Harold-Odell Lake Visit

        I pay a visit to the park at Harold-Odell for the first time in a long while; I parked outside the centre, as I wanted to first take a walk down the path that led down to the river as I had not noticed this in the past. I was under-whelmed, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, but I did take a couple of shots for the record.
        It seemed pointless wasting petrol to drive into the car park, so I took my camera with the Sigma 60-600mm mounted on the monopod and walked into the park which was reasonably busy, certainly by the lakeside, with young children with their mothers, excitedly chattering and enjoying the freedom, and the excitement amongst the ducks scrabbling for the bread being provided by one of the dads. One might imagine that the birds fighting for these morsels were starving, but I reckon this is simply a cunning ploy by these birds putting on a show, to ensure a constant supply, and provide enjoyment of the spectacle to these gullible humans; they certainly do not look under-nourished! And certainly, it had the desired effect of ensuring the children were enjoying themselves.
        Just beyond the water’s edge a gull looked on from the vantage of a tall pole close to the shore, perhaps waiting to see some unattended morsels.
        As I walked around the lake, I noticed several new carvings gracing the paths, which I hope inspires others to produce similar works of art. I enjoyed the time I spent roaming the gardens, it inspired me to come again, as there were still several areas I never covered, and I think that some of my family will find a visit rewarding. I hope that some of what I captured will entice others to pay the gardens a visit. I enjoyed capturing some of the swirling shapes created by the everyday activities of the birds on the water.

Sunny Visit to Priory Park Bedford

The weather was warm and bright, and it had been a fair time since I had been to this place, but I was really looking forward to what it was going to offer on this occasion. What really pleased and surprised me was the variety of subjects. I had been concerned that it might be difficult to keep my distance from the expected numbers of people I would encounter as the weather was so warm and bright, but everything went well, and finding subjects for the camera was no problem at all.

Although the camera kit I brought with me gave me various opportunities, I only put the 60-600mm Sigma zoom on the Canon EOS R6, and attached it to the monopod with a small ball joint head, so I could have a stable support with minimal weight. As I have found from excursions in the recent past, this is kit I can carry all day long with excellent scope for almost every aspect of images I am likely to encounter. Although I did have another lens in my rucksack should I encounter subjects that needed real closeups, but everything that came my way, or I found when deep in the woods never needed any change.

One surprise for me were the zealous swans, as on more than a single occasion I would see one head aggressively towards another at high speed and with much slapping of wings on the water, causing the victim to head away at high speed. Now, I have no idea of the sex of the participants, and whether it was predatory or sexual, but my guess is that it could be related to both. I did my best to cover the encounters which seemed to occur a few times in quick succession, but my observations never settled on a conclusion.

There were times when shots I had hoped to capture failed, one in particular was definitely down to my not spotting a bird a few feet in front of me; it was very close, and only broke cover when I had become a foot away! Another failure was a series of shots where the bird I was panning was flying against the rippled water surface, and the entire sequence held the rippled water in focus, not the bird in flight, surprisingly I had not noticed this whilst shooting, a failure which really annoyed me!

I noticed that I spent longer in the park than the majority, so perhaps afternoon tea drew the majority to their homes. On my return trip back to the car, I closed the monopod leg, considering the afternoon’s shooting was over, when I came across a couple of energetic magpies, only to put the camera back to work for one last time.

I found the afternoon rewarding, and well worth the extra miles to exercise my legs and brain, and I hope that those who take the time to look at the images enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed the challenge of taking them.

Life on and by a Bedford lake

                I decided to visit a specific spot on the River Great Ouse where I park close by a Food store and Car Dealership that is a short distance from the river, with generally rich pickings for photography and my luck was in as, soon after walking a short distance along the path and with my camera set up on my lightweight tripod, A canoeist paddles by with an attractive sheet of water streaming from his paddle down to the surface. To be graced with such luck upon my arrival was a delight and not long after another landed equally nearby.

               The rest of that afternoon the subjects for my lens were aquatic birds, with some interesting interactions amongst some Mallard — a particular female with two male suitors, with what I felt was seemingly the chosen one in close, clearly more appreciated, but who felt that having a standby in reserve was a sensible precaution! The trio remained near for much of my time there, and it soon became clear that the more dominant male had sufficient confidence to remain unfazed by the opposition, but nevertheless with no malice or aggression shown to the rival. The status quo seemed to be acceptable for the present; though I suspect the time is not yet ripe!

