Sunshine! Marston Lake — Alive!

It was great to get another day to check out just what kit works best in a typical situation. I was assessing the use of the gimbal versus the Long Lens Head. Both require a leveller to avoid adjusting individual Benbo tripod legs. It is always better to be taking shots that are meaningful rather than just a theoretical test, hence my delight in good light after a dull week.

I have used a Manfrotto leveller, but it was never really smooth, whereas using the Acrotech version that I have recently purchased from Bob Rigby proves to be both lighter and far better, allowing me to adjust the tension separate from locking it fully, and this becomes obvious instantly by the tensioner being far smaller, so once set it can be ignored.

I drove to the opposite side of the lake to a swim fortunately not occupied by an Angler, to a spot where there are both reeds and two beds of lilies frequented by both damselflies and Dragonflies, with only the damselflies on the lily pads, whereas both landed on reeds. I set two of the tripod legs in the water.

Sunlight not only provides better lighting, but meant there was more birdsong to be heard, and the Swans were on the lake, but still no sign of the Grebe, but the departure of the Cormorants was welcome. There were sounds of cars circling the nearby Millbrook Testing Ground, but this was only sporadic on this afternoon.

I captured some odd behaviour of a male damselfly which was almost like fitting, in that it would arch its body then go rigid and straight, then double up again. There were a few coupled damselflies being mobbed by presumably jealous males, and similar activities amongst dragonflies where females were being chased in flight, mostly, though not exclusively by single males.

The dragonflies also landed in the shoreline bushes and even the ground for their rest, whereas the damselflies were most abundant amongst sunlit rushes. The banks slope steeply from the shore, but at this spot in sunshine the vegetation underwater was clearly visible beneath the surface, which added interest to some of the backgrounds beyond the lilies.

I managed to get a good shot of a dragonfly in flight which is always a challenge, especially when, as it was on this occasion, quite breezy. On several occasions I spotted a dragonfly land on a reed only for it to dip crazily due to its weight, or be suddenly tossed around in a sudden gust.

There were two distinct species of Dragonfly; gold-bodied and dusty blue, and the pair of swans were very independent on this visit to the lake, and one did come over towards my position to check me out.

Although most of my time was spent at two swims either side of the lilies I did go to two further ones beyond where my car was parked when activity slowed by the lilies as the sun cast its shadow over them. altogether a very satisfactory couple of hours spent lakeside, in the brightest day for some days.

Marston Lake Visit — Fleeting Sunshine — Using a Different Head

Having given the car a long drive to ensure the new battery was fully charged, and with the first rays of sunshine for several days, I gathered a slightly different set items to use on this visit to the nearby lake. I had bought a long lens Acratech head and levelling plate in place of the gimbal to see how it would perform. I knew that I would have to be careful to always lock its movement, when letting go of my hold, but I am trying to keep the weight of my kit down, and this was the latest trial I was making.

I certainly found that it was smooth in operation, and it was easy enough to lock it before removing my grip on the camera and lens, and loosen it when back to using it again, but clouds rolling in to cover the sun would immediately ground all my flying subjects, so I did spend quite a lot of time locking and unlocking! My subjects needed the sun for energy so this was inevitable, but it did mean I was gaining the experience of locking and unlocking!

Because I was once again using the Sigma 60-600mm with the 1.4 Converter, I was also stopping down further to keep a good depth of field, which did mean that I, like my subjects needed the sunshine. On this occasion, I also got some shots of a few Water Boatmen as they nipped around on the surface. Altogether, it was a useful exercise for me, with a few shots of interest, and useful experience.

Marston Lake Visit — Lily Pad Insect Life

Flying insects such as Damselflies and Dragonflies have the power to intrigue, when you stop to watch their behaviour, the warmth of the sun gives them the power to stay on the wing for some time, and when that empowering sun is removed by the coverage of clouds, it is a signal for Flight Control to say: “Land as soon as possible, and head for cover!” For those insects still flying or landing the sad thing is that even though they might be interesting or rare, that sunlight they shun makes it harder to capture them photographically, and yesterday intermittent cloud cover was abundant, as were the denizens of the lily pads that were the backdrop when the light was good, but invariably the floating pads lost their attraction both to the flying insects and myself!

I persevered, hoping that I might capture either species in flight, and whereas the the damselflies would hover long enough for me to obtain focus, not so the dragonflies! They had far more energy, and were able to sap mine attempting to keep them in frame, or frame them in the first instance. I was hoping there might be some degree of repetitive behaviour, but their only repetitive behaviour was to fly erratically, and at high speed!

It did not stop me from trying, and ‘trying’ was definitely a good description of how I described the frustration! I spotted a behaviour that I found slightly disturbing; one pair of coupled damselflies either accidentally or deliberately seemed to drown his female partner whilst they were on a closed lily bud — their combined weight slowly pushed her beneath the surface, but he made no attempt to select a new spot above the water. I did not see the end result, but he seemed to make no attempt to rise higher for at least three minutes that I observed.

I have no doubt that as more buds open, I will pay another visit to this spot, and hope that I might capture shots of dragonflies on the wing. Ironically, the very first outing with my 300mm prime lens, I was close by an island of reeds, and could wait, as it flew circuits around it, for it to come back into view, and click. But here, there was no such opportunity, so all my dragonfly images are static (within reason — as there was quite a breeze, meaning the reeds were often swaying — the one they were on, or others where the reeds between them and myself would obscure them).

Brief Marston Lake – Spring Flowers

The newly- AA-assisted boost to my flattened Car Battery, was very welcome, but due to the delay, I was unable to make the longer distance travel to pastures new. I chose to make the most of the time whilst my running engine was recharging to at least be somewhere close with possibilities of capturing either some of the wildlife, or at least the fresh young growth in the woods enclosing Marston Lake.

It meant that I could leave the car at tickover in the knowledge it was safe, whilst I was able to capture some of the burgeoning new growth that surrounds the lake, and I was lucky to spot some water lilies on the far side, with the bonus of a damselfly or two alight on the  brand leaves, as if they were ‘helipads, insects for the use of’ – in RAF-parlance!

Since speed was of the essence, I decided to forego a tripod, in favour of the monopod, and this was prompted in part by two appearances of a rabbit breaking cover, but my presence, made it decide not to risk further exposure, so my patience on this occasion was not rewarded. So I returned to taking shots of some of the local blossom and the insects that were assisting their pollination, somewhat warily in the presence of wasps!

By the lily pads I had hoped to capture the damselflies in flight, but they seemed happy and secure just afloat on the leaves basking in the warm sunshine, barely disturbed by the rippling water swirling their islands.

I hoped that finally my battery would have sufficient charge to call a halt to the wasting of valuable fuel, and turned off the engine  allowing me to lock the car and wander around in the hope of finding other subjects, but was out of luck if I was hoping for activity such as Grebe on the lake, or woodpeckers in the surrounding trees.

Since it was the end of the week, the anglers were arriving presumably to spend the night under canvas for an early start on Saturday, and so I headed back, hoping the car would start; it did, and so I left the lake to its natural owners, and their hopes.