Bank Holiday Monday at Marsworth

Learning that the weather on the New Year Bank Holiday was due to be bright, I prepared the night before by getting to bed somewhat earlier than is my wont – if I expected to sleep longer as a result, I was to be disillusioned, as I awoke long before the alarm! It was still very dark, but to get some idea of how long before I need to rise, I ventured to switch on the bedside light to learn it was three-thirty, so I closed my eyes tighter and woke finally to the alarm for six.

Only a white van with fishermen was parked upon my arrival at Marsworth reservoir, I nodded to them as I trudged past with my camera and tripod and headed through the woods and past the stream and the reed beds, and took a look at Startops from the hide. Both these reservoirs were still very low, although Tringford was a tad higher, but overall all three were the lowest I have seen for several years.

I setup just short of where the fork in the path was, because the gulls were constantly flying over this corner, which gave me a chance to stay in one place to endeavour to catch them in flight and taking off from the water with the 150-400mm Sigma, the sun was yet to rise, so there was little light making even shooting at 1600 ISO challenging – 1/100 sec at f/7.1, if I was lucky, then before the sun rose too high I grabbed some shots of it peeking over the hill with the fence in silhouette.

 A heron arrived and sat initially on a post close to the bank and would occasionally fly a circuit and return or rest on some other posts by the buoys and nets. there were also smaller birds nearby and a chaffinch found some nuts and seeds atop the waste bin affording me a few shots. I stuck around till ten o’clock, with frozen feet and ears from the biting wind, but I was happy I had some shots of interest from my time there.

Changeable Weather at Tringford

The forecast seemed to promise showers in the morning with occasional sunshine, but it would close down around lunchtime, and the gusty wind was likely to be with us all day, well we missed the showers in the morning but were treated with a couple in the afternoon and the gusty wind was indeed with us all day.

There were two boats out on the lake each with a pair of anglers, one group was unlucky to catch no fish at all, the other managed three catches. The bailiff chose to try to fish from the bank and the fish just weren’t biting for him either.

We wandered down the stream, to check on the flow and whether this was affected by the fallen trees, but the flow seemed reasonable, but the water level in the reservoirs was very low, due in part to some leakage and a damaged lock gate on the canal. I was surprised to see a dragonfly, and a butterfly, since this has been a poor season for both for me, there were also more herons to be seen, at the bank and in the air. A couple of terns were using a technique I had not seen before, they would land on the water and then leap into the air and promptly dive after only a few feet, sometimes with success, but as often as not, no more lucky than flying and diving, but giving me a better shot at a picture!

I also was surprised to find a freshwater mussel, which had become stranded on the foreshore, so this was thrown into deeper water in the hope it would survive. Bob took me for a spell on the water whilst he fished from the boat, and I tried to get shots of the herons. Overall I think the weather slightly better than had been predicted.

Westcott Day, followed by Bulbourne and Tringford flowers

A bright day with a chance to see how Lizzy’s garden was progressing and to see the kitchen in sunshine provided a few interesting examples of colour, light and shade.

A day or two later, visit Bulbourne to see the Blacksmith where there was a beautiful display of Spring flowers rarely all seen at the same time, daffodils, tulips, and early bluebells with some dandelions thrown in for good measure! Then on to Tringford to meet the man who introduced me to the bailiff, which allowed me to capture life on both the stream and the reservoir, there in his garden were poppies and tulips.

There were Greylag, Canada Geese, a Heron, Coots and a Grebe to be found in flight, on the water and on the ground in a field still with blossom on the trees, yet at long last the day had the warmth of coming summer.

Later still, and I took a walk along the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union canal, and managed to get up close and personal to a Starling. Fishermen were to be found in abundance as were cyclists, families with children and dogs and a few slowly chugging narrowboats. A woman was knitting seated by the towpath and a man ensconced with his Sunday newspaper outside his galley. Birds were to be seen gathering twigs for nest-building others sang invisibly in the bushes, and overhead were the occasional sounds of light aircraft, cattle lowed in the fields nearby and the horses wandered slowly with swishing tails – the midges and seemingly mosquitoes were the reason for that. There were some very strange canoes on the canal looking very precariously low in the water.

The shot of the anchor was especially for Catherine.