Visit Two Lakes With my Niece

         We agree a meeting, but since neither of us have any prior knowledge of the chosen lake destination, I purposely set off early enough to arrive first so I could check out exactly where the Car Park and entrance were located. The location I set on the SatNav was close, but a couple of hundred yards short of the parking area or entrance, which I found by walking further along the road, so I suggested the same setting to Virginia, and told her to set the same details, but then drive a bit longer along the lane, where I would be waiting.

        There was no long wait, as I only had time to take a sort walk along the path to check it out. We walked around and I took a few shots, and suddenly Virginia recognised that we were back where we had started! That realisation was a surprise to me, but we were not that far from a destination for which I was very familiar, so we headed for Tring Reservoirs, in particular Marsworth Lake.

On our arrival there, the lake was far more alive with both visitors and birds on the water, so subjects for capturing was way more prolific, hence filling many more slots on the subsequent gallery. It proved to be a good move, as there was far more interesting and abundant life here out on the water. In the margins were numerous leaves from lush green to rich red, and on to golden brown, often further enhanced by the low sunlight giving a warm glow, and detailed, backlit veins. These images and the fortunate lighting made for attractive images, since they effectively covered both late Summer and early Autumn.

It was good to spot a young Heron by the reeds, with its languorous stroll by the Reed margins, and a pair of cygnets occasionally with their parents. I also had the good fortune to have the Grebe to be reasonably close to shore. I found the Mallards to be difficult to capture their  intense green colouring, more so on this camera’s sensor than my Canon lenses, not simply by the lighting direction.

Visit to Blunham — Meet Catherine

         Catherine and I discuss potential venues to meet up, and I hit on one which suggested there were good possibilities of a pleasant walk and a good chance of wildlife on a lake. I also wanted it to be equidistant between us, and was a new venue — Blunham was a good fit, and I duly gave her a postcode. Since the postcode was not specifically the entrance to the chosen destination, I made a point of arriving early, so that I could offer a more precise location and final directions with certainty. The postcode I supplied was around a a quarter of a mile distant, and I had enough time to check the parking out, and ensure there was space enough for both of us; it was barely two minutes before we met.

The rain of the last several days meant our path was seriously muddy, and much of our walking was by inelegantly straddling the outer margins either side, but this method did offer a greater margin against slithering uncontrollably and it was not long before we came across a pair of swans who were protecting their two cygnets as they fed upon some of the plants at the margins.

As we walked, Catherine was using her phone’s camera, and I was once again using my LUMIX FZ10002, hopefully I will see some of the shots she was taking, whilst I took several general riverscapes and the various colours of differing bush and tree species that lined the far bank. Berries were in profusion, which may perhaps presage a harsh winter. Other subjects caught the eye of my camera; a small waterfall, a church tower beyond an impressive house with stained glass windows, some puffy clouds, a lone sheep intently munching. We returned the way we came, offering similar views but from opposing viewpoints, before arriving at our cars, saying our goodbyes, and returning to our equidistant, respective homes, marking the end of an enjoyable and satisfying time together.

Another Lake Visit — Weston Turville

The lake is a reasonable distance away, but I took a chance on driving over since it is fairly wide, meaning some birds tend to be a distance from the shore. I therefore immediately put on the 1.4 Converter to give me a better chance. It never came off because, as anticipated the subjects of my greater interest all kept their distance! This was a day for the EOS R, and the 60-600mm Sigma Sports. One immediate proof of this came when I moved location, and from the raised walkway I spotted a young Coot alone, out of the water, wandering close to one of the small fishing piers. Here, despite the 1.4 Converter I was able to use the close focussing distance offered by this superb Sigma optic — The earlier 150-600mm version I once owned, had it had on, the Converter I simply would not have been able to capture the shot! So, Sigma, thank you, thank you.

The long lay-by where I was parked had scarce few cars, so the visitors were limited, and many were young mothers and their children, and a couple of healthy joggers, but on two separate occasions I met up with fellow photographers, two Nikon devotees who I had spotted across the water, who had equally clocked me, and with whom we shared ‘chimped’ images (I did not ascertain that snippet from afar, but later when they arrived at the same jetty!) l later met a husband and wife photo team and chatted about our shared interest in image-taking. So it was both a productive shooting experience as well as being social.

Although I was using the Sirui gimbal head, I think on this occasion I should have used the lighter Acrotech Long Lens head. I tried some short bursts late in the day of some peculiarly aggressive behaviour between two Grebe.

Two Swans had a family of seven Cygnets, and they literally came towards me with total equanimity, however their behaviour towards a larger group of Coots was far more threatening; making deliberately aggressive lunges towards them to keep them away, which I found unusual since the gap in the reeds by the small jetty had been occupied by the Coots!

The gulls spent much of their time swooping in and skimming the surface for fish, but not once did I see a successful outcome. A Heron which had been stationed for some time on a distant buoy, took off and lazily flew low along the distant reeds, before diving left into an inlet and disappearing from view. Later, the lone Grebe came up at the end of a series of dives with a substantial fish for its efforts, making short shrift of downing it within mere seconds. After a chat with the married couple, I was about to pack everything away when I spotted an oddly aggressive chase between the Grebe and a second one but cannot be sure which one had been the successful one  I had just been shooting.

I closed the tripod legs and followed my companions out to the car; packed everything away, grabbed a welcome cold drought from my flask, and headed homeward.