Oakley Bridges – In Passing

I wanted to check out the Harrold-Odell Country Park, and before I arrived there thought I would stop off at the Bridges over the Great Ouse at Oakley, despite the sunshine rapidly fading behind the oncoming clouds.

Fortunately there was a tiny place to park at the far end of the series of bridges, with the church at the opposite end of the straight. The sound of bird song had attracted me as I parked, since I had been driving with the sunroof open. Although I did manage to grab a couple of shots of the songbirds, they had retreated to a distance once I had  got out of the car and fetched a camera – I had some birdseed with me, so I put some out in a few spots that might prove to be both lower and with clearer backgrounds, but my subjects were obviously wise to that subterfuge and happy to collect that reward once I had departed!

Now that I had a camera out silence reined for a while and when some birds returned they kept their distance, and the sun all but disappeared, but nevertheless I persevered a while longer and got a shot of a distant windmill which I had not remembered from an earlier visit to the weir here.

I continued on to the Country Park, where I took a cursory look around outside before going into the Visitor Centre where I picked up a few leaflets to look through later, but on leaving the restaurant area to return to the car, I had not noticed how drastically the weather had changed for the worse, it was fairly tipping it down and in the short dash back to the car I was drenched – putting a very definite end to any more photography, unless there was a submarine nearby! It took the entire trip back to dry myself out, and I was very thankful I had not set up the camera here, but simply taken a walk to the water’s edge, before looking for any pamphlets. The rain did ease on my way back and was only spitting as I took the gear from the boot, and back inside. It was not a wasted trip in that it had impressed me as a worthwhile location for another occasion.

Marsworth Visit with Andy Fox

Andy and I decided to meet up and visit Marsworth together, and despite mornings being more favourable, since he was tied up in the morning, we settled on meeting at Clophill around one o’clock to head on down.

Arriving at Tringford I parked up and we both set off towards Marsworth lake. There were numerous anglers out on both Startops End and Marsworth, and on the Grand Union Canal there were a few narrowboats going through the locks, one that was moored was unlike any other, so much so that Andy remarked that it was upside down as the superstructure seemed to be very smooth and resembled an upturned hull, made presumably in glass fibre.

We reached our destination and began setting up, and almost immediately Andy spotted a visiting kingfisher behind me, which we probably surprised and headed away from us. It was the last sighting we made for more than an hour, though we were visited by many other birds both on the water, and above us in the trees. The most frequent being blue tits, mallards, and wood pigeons. At one stage we heard a loud call, that sounded as if the caller was shouting “Nits!” which gave us a wry smile on several occasions, it turned out to be coming from what I took to be a lone mallard female, but Andy reckoned it was possibly a mallard/wigeon cross as it was speckled and differently billed.

We were also visited by the resident and beautifully groomed robin, whom I see fairly regularly, once again, in the lulls I attempted to entice to fly to my open hand for seeds, but today he made no effort. A while later we caught sight of a kingfisher doing a flyby who ducked beyond a fallen bush on the far bank. Then later still one landed in the bushes, but he was hidden from me by sunlit leaves, but in perfectly clear view to Andy as was confirmed by some three sequences of shutter firings. After that I saw another on a post beyond him, managing just two quick shots, one static and one as he flew off. Although we stayed on for some time we saw no more kingfishers, and since Andy was due for an evening out, we packed up and returned to the car, but not before I introduced Andy to some of the Tringford Anglers, and its Water Bailliff, Bob Menzies.

My visit was therefore less fruitful than my guest Andy, though enjoyable nonetheless.

Marsworth Reservoir – Life in the Cold Mist

I should have known better; the forecast was that the mist would lift early on and the sun would come out, but with so much reservoir water in the vicinity, I suppose I should have realised the mist would be slow to clear. But as luck would have it, after showing through the mist as I walked between the two lakes, the bank of cloud came rolling in and the sun was never to be seen again all morning.

I met up with another photographer, Ian, who was kind enough to allow me to come close to a suitable place to strap my monopod, and from his position he was later to be able to catch sight of a gold crest and a kingfisher, but I was only able to capture a blue tit, a squirrel and a lone moorhen drinking, though I did attempt on four separate occasions to capture shots of a pair of herons flying by, but I did not stand a chance!

I stayed for a couple of hours after Ian left, but I left it so late that I was shivering despite all my layers of clothing, and my fingers were sore with the cold, so much so that I did not completely disassemble the camera and monopod till back in the car.

Warm September at Tring Reservoirs

Had the wind been stronger, and Windsurfers been on the water at Brogborough, I would have headed north and tried to improve upon the shots I took on my last visit, but a call to Sam Barnes forewarned me that no one was on the lake, so I went south to Tring reservoirs, in the hope that despite it being afternoon I might catch sight of kingfishers.

I did catch sight of a pair, but they were in Exocet mode; theirs was a non-stop flight, so any chance of capturing them was a non-starter. I did however spend a while at Tringford with the Water Bailiff as he mended anchor ropes and checked for leaks and rotting boards as I concentrated on taking shots of dragonflies in flight as they were in good supply.

