Marston Lake Visit

                 The first task of this day was to get the lawnmower out to cut the lawn within the walled back garden as well as the front patch. Although the grass was both rather wet and over long, my mower was fortunately set fairly high, so only occasionally did it snag or dig in a bit, due to a slightly raised muddy lump. I found that due to the length of the grass sometimes it was best to come back every so often as it then faced my direction of travel, so when I then went forward it cut cleaner.

I now had a conical plastic bin for grass cuttings, which created mulch, and by the time I had mown the back lawn was filling up well, and luckily the front lawn is smaller. Since my neighbour had kindly cut this lawn earlier in the year, I offered to return the favour, but he declined, perhaps due to his concern it was too wet, but I was grateful, as it meant I could catch more of the sunshine at Marston Lake.

On arrival at the gate, I found it unlocked, so before I entered I called the Water Bailliff, but he had already learned that the lock was broken; I had been concerned it had been left unlocked accidentally, but was assured, it was simply broken. Initially, my worry was having not visited for sometime, if I locked it behind me, and the combination had been renewed, I might find myself unable to leave later! Learning that the Bailliff was aware that the lock was broken, I was reassured that provided I made sure it simply looked locked, I was not going to find my exit barred when I came to leave!

Once I was at the water’s edge, I got out of the car to take a look at what activity there was both on the shore and out on the lake. Sadly, all I saw were two Cormorants and a lone gull — perched on different dead tree branches mid lake — not the most exciting prospect from a photographic standpoint! If I was to even halfway decent shots of this trio, it was worth moving further around the lake to be slightly closer.

It was when I went further around the lake, that I came across an angler at one of the swims and I thought I would say hello, and to my surprise this angler recognised me! I soon realised we knew each other from before the time I set up SOLUTIONS photographic. He was working at HK Productions, a company I used to frequent as I had developed a strong friendship with the owner, Hagop Keondjian, and many of those who worked for him. Coincidentally, only that morning I had been in touch with his wife who had emailed me about the ongoing problems occurring in their homeland. We chatted for a while before I headed further around the lake, ironically, just as we parted I caught sight of a heron taking off, beyond the intervening trees — away from the lake.

I moved further around the lake capturing  scenes of trees as they caught the warm rays of the sun as it moved ever lower.

Very Brief Visit to Marston Lake

Once again I started out way too late, but despite this I was still determined to make the most of my afternoon, by visiting my nearest lake, Marston Lake. There was edge-to-edge blue sky, and I parked right at the nearest shore to the entrance. And the number of birds on the water was way more than on my last visit which was heartwarming, and also as I scanned the water, I spotted one of my favourite birds, a Grebe.

It was surprisingly close, but sadly it took a while to get the camera mounted on the tripod, by which time it was at least twice the distance from me than I had first caught sight of it. Undeterred, I patiently watched to see whether it would come closer, but after each dive, it seemed to be increasing its distance from me.

At a much greater distance were Cormorants. Although not one of my favourite birds, Cormorants can sometimes have some interesting traits, and I was interested in the behaviour I observed of a couple near some stunted trunks of dead trees a good distant from my position. Their greater size slightly nullified the extra distance from my position, and there was some interesting interaction between two of their number as they occupied the branches of a long-dead submerged tree. It appeared the bird that was perched on one such stump was considered by another to have a good position, the other decided that s/he had been there for long enough, so was attempting to dislodge it, with little success; as the incumbent was unmoved, and stared the usurper down! Stretching its wings to dry them, the incomer seemed to be a tad threatening, but to no avail — the stand-off continued.

There were some Gulls, Coots, and a Swan also on the water, but all way closer to the farther shore, so I presume they knew that I was unlikely to venture to that far shore as I would be shooting against the light – birds are quite canny, and know quite a lot about humans; their behaviour, and what kit these pesky humans use to photograph them – on numerous occasions, kingfishers have approached really close, knowing full well that my long lenses have no chance of focussing that close! They are bright enough to perch on the static rods of Anglers, who in turn use those opportunities to get better shots than many a professional, by quietly using their phones to capture those fortuitous visitor events! We often study animal behaviour for any number of reasons; self-preservation, curiosity or to extend our knowledge, should we therefore believe that other species do not make similar observations and react accordingly. The time a Kingfisher circled twice really close to my camera, was I wrong to consider it might actually be fully aware that I did not track its movements when it approached close, from previous examples of such dismissive behaviour by others of my species?

My earliest sightings of Grebe on this occasion were when I had yet to assemble the camera on a tripod, and just before leaving, I ventured beyond my car in the direction of the dead-end of the lake path which is marked off-limits to anglers, when one Grebe came similarly close and I was shielded by high bushes on this occasion and was able to get my final shots.

A Brighter Day — a Photo Opportunity?

