridge to the church there were several cut down trees.

I spent much of my time capturing the different stages of growth of leaves and seeds as I walked along the margins, and also noted that one of the walls at the end of the road bridge had very bad cracks, yet also reasonably recent new pointing. My stay at this stretch of the river concluded by my capture of the fresh new season’s various growth stages, before driving to Milton Ernest where I captured a pair of swans on this stretch of the same river, and more young flowers.

I try to make a point of photographing the information panels as it comes in handy when choosing locations at future times.

Visit to Oakley & River

                My visit to Oakley was frustratingly short on images due to a long cloud that obscured the much-needed sunshine I had needed to capture the scenes before me. On this trip I was using my Canon R6 with my earlier lightweight Sigma 60-600mm on my lightest tripod.

               The river was high still, but the walk in the fields alongside was reasonably easy going, and on my arrival I anticipated I would have uninterrupted warm sunshine. I should have taken more notice of one particular cloud, as it was wide and just high enough in the gentle breeze to rob me of that sunlight for many minutes. I therefore left the camera inr of  position for that shot in the hopefully short wait for the cloud’s passing, and walked around seeking further viewpoints for when its return allowed me to resume Normal Service!

               During this forced interlude, the only other people sharing this open space were two young women seated chatting at the small table and seats. Eventually the cloud finally cleared the sun, and allowed its rays to capture some shots of the church through the leafless screen of trees. I altered my views to reveal more of the church and to capture the river with the tall weeping Willow, and also the cluster of more distant fine weather clouds beyond the river.

               As I was beginning to gather my gear for my return to the car, I saw a man very obviously heading directly towards me, as he came close enough for conversation he greeted me with: “I believe we have met before when you have been out with your camera…” He continued that he was not absolutely sure until he was closer, and he recalled the location, and I was able to confirm that I remembered the spot, and complimented his recall of the occasion, which was likely around a decade earlier! We continued in conversation and as I had only a single card on me, I suggested he take a shot on his phone so that later he could view the few shots from the day’s visit. We parted once at the road, for him to complete his walk across the fields and for me to return to the car and head for home.

               My afternoon was once again to succumb to Serendipity, for I realised I was close enough to visit a friend at Milton Ernest, so I headed that way; it was there whilst enjoying a cup of tea with a lady whose house is at the end of a road that leads to the River Great Ouse, that she showed me a bottle she had converted to a lamp which rounds off the accompanying gallery of the day’s images.

Bedford Walk & Capture

     

The sun and warmth of this Autumn day drew me to visit the banks of the River Great Ouse in Bedford, with the desire to capture the activity of some of the wildlife. On this occasion, I had my hopes set on a heron that I had photographed at the weir behind the Cinema, but it turned out to be on a fishing trip by the wider weir, offering a cooling walk in shallow water further along the path. I was to spend some time before my wish was granted on the other side of the main road, photographing some very sleepy ducks, some interesting fungi on the bark of a tree, backlit leaves, and bunches of berries, before returning to the weir and walking further.

I had chatted to some of the anglers during that period, one of whom was a photographer who ran a Camera Club, he copied my details to his phone, so we may well meet up again in the future. I noted where the heron was in passing it, but the view was both distant, and heavily obscured by fine branches, so I spent some time walking beyond, crossing a bridge further down the path, and returning to narrow the distance between us and doing my best to obtain a view that was less obscured. The heron was very aware of me, and was leisurely moving to other spots from which it could observe its potential prey without a care as to whether I might have a clear view of the action! This meant often I would have to seek a new spot every few minutes, during which I had to move considerably further round. I was however rewarded by having differing backgrounds and finally by capturing its success over a substantial meal, however it downed its catch out of my sight, but I could see a slight bulge in its neck for evidence!

Currently the bird I really wish to see at some of the spots to which I gravitate, is the Kingfisher. This year my trips to the one lake that in the past has afforded me the chance of photographing this beautiful little bird have been unsuccessful — this is the lake at Marsworth, the spot where in the past every visit by me was reciprocated with avian visits, and by that I mean not just kingfishers but several other bird species, even though my raison d’être for the trip was undoubtedly the Kingfisher.

Definitely this visit’s highlight for me was undoubtedly to see the heron, especially as it kept me on the move which to me is always preferable to sitting in a hide with a comparatively static background and on this occasion, I definitely got my exercise quota as well as a ‘warm fuzzy’ from the heron and its excellent catch!