Heading past Startops End I cautiously approached a heron, alongside a couple of egrets, but he took off before I was close and spooked both egrets, though I did manage to capture both in flight, later I was to see two robins, one familiar friend a very sleek and well-groomed one, and a slightly chubbier one, also a blue tit and what I think were spotted flycatchers. I was also visited by a squirrel on two occasions, as well as a flock of Canada Geese with two Greylags along for the flight.

So a reasonably satisfactory afternoon's shooting.

Late August – Mainly Dragonflies

I had short visits to Marston Moretaine, Brogborough and Marsworth but have combined all the images into a single gallery as overall I was disappointed for several reasons, in part due to timing, part through poor planning and also because I felt I had not done justice to the subjects. I was pleased ultimately by managing to finally succeed to capture some of the dragonflies in flight, but it made me admire those with infinite patience and greater skill than myself.

The park at Marston Moretaine was fairly busy with young families with both the very  young and the children of school age coming to the end of their summer holidays, so the air was full of their high spirited sounds, but also the subtler tones of walkers deep in conversation several with their dogs in close attendance. I chose to delve into areas less-frequented braving hawthorn bushes to reach the shoreline of the reservoir in the hope of finding dragonflies circling the reed beds, as in the past they had been present in large numbers, but on this occasion they were conspicuous by the paucity in their numbers. In contrast there were numerous butterflies; blues in the main, and some which were minuscule in size, the one in particular I managed to capture because it was less flighty I was hoping I might show its scale by bringing my fingernail alongside, because its wings when closed were no larger than my index finger’s nail.

I returned to base via Brogborough, but there was little wind and fewer surfers. My later visit to Marsworth was primarily in hope that I might catch sight of kingfishers, but as on so many occasions, the subjects this time were dragonflies in abundance, which meant a possibly greater challenge, though with not quite the same reward, but here I was not alone as on my way I came across Merv, who had the same hopes as myself, but the portent was not good as we found another somewhat dispirited photographer who had been an hour already with no sign of a kingfisher. He can feel consoled that we remained there for more than four hours with just two fleeting visits, but neither of us were able to get any shots!

But during our stay we were visited briefly by what we suspected was a Sparrowhawk seemingly fishing! Also a Robin, a Yellow Wagtail and lastly a Blue tit. Obviously there were numerous pigeons and also a pair of female Mallards, so we contented ourselves honing our skills trying to get shots of dragonflies in flight, but they knew us well as they hovered only fractionally shorter than the time it takes to focus, or they visit us far more closely, knowing full well that our long lenses have no chance of capturing them when they are two foot away – so they obligingly hover at that distance, for four or five seconds!

I am convinced that all wildlife is trained by camera and lens manufacturers to recognise our kit and tantalise accordingly.

The Hope only Partially Fulfilled

I set out hoping to get better shots of kingfishers, in the plural, but after a long wait, despite catching flashing flypasts, I only photograph the one, but in two awkward spots.

I had arrived before sun up, set my tripod and gimbal head up, and although over the water's edge to get the best viewpoint, I would have to stand the entire time, it was over an hour before even a hint that there might be any kingfishers about, and as on earlier visits it was the 'plosh' of a dive for fish that alerted me, the first close to the bank to my left, and then I saw a flash of blue crossing low over the water to disappear on the far side. In the meantime I was visited briefly by a grey squirrel, who promptly turned about and scurried back from whence he came.

The pigeons were their normally noisy selves, with one couple in particular destroying the early morning calm by their boisterous mating ritual, moorhens and mallard sailed serenely along the overhanging reeds on the far bank.

In the past the only kingfishers I have seen were iridescent blue, but the one that paid me a visit this time, albeit fleetingly, was green in colour, it also chose a spot to my right on a tree stump, only just visible through the intervening branches, which proved to be painfully difficult to swing the camera to, so I took to handholding the camera as he patiently stayed in view.

After he flew off, it seemed permanent as a further hour passed with no sighting. By now I was beginning to feel the cold, so packed up and returned to the canal towpath, along the way I spotted a blue tit gathering twigs for its nest, and a really chirpy chaffinch, and golden reeds in the sun. Later still a different chaffinch cheekily stole a piece of bread a family had thrown to some ducks and geese on the the path. It swiftly grabbed it and moved to the safety of a tree branch to feast on its booty, and I just managed to capture it as it pulled a piece off it to nibble.

When I arrived back at the car, I was thinking I would text Lizzy, when the phone rang and she wondered what I might be doing! My reply was to get everything stowed and make my way over, and I spent the afternoon with her, Tilly and Joshua.

My daughter’s Westcott garden

England’s summer arrives on St. George’s Day. Friday is not a normal day to spend in a garden unless on holiday, but it proved to be ideal – mildly warm and sunny. It was a day when Spring was not yet over and the birds were in abundance with joyous song and much flirting and flitting about. I saw a robin, sparrows, blue tits and even a goldfinch with overhead, gulls, crows and pigeons. A lone self-set tulip stood proud to be away from the crowd, with a silver birch beyond.