I had an opportunity to be out for the first chance in a while, so gathered my camera gear and headed for the closest lake. Upon arrival at the gate, I entered the numbers to allow me access, and when it did not open I assumed that the number had been  changed, so phoned the Water Bailliff, but he was unsure, but he would contact one of the other. I therefore decided to try again, and this time it opened! I suspected therefore my earlier attempt had been thwarted, by the rain of the last several days. I immediately phoned the Bailliff back to say all was OK, and apologised for bothering him.

Once I was parked by the lake, I got out of the car and took a look across the water, at first only seeing gulls and some coot, all congregated in the middle, away from any shore, which was a disappointment. I stayed awhile trying to spot any more interesting subjects, and a couple of swans came into view, and a small group of gulls took to the air, and that gave me a chance to catch sight of a Grebe.

That was incentive enough for me to erect the tripod and mount the camera and lens. On this occasion I had remembered to ensure I had the 2x Converter, so that I had the full throw of my Sigma Sports 60-600mm lens on the EOS R body, which with every bird equidistant from any shore was going to be essential! Whilst I mounted the camera and lens on the tripod, I kept my ears attuned to all the sounds in case I heard the distinctive tapping of the woodpecker, but the only untoward sound was the stuttering exhaust note from a powerful car engine at the nearby Millbrook Test Circuit; the banking of which the circular track is visible from the lakeside.

Initially, I set up immediately by my car, just closer to the water’s edge, and as I did so, a Mallard noisily left the reeds and headed towards the middle, so much for me trying to keep a low profile! Luckily the duck did not spook the rest, but it did cause a few more of the gulls to gulls to take to the air, which allowed me to see the birds I was hoping to encounter; another young Grebe. I stayed in this spot till I found the Grebe pair heading further away, which prompted me to pick up the camera and tripod, and try to get closer to where the birds were heading, I found two other spots from which to shoot, before the light faded too much and darker clouds approached menacingly.

I was not too disappointed with what I managed to capture especially as one of the Grebe was successful twice catching one toddler and another slightly larger fish, I was too far away to ascertain whether it was successful or whether he swallowed it without me capturing the event. It was a satisfying afternoon from my perspective.

Marsworth Reservoir – Afternoon Bird Activity

Since the weather was cooler, but still bright, I decided I would drive down to the  Tring Reservoirs, park up at Tringford on the offchance I’d catch up with the Water bailliff, Bob Menzies, then see what birdlife was to be found on either Marsworth or Startops End lakes. I saw little of interest on the latter, but the former looked promising, and so it proved as I set up my tripod and camera.

There was a young Great Crested Grebe family with both parents and four juveniles in their striking stripes of black and grey. Seemingly the male parent was fully committed to looking after the young, but the female seemed less so. Of the four youngsters, one seemed to be somewhat rebellious, often paddling away from the main group, with occasional returns for short spells. There was also a large family of Cygnets with their Swan parents.

There were more Herons around than on my earlier visits, and they seemed less worried by the closeness of humans too. There seemed fewer Gulls than normal, but way more Cormorants, presumably much to the annoyance of the local anglers. I caught no sight of Kingfishers and the area of Marsworth where they were often to be sighted was even more forlorn with fallen or felled trees filling the pools hitherto fished by the Kingfishers, which was really sad.

At one stage I walked through a tunnel of bushes to reach a secluded part of the shore favoured by anglers, to find a lone juvenile Black-Headed Gull relaxing on the foreshore, and so I approached very carefully so as not to startle it, and was able to take several shots as the bird behaved with total disinterest in my presence, which was very rewarding. This was the same relaxed attitude I had spotted amongst the Herons earlier and later. Despite my not considering the Cormorants to be beautiful birds whether on the water or in the air, I did capture some in flight which is obviously good experience. It was a quiet afternoon in School holidays on a weekday, but the few, but growing numbers of people walking the paths as the day wore on were often interested in what I was finding to capture and more than willing to involve me in conversation, so altogether, a very pleasant afternoon.

Brief Visit to Tring Reservoirs

I had not travelled to Tring Reservoirs for some time, so on a whim I phoned the Water Bailliff to find out if I was able to get my car parked nearby, but he was in a meeting and could not speak, so would speak to me in the afternoon; the answer suggested I might still be lucky, so I travelled down later on the offchance and was lucky, and since I found the gate unlocked, I phoned him, and learned he was down at the lake himself, so asked was it OK;  he told me fine, and I went along to meet him. We chatted about his wife who has been unlucky with her health. He broke off suddenly when he spotted a cormorant.