               This afternoon, I had no need to venture very far for subjects of interest, but there were no unusual subjects amongst those I captured, so it was behaviours that claimed my attention, with the occasional challenge of birds on the wing to ensure my co-ordination was exercised. This camera certainly justified my decision for its purchase, as I was pleased by the improved burst speed, which had a marked improvement on the success rate I was able to achieve with my current lenses, which was particularly noticeable with my very light Tamron long telephoto zoom, which was much lighter than my Sigma.

               The significance of that is that the added weight of the Sigma makes a heavy and sturdy tripod absolutely essential. During the last few months taking a heavy tripod and a heavy tripod attracts opprobrium under the current situation and I have no intention of drawing untoward attention by something considered professional, and the combination of the lighter lens and new body gives impressive results with far less effort even under poor lighting conditions. The tripod is not my most sturdy, but it provides enough stability most of the time, and far better than hand holding it.

               I really enjoyed being outside, in sunshine and getting exercise and fresh air, which keeps some of my sanity.

Bedford River Great Ouse Visit

After a spell without wind, the Lake at Brogborough was not enticing excitement on water, so the need to be out prompted me to visit the banks of the River Great Ouse in Bedford, and see what activity was to be found there, for me to capture.
Fortunately finding a place to park was not difficult, and from there I was able to walk by the river in less than a minute. I noted two small jetties that I presumed were for Anglers, but this seemed to be a small lake detached from the river as there was a vast amount of green algae covering a fair part of this pool, so I made my way to the far more busy river bank and was soon fully absorbed in recording the nature of life on and by the river. It was very apparent that far more people were desperately trying to return to normality and break free from the restrictions imposed by Covid.
It was pleasantly warm, but the sun which graced the earlier part of my day, soon retreated to spend more time behind the cover of clouds, but fortunately it did not prevent me from capturing the spirit of the day as life began to show signs of returning to the earlier norm, and the season showed evidence of the journey towards Autumn.
The images from my venture, capture the atmosphere I encountered whilst I was out with my camera. The camera to which I refer is the small LUMIX FZ10002; it is small, and has a zoom lens, which covers a surprising range, which I sometimes augment further by screwing on some small dioptre close-up lenses to allow me to move even closer on small insects, or flower heads.
It did not take long for me to find subjects for my camera, the first being Swans, with their new families of Cygnets, and it was interesting that one small area, close to the water had become a bird toilet — I have no idea whether this spot has always drawn the swans to this area, or that the restrictions imposed by Covid have simply kept the area free of human interference and allowed the swans to takeover this particular spot.
I spent some time at this area as the various birds felt safe; I found one spot where some four pigeons just stayed unmoving among a patch of weeds and daisies, quite unperturbed by my closeness, as if observing a Siesta! The cygnets and a lone swan close by the riverbank either were preening if awake, or dozing eyes-closed; the scene was somewhat surreal, but  I took advantage of the unmoving pigeons and captured images of both groups.
Whilst I was by the river many of the Sculls came only so far then turned around and afforded me some subjects, and I learned later this was as far as they were able to go, so this was the area that those craft tended to turn around. This I learned from a charming young lady whom I had recorded using this spot for just this purpose and later met up with her on the towpath.
Obviously this section of the river was the place to be, for I heard violent flapping of wings resounding from the water coming from the area by the nearby bridge. As the Swan came into view, I was able to capture several shots of its takeoff, and these feature in the associated gallery of images from that afternoon, and I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
There is something majestic about Swans; if you had never seen a Swan, and were asked: could a bird as large as this fly with elegance, a bird on water that seemed the epitome of grace and serenity, your answer might well be: "No!" — However, although takeoff required brute force and was noisy, the sheer power and will, allows this bird to prove you wrong. I hope that the few images I managed to capture are testimony to the power and beauty of this bird that has Royal protection and patronage. This does not excuse their abysmal toilet etiquette!
My walk along the river was not confined to just one side, I also crossed to the other bank which allowed me to witness the protective behaviour of a rook who had found some pieces of bread, and encountered a Mallard who made a failed attempt to steal them, but despite the size disparity, the rook prevailed!
This day's gallery ended with my salute to the architectural elegance of the white bridge with its avian group taking their advantage of the commanding views from its height above the river.

Stewartby Lake – Post LockDown Activity

I have visited this lake before, but it was a while back, before the current lockdown, yet it was ironically less busy on that occasion. Free from the recent restrictions, the Public were out in force, often in quite large groups, which I am presuming are family-related. I was in no hurry, so taking any gaps in the trees that led to the bank of the lake was not always an avoidance manoeuvre, but an opportunity to explore. The shoreline mostly displaying the roots of its past by the vast numbers of broken bricks present. Every so often there are sections of mortared brickworks, and one of these actually resembles the shape of a small submarine with a conning tower, which certainly was not going to be missed by my camera! 