River Gt Ouse — Afternoon Walk

The sun graced my visit to the River Great Ouse at Milton Ernest, and it was extremely sticky as the humidity was very high, but it was sometime since I had been to Milton Ernest and was hoping to catch sight of a kingfisher along this stretch of the river, as I had it on good authority there was one seen along here. But to save raising any  hopes, no kingfishers were seen or heard during this trip!
When I am not on the look out for animal or birds as subjects for my trigger finger, architecture can catch my eye and interest, and on this walk I was not disappointed, as one of the bridges became a subject for my LUMIX FZ10002. In this instance, it was the shine on the underside roof that caught my eye.
There were small islands in the path of the river which also caught my eye, as did some swans with their cygnets, but they managed to ensure I had no clear sight of them, and although I walked fast to try to intercept them, they succeeded in eluding me totally, despite my best efforts to try to find a spot on the bank to catch a further sight of them.
Later, I found flowers to feed my camera's hunger for beauty, so the afternoon's images certainly represent variety, where the only connection was the camera, my eyes and an insatiable hunger for capturing interesting images. I hope that I have succeeded despite not having realised one specific personal hope in my ongoing search for locations where I have a realistic chance of finding kingfishers.

River Gt. Ouse – Walk

           This gallery has a few additional, unrelated images from my front hedge and elsewhere, so that I could fill the available slots. I spent a relaxing and enjoyable time in a village a few miles north of my home, Milton Ernest. I took a walk alongside the River Great Ouse with the Lumix FZ10002 and one Closeup lens in case the opportunity arose where I needed to get close.

           In the distance at one stage, I spotted a church looking as if it was on a wooded island surrounded by fields. It should be apparent that my taste in images is somewhat Catholic, as it is not simply the life that exists in bushes and hedgerows, but the vista of landscapes themselves, and the architecture of structures to be found when walking, such as beneath the railway as it is elevated above low-lying fields. The rushing waters of the River Great Ouse I found fascinating as it caused the reeds to constantly wave to the currents and create ever-moving patterns that I found very restful. As I followed the course of the river, sometimes close, other times at a greater remove, the sun would cast shadows that moved across the landscape as if to similar rhythms; occasionally only lighting a thin moving wedge across the fields. Occasionally a tree standing alone caught my eye, or one dead tree reminded me of an Octopus as if halted whilst traversing the field.

           There were numerous butterflies, the occasional damselflies, a Swan with a single Cygnet slowly navigating the reeds close by the bank, a tiny snail beneath a leaf. All presented me with the challenge of how to capture the variety, whether up close or at a distance. I enjoyed the variety of the flowers, the winding road rising a hill, and the shapes to be found in the trunk of a tree. All these images were captured with the one camera, despite being close or distant, and in the case of the tiny snail by flipping up the flash to light the underside of the leaf to which it hung. On the next trip out I even used its ability to stitch a panorama as I carefully panned it from left to right; I cannot praise this LUMIX camera enough for sheer versatility!

Priory Country Park, Bedford 2020

Before all the travel and other restrictions became the new norm, I had visited the Priory Country Park in Bedford, but that had been from its main entrance, and since I was trying hard to distance from my fellow humans, that was definitely not going to be where I was heading. I took a long look at the Bedford area using Google Earth, and also my Ordinance Survey Map of the area. I also decided to call my earlier fellow BRSCC Assistance Chief Pit Marshall, because he had spent some time living in Bedford, to sound him out for local knowledge. From this telephone call, I received an interesting wake-up call, Peter reminded me it was over twenty years ago, since he retired from the company for which he had been a Director; and the area, and had been living on the South Coast ever since! 

Doesn’t time fly?! Perhaps I should take a moment to realise that we ceased marshalling around the same time, and my marshalling ended at the same time as I set up ‘SOLUTIONS photographic’, but I am still in touch with other marshals from that time, and am still very much interested in motor racing. Yet my photographic interests still span the peace and solitude of small insects, birds, flowers, landscapes and skies as well as powerboats, windsurfers, 

and venues such as Goodwood, Brands Hatch and Brooklands. I find no contradiction between these two categories.

On this trip, I found a lone swan had commandeered a short stretch of the bank to perform its grooming, and noted that white downy feathers were around, so it was obviously a favoured spot. Later when the swan vacated the location three Mallard ducks came in to claim the spot at high speed! Yet they knew better than to make any attempt to share the spot whilst the Swan  was in residence!

I was also lucky with some of the butterflies, and a Magpie, and the lighting on a very closed riverside Pub. The Canoe section was acting as a nursery for algae, so I imagine that will be probably attended to before that is opened once more. I do hope that we do not have to wait too long before the freshness of the young leaves is all lost.

I suspect this trip will be the last for at least a week, because the forecast appears to be far less favourable, so will mean I have no excuse not to attending to cleaning my kitchen floor, and other household chores that have featured less over the last week! Once those have been done, I will spend some more time reading the LUMIX manual to try to set the camera up better to suit my way of working, because speedy access to certain controls is still very hit ‘n’ miss — or to be more specific — often very much ‘Miss’! It is still not fluid enough for me. And since the chance of my using my other much heavier gear is still a long way off, I need to get the hang of this little beauty, while have some time on my hands.

River Gt. Ouse Behind Riverpark Drive

I had a two-fold reason for my trip to Bedford; foodstuffs the Co-op did not stock and to investigate the sightings of kingfishers on the river from an angler I met on the last trip out, whilst he was walking with his wife.