They are having a lot of trouble with cormorants that are very damaging to the lake’s fish, and Bob is constantly using a cap gun to scare them off, but it seems it is a battle that the cormorants are winning as they are increasingly taking no notice of his efforts to drive them away. Unlike herons that eat smaller fish, the cormorants go for the trout and often just wound them, resulting in many of them dying from their wounds, which leaves the anglers very angry, especially since restocking is so expensive. I left him to his task and set off with my camera and monopod, to Marsworth.

The water level was very low and the few birds that were there were gathered en masse on the shore close by the stream that fills Startops lake, there were several cygnet families, Canada geese, black-headed gulls, greylags and coots all together in the shallow water or the exposed foreshore. I spotted a Mallard drake making a beeline for two others, and it seemed he was exhorting them to join him and bring the duck along too, which I found intriguing as at first I had thought he was being aggressive. Awhile later I spotted first a small dusty-shaded butterfly I took to be a Speckled Wood, and also a Red Admiral, which surprised me so late in the season. In my walk along the canal towpath I met several couples out with their dogs and in the course of conversation learned of a pair of herons between the locks, but at this time I did not see them.

Later still whilst I was down at the water’s edge looking ahead expectantly waiting for sight of a kingfisher, I glanced to my right and there was a silhouette that looked very like a kingfisher in the dark dead branches completely still – putting the camera to my eye I realised my good fortune and slowly I focussed on him, and opened up two stops and increased the ISO and just hoped as I watched that it might be enough to allow me to brighten it later in Lightroom. I took several shots as he swung his head around every so often sometimes with his eye showing, and when I ‘chimped’ I thought they were going to severely lack colour as he was in such deep shade. Much later on the computer in Lightroom I was really amazed at how much detail I had succeeded in getting from the gloom in which they were shot.

Having been rewarded by the kingfisher shots I walked further along the canal, but on the outward journey failed to spot the youngster on the far side, however on my return, there it was perched on one leg absolutely motionless. I got some shots in profile by waiting for him to be distracted by some of the strollers, I thanked them and we chatted as I headed back to the car. We parted company at the junction of the towpath and the two lakes, and I met up once again with Bob and another angler and was treated to a snack of pork pie and a cup of tea, before heading back to Marston Moretaine.

Wilstone Reservoir – More Birds

The house was tidy enough for the second viewing of the day, and the next couple were coming for their second viewing, so I felt they should be without my presence, and despite the poor weather conditions I felt the pull of the reservoirs and the desire to take more pictures. I took only the one camera and lens, but did take the tripod on this occasion, though there were occasions when I took the camera off the tripod and shot handheld.

The Cormorants are not my favourite bird, but it was interesting to watch one that was nest-building; high in the trees of the island.

In general the birds were further from the shore on this visit, and I watched the Greylag Geese arrive, but only took a single shot at this time. Later when I heard the announcement of imminent take-off, I had the camera in my hand and for a change got some quite nice shots as they came by and headed for the nearby field, I missed the first group, got some nice shots of the second departure, but failed miserably with the final group!

Despite my ungainly load, I trekked all the way round to the Hide, and got the shots of Pochard, Teal and Grebe from there before my return to the lake side and the lone Pied Wagtail and the afore-mentioned Greylag leaving. It was during that episode that I got into a conversation with a Group who were going to the Wildlife pictures at Tring Museum, which I had wrongly assumed was the exhibition at the Stockwood Discovery Centre.

It was one of the Greylag pictures that pleased me most from this trip.

A Possible Cormorant Deterrent at Tringford Reservoir

Increasing numbers of cormorants are causing great concern at Tringford Reservoir. This morning Jake came down from Coventry with a plan to help alleviate the problem with a strategy to convince them that Bob Menzies and Rick from the Canal and River Trust can use a mannequin dressed as an angler and wearing an orange high visibility tabard means a threat.

I was there as an observer and listened to the plan. The idea is to fire percussive caps from the direction of the mannequin sitting aboard one of the flat-bottomed aluminium rowing boats used by the anglers. Done on a regular and fairly frequent basis and associated with the bangs and the mannequin's high-vis jacket would finally deter the birds from settling near to the lake and with time mean that the cormorants would desist in feeding on the young fish and damaging many of the larger ones that they do not manage to eat.

There was quite a bit of laughter as the mannequin was assembled and many comments about how young and fresh-faced he was when the club's anglers were considerably more rugged and certainly much older. Earlier I have been able to count twenty two birds on the lake at one time, and apparently the numbers and persistence has been steadily climbing. I arrived before Bob today and in the photograph that heads this piece are no less than six, and there were others on the water.

It will be interesting to see just how effective the so-far unnamed mannequin proves to be in reducing the numbers that are the scourge of the local anglers. I will be interested in finding out just what name he is given!

It was good to see a group of four cygnets on the water to round off my my time down there in the biting wind.

