Late Autumn at Woburn Park

The warm sunshine at this time of year is very tempting, as soon this warm spell will  give way to high winds and rain and we will be seeing the portents of Winter, so it is not a difficult decision to make and grab camera gear and head off out — on this occasion to head over to Woburn and the Deer Park. Since I had the Benbo with the 7D Mk II, I was hoping the Staff might let me have some grace over parking, and I was offered an hour’s grace.
            The only disappointment was the deer had had very different plans and did not oblige with a trip to the pond at the entrance, so when my time was up, I drove back to the Car Park, where I chose to pick up the 150-400mm, which I knew I could use handheld, I also had the 24-70mm with its macro option, and now, whereas the 7D MkII was the body which gave me the 1.4 times advantage on the longer lens, I was now using the 5D Mk III so the throw was far less.

My knees at present are weak, so there was no way I was trudging through the woods with a heavy tripod, and I even forsook the monopod in favour of setting higher ISOs on the full frame body, which did give me the option of having more than the long lens in the camera bag.

On my return to the pond I spotted a black swan on the lake near the entrance gate. I did capture some of one’s display of its very striking white wing feathers. What I found rather surprising was how tolerant were the normal white swans were, even when at close quarters. I have often found swans to be quite aggressive towards other birds on the water.

At the pond by the Entrance kiosks there were a pair of Egyptian Geese. This pair were quietly munching at the grass, the female resting rather more than the male, only following when he had moved several goose-lengths distant — not exactly the most energetic of birds!

Upon my second arrival at the pond by the entrance kiosks, The deer had come closer to the pond and soon came to the edge and stepping tentatively into the shallow water. It was almost as if one deer had to go first before others followed.

            I stayed awhile taking shots before the fairly long walk through the woods where I took a few more pictures of some of the leaves and berries that heralded the beginning of the autumn season, and from the profusion of berries, I did wonder whether this year’s Winter was to be harsher than last’s. This afternoon had been very warm, but with a cloudless sky, the evening cooled swiftly and the night was a lot colder.

Warm Walk in the Country

April 1st – No joke, it is sunny and warm, with almost edge to edge blue sky and contrails from jets at high altitude supply the only clouds, and because I listened to the forecast for a chilly day, I was over-dressed and walking the circular route around Hexton near Hitchin with a camera bag and three cameras proved to be very warm.

There came a point in the walk where I arrived at a road and no marker of which route to take, and with the benefit of hindsight, I realise I chose wrongly so although I probably covered the distance, I think my second half was not along the correct route. However it did mean that the sun was no longer in my face, but on my back. I arrived back at where I parked the car, had a brief lunch and some orange juice, and spotted the entrance to Barton Chalk pits.

I decided that here might be a chance to spot local wildlife, but sadly these were not pits, just workings into the hillside, so no water, a very pleasant place to walk and admire the scenery, but with a high sun little in the way of picture opportunities, but I did have company; I met and chatted to someone who had hoped to find butterflies or birds, but like me was destined for disappointment.

I drove from there to Pulloxhill which had a charming cottage in its centre and on to Flitten with a splendid church, before returning via  Beadlow (where I spotted the bright yellow and pink blossom beside the road), to Ampthill Park. I wandered firstly to a small pond I had spotted from the main road, but was barely there a second before a single young coot disappeared into the reads and cover. So I walked back and over the hill to another larger pond that could just be classified as a lake where a few fishermen were still there, though I saw activity that suggested not for much longer! I managed to catch an equally fleeting glimpse of a squirrel that had made its mind up that I meant danger, and promptly scampered from one tree to the next to put a distance between us.

Certainly, this day was the longest day of exercise in the great outdoors since last year.