Some items of food shopping are not found at my two local Co-op stores, and it was the Tesco and B&M Stores that stock specific items such as Fray Bentos ‘Landmines’ (so called due to an unfortunate accident that Michael Cane might have been moved to comment upon, had he seen me put one in the oven without removing the lid!) When I saw just how long the queue stretched, I decided to return to the car and dig out my camera; this sunshine was too tempting to waste standing in a queue, I can live for a while longer with the food stocks I hold! 

As I entered the waterside grassy walk I wandered by one of the park benches and noted a couple were relaxing in the shade, occasionally sharing some of their bread with the ducks. Much later having walked some distance on this side of the river taking photos, and crossed over to the far bank and eventually returning and going beyond my start point in the other direction, the couple were still there and we began to chat. During our conversation the man mentioned he had actually seen a kingfisher fly by here, which confirmed my angler’s assertion that this stretch of river was where I might be rewarded with opportunities to photograph one of my favourite birds.

On this trip the highlight was catching sight of a Mallard pair with its young chicks at the water’s edge, so I can definitely see myself journeying here much earlier in the day sometime in the not too distant future, as I also caught a fleeting sight of a squirrel in the branches, and a Holly Blue butterfly, so though brief I now had found a spot worth a second visit. I did not bother with any Supermarket visit, but returned to sort out the shots I had managed to capture, knowing that coming to this spot on the river at a later date, and much earlier in the day was likely to prove fruitful.

Close By the River Gt. Ouse

               I am still scouring nearby areas close by the River Great Ouse in search of new spots from which to patiently capture images of Kingfishers, and to this end found myself down a lane leading to the fast-flowing waters of the river which meanders in oxbow manner through this county. It was certainly rushing by on this afternoon, and from the waterlogged grass and mud at the end of this lane  told that it had obviously exceeded the normal bounds of its banks very recently. However in reaching thus far, the other native birds were in noisy abundance in the bushes and gardens on either side of the lane, so I parked up, having turned the car around to allow me to leave later with ease.
               I did take a walk down the river's edge, but it was way too waterlogged to consider shooting from there. Also, the overall likelihood of this spot proving the ideal location from which to get shots of kingfishers was not good, as the far bank was open to fields beyond, offering no cover.
               However, the sounds and activity from the trees and bushes did offer a great opportunity of shots of numerous other birds; Great Tit, Bluetit, Dunnock, Goldfinch and Robin. This meant it was certainly worth erecting the tripod and mounting my EOS R with the 60-600mm Sigma Sports lens and 2x Converter. Interestingly the larger birds seemed less interested in feeding and stayed at a distance, but a couple of Collared Doves became silhoetted in a distant tree to extend the variety of species I was able to capture. I have normally found Robins with little fear of coming close to humans, but the lone one here was very wary of me.
               The light was flat and dull for most of my time spent shooting, which meant my only chances of crisp images was when the birds were calmly feeding or preparing to fly off, as I did not have the luxury of a fast shutter speed, but my patience was still well rewarded, and I will definitely return now I have found the spot.

In Search of Rivers and Lakes

 

Using the SatNav map, I search out locations with reasonable access to spots where carrying a heavy tripod and long lens is manageable from where I am able to park. On this occasion, I investigate the path leading to a bridge over the River Great Ouse in the village of the beautifully named Newton Blossomville. The first walk is exploratory carrying the EOS R camera with just the 24-70mm lens, and I am reminded of the words “fortune favours the brave”, because I made that decision on the possibility of carrying the many times heavier tripod and long lens in vain. I mention this because there were many more brighter periods in that initial trip than the subsequent one with the heavier kit! The sun brought out simply countless demoiselle damselflies on that exploratory trip!

I returned to the same spot a short while later and the sun was behind the largest cloud in the sky with a long wait for the wind to blow it it by, but I did manage at least a couple of shots. Their colouration is very striking in comparison to the far more common light blue damselfly.

The river divides into several individual channels, and later I learned from two local gentlemen that the ruins I had spotted had been a water mill in the early part of the last century, the bridge I was later to cross, effectively bridges the island that lay in the path of the river at this point. I did see a bed of reeds on the far bank that looked as if it had been a Swan’s nest, but there none in attendance during the entire time I was there, and two women I spoke to seemed to confirm my observation. Another small islet had been taken by a Mallard pair who were using it as a preening station.

I heard many different birds calling, but most seemed to be tree bound, and many were well-hidden, occasionally spotted only when moving briefly to a new spot before disappearing from view once more. In the field beyond the blue painted bridge, the numerous sheep were gently grazing, and as I moved close to the river bank, I moved slowly to avoid spooking them, but the views of the bridge from this side were almost non-existent due to the dense tree cover right up to the water’s edge.

I will likely visit again on a sunny day with my much lighter long lens to see whether I can capture further shots of the elusive, and beautiful demoiselle damselfly, now I know they favour warm sunshine, and hide when the sun is shaded. The time was well spent, but sadly no sightings of Kingfishers which was largely the reason for that afternoon’s trip.