Tringford Afternoon Bird Watching

Having decided to record both the Qualification and Race Day for the Hungaroring Grand Prix, I was free to visit the Tringford reservoir in the sunshine and to relax in the bottom of the boat moored at the jetty, so that I was as low as possible to try to capture some of the birds more intimately.

I was really lucky, one of the grebe had a late offspring and was cruising around with its single young chick on its back in the comfort of its wings. Some of the time it would disappear entirely from view, and on one occasion I spotted the parent diving and no sign of the youngster and for a moment thought it had decided to drown it, but I maligned him. I said ‘him’ because it would seem that the male does the passenger carrying whilst the female does the food-finding, though in this particular case I never spotted a mate.

I was lucky to capture some of the herons, and ironically a cormorant; not welcomed at this reservoir as they tend to attack the fish for sport not food, so many of the trout show signs of repeated wounds from these birds. This particular cormorant had been ringed as can clearly be seen in some of my shots. There were a few common tern, and black-headed gull doing some fishing, but they seem only to be competing with other birds rather than taking the larger fish such as trout and tench from the anglers.

I returned home much later to watch Button win the race with Lewis a lowly fourth, but what exciting racing! Thanks to being able to defer the racing I got the best of both worlds over the weekend.

Another Visit to the Reservoirs

Getting up early for a change, because of the confident forecast of a bright and frosty start to the day, gave me the chance to visit both Tringford and Marsworth lakes, and being there early gave me a chance to capture swans both taking off and landing. I also got a couple of shots of a grebe’s successful catch whilst on Marsworth.

Back on Tringford the herons were also taking to the air and one in particular caught my eye as it seemed young and also bright white, not grey like most of the others. There were already two hardy fishermen out on the lake, and Bob, the bailiff was busy tidying and cleaning the frost-encrusted boats. I soon spotted Rob’s line was curved under tension, so watched and waited for him to reel in a trout, he later reckoned it to be around three pounds, and he worked hard for it!

To Bob’s dismay the cormorants were on and around the lake in abundance, and he is likely due for a very sore throat as he bellows like a rutting stag to scare them off, but several landed on the water at the far side from the landing stage despite his displeasure. There a few tern flying leisurely but consistently around a small inlet, so I can only presume there was food around.

Bob rowed me out on the lake for a spell as he inspected the banks and the far end of the lake by the pumping station, and for a while the wind dropped somewhat and the sun began to warm us, but that soon changed as the wind direction veered and got up in strength just as we returned to shore and by that time having just drunk a cold coke I began shivering so I called it a day, and it was only half-past one!

I have split the shots into three galleries: Fisherman Rob’s catch with herons and a grebe, A swan taking off, doing a circuit and landing, and another taking off and flying past.

Later the Same Day…

Satisfied with my forensic diagnostics around dawn, I then made my way south from mid-Bedfordshire down towards the reservoirs at Tringford, Startops End, Marsworth and Wilstone to see what I could find. I believe the bird whose picture is the first in the gallery to be a partridge, this was taken near Beckerings Farm, Steppingley.

I spotted that on two reservoirs the Grebes were fishing successfully and then taxiing along in a great flap before swallowing their breakfast fish. I also spotted a seagull which had been equally successful, but it was far more laid-back over the event. The cormorants were out about in the air singly and in pairs, and the greylag geese were in abundance both in the air and in the water. Other birds spotted were a lone pied wagtail I think and possibly a chat in the trees, and I just caught a mass taxiing of coots making an amazing racket. Lastly I was barked at vehemently by a black dog called ‘Banjo’ who I think took exception to my long lens but later wanted to lick me to death! His owners were charming and we chatted for some time before rain stopped play.

A trip along the coast to Campbelltown

John and I went along the coast chatting about life in Scotland and general, and both of us with a keen eye on our surroundings both inshore and off, occasionally making facetious comments on the amount of traffic – three cars in the entire land and seascape, the first signs of anyone in half an hour! We stopped at times to stroll or clamber along the foreshore, and to wander around the harbour at Campbelltown, where John pointed out its Playhouse which like London's Windmill Theatre had never closed in its long life. We came across a jellyfish and just talked and walked whilst I took sundry photographs of the coast, our shadow, gulls and fisherman's clutter.

Later, we came across seals basking in the sun and rocks, and were amazed by the ventriloquism of the oyster catchers, their calls would seem to come from right beneath our feet, yet either the birds were nowhere to be seen or way across the beach or in flight thirty yards away! However, this did give me great opportunities to try to get shots of them in flight.

The seals we saw in a couple of locations, with one we had mistaken for a rock, decide to swim when he realised we had spotted him. At another spot seals shared the rocks with gulls, cormorants and terns, but except for when a crow disturbed gulls into flight, all was remarkably restful – everyone enjoying the sun and sky with just a faint breeze; enough to keep the midges at bay!