The surface of the lake was largely given over to sailing dinghies, with a few powered boats as spectators as well as rescue craft. As there was quite a brisk, though gusty wind, the swan families were keeping often close to the shore, in the areas where the trees and bushes kept them more protected from the human visitors. There was one spot where the bricks have been carefully arranged to presumably improve angling, by keeping an area clear of more of the invasion of nearby foliage, but what surprise me is there are so many steep and muddy banks which could benefit from the use of stacking such bricks to make access safer.

Perhaps, because the wind was often quite strong on this visit, I saw fewer butterflies than I had hoped, and I also witnessed a wasp attack one butterfly, and I thought this was likely to have a bad outcome for the butterfly, but surprisingly, it did not succumb, perhaps the sometimes ragged wings I see an assume as general wear ‘n’ tear are in fact evidence of such attacks from predatory wasps.

On this trip, I saw no dragonflies and only a few damselflies, so perhaps the wind was a deterrent to flying operations at this time. I did notice that the blackberries were certainly coming on, but the few that looked ripe I was not prepared to attempt to eat, in case the Virus had contaminated them, and they had definitely not reached the numbers where considering picking numerous fruit that could be washed after collection; there were simply too few for that to be a viable option.

It was fortunate that despite the powered boats were not ever close, this lens was still able to capture some shots of them at a reasonable quality, but the carrying of a longer lens and a heavy tripod was never an option for this visit. The cloud cover was often not conducive to good quality, but it was still great to be out and in some sunshine, and to chat with some of the other visitors.

Harrold-Odell Lake Avian Activity

                A lake with abundant wildlife on the water, and close to shore, was where I was headed, and seeing a space on the main road outside Harrold-Odell Country Park seemed like a good spot to park, since I suspected the Car Park itself was likely to be crowded. My guess was accurate.

               Although I was planning to use my EOS R, and the Sigma 60-600mm with its 1.5 Converter, I still slung my LUMIX FZ10002 over my shoulder, and this was a good move, even though it only came into its own at the end of my visit.

               Once I had mounted the camera on my Benbo tripod, I was good to go, and first stop was the small area closest to the car park, where I could get an idea of what activity was on the main lake, after a short while there I then started a walk anti-clockwise around that lake, glancing through the trees to get a feel for what I was likely to find. A Black-headed gull had monopolised the now tilted post at the first stop, and as I ventured further, it seemed as if it was interested in featuring in photos, as I feel sure it was the same bird, that later I spotted gliding in search of a meal and every so often after circling, would swoop to the water, and then spend time in amongst the swans, geese and ducks, on the water amongst them.

               The swans some with young, seemed to be protective, but also in the distance with no young could be seen to be fairly aggressive amongst themselves! As a consequence the swan families and this gull feature strongly. In the case of the gull, I wanted as much panning activity as possible, so I was very grateful for his equal desire to assist. He (or She) put me through my paces, by often flying just by the treeline, which was certainly challenging! 

               Although hardly an attractive bird, the Egyptian Goose features fairly frequently as it is not every day that oneness them, but I have spotted one here on an earlier occasion.

               As I walked around, several times I spotted a species of almost colourless damselflies, but every one bar one never seemed to settle, so were too elusive to warrant the effort to photograph them. This lone one however seemed happy to stay close, so I brought out my LUMIX camera and attached the closeup lens then stretched out my right hand, palm-down in the hope it might land, meanwhile since I am naturally right-handed I gripped the camera awkwardly with my left hand, and contorted myself, such that I could hold it to my eye and operate the shutter with the same hand. It obviously felt I should be humoured having gone to such effort and duly landed on my free left hand, and patiently stayed there to allow me a couple of bursts, and at the end stayed put till I offered him a leaf upon which he could alight.

               This entire scenario was watched by a man in a wheelchair and his carer, who were seated nearby, so having succeeded in getting my shot, I showed them the result on the camera. They probably were convinced I was nine pounds short of a tenner! But I was really chuffed with my small success! Butterflies appear to be fairly trusting of humans, as this was not a one-off for me. I have also put seeds on my hand for Robins! Palm down, always.

Riverpark, Bedford — What LockDown?

I decided that although I was very much aware that almost anywhere I chose to visit would be crowded, so would require careful navigation — there were two possible Bedford locations large enough to make keeping my distance acceptably straightforward. On this occasion, that destination was Riverpark. Close by the car Park, was a quiet enclosed area which naturally drew me in! Though my camera was  to hand, the reaction of a Muntjac is way faster, especially for a mirrorless camera, but despite my speedy reaction, it had disappeared from view way faster than I was capable, I did marginally better with a rabbit a while later, but rear ends of most animals fleeing are rarely of great note! But, I kept the two shots of its exit.

An overflying light aircraft gave the chance to practice my skills at shooting distant, moving subjects when out and about with this mirrorless LUMIX FZ10002. The most serious handicap with this camera is focussing in fussy scenes, or more detailed backgrounds behind a small or diffuse subject. I need to speak to someone with an understanding of how to set up custom controls so I can speedily alter apertures to define the depth of field I might need.

Other subjects that I managed at least some shots were damselflies and Demoiselle butterflies, ducklings, goslings, Swans and Jackdaws, and an overflying helicopter, which is testament as to how versatile is the LUMIX with its fixed zoom lens. I enjoyed the exercise, and it was good to see that all the youngsters behaved well with the birds and their young, and everyone I came across were very respectful of distancing at all times.

There are numerous well-shaded paths, that wend their way around small lakes, and I spent quite some time sitting on a conveniently sited stone by one of those small lakes capturing shots of the activity in amongst the reeds. When I next venture out I will likely visit the river Great Ouse, but walk in the opposite direction to the one I took on my last a fortnight or so back.

Harrold-Odell Avian Observations

In the lull between the wind and rain of recent days, I headed for the lakes at Harold-Odell; at first there was some sunshine, but that became milkier, as the afternoon wore on.

        At this time of year, the capturing of images is determined by the nuances of weather; dull days with wind can often be the source of dramatic monochrome shots that give drama, wind and sun can provide the drama on the nearby lake for its windsurfing community, sun with less wind can attract powerboats on a different equally close lake. The lakes at this location feature a variety of birds, and on this visit, the two species in greatest numbers were Swans and gulls.

One species I had not encountered before was the Goosander, and there was a pair, sadly at too great a distance for really good shots on this occasion as I had made the decision to use the LUMIX 10002 on this visit; it was the male I had spotted as being of interest as  a bird I had not encountered before. It was only in a conversation later in the afternoon that a local Warden to whom I was showing some of the shots informed me that I had in fact got some shots of the female! There is a lot to be learned from conversation with others.

The gallery started by my hoping to capture a sighting of a grey Squirrel in the trees on the left as one enters, but actually what caught my eye were clumps of flowers, the first tentative signs of Spring, no Squirrel on this occasion. I made my way to the fenced off bank by the break in the shoreline trees, where the more fearless of birds come, knowing that parents of young children are to be found offering seeds and bread to bring them close.

Mallard ducks and drakes were the most numerous, followed by swooping gulls squawking loudly in the hope of diving in earlier than other species on the water. A behaviour that surprised and baffled me somewhat was how presumably the parent swans would aggressively drag Cygnets away by the neck, or with heads low on the water, chase their young away.

The light was fading, and by the back of the Restaurant were some raised flower boxes with an array of coloured Spring flowers that caught my eye, so colour topped and tailed the gallery of birds.

My phone alerted me that the time had arrived for me to take my next antibiotic to calm my raging toothache, so I sought out a glass of water with which to take it, which was how I had come into contact with the warden who had told me of the Goosanders.

Searching New Locations — Two BBOWT Sites

I have been looking at maps, and most recently the Handbook of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. I settled on investigating two that looked promising in offering photography opportunities, one was a lake, at Foxcote, the other a large Ridge and Furrow field, at Pilch Field near Great Horwood. The lake was large, with a substantial hide, but that was the one and only location from which to shoot, and that was my first destination. As I walked to the hide via a long straight track, numerous small birds flitted across my path which was a good omen.

However the view was of a very empty lake, and fully fifteen minutes elapsed before I sighted any birds on the water, on the far side I spotted two swans, then a small group of Goldeneye. This was a bird I had not photographed before, so that was promising, although I did manage to get some shots, they were never very close, and were crops from the full focal length of 1200mm (600mm and the 2x Converter!). I spent more than hour in the hide, and viewed from two opposing positions, but those birds on the water never came close unfortunately.

I had no idea what to expect at this second location, Pilch Field, and surprisingly, considering the overall lack of visible animal or bird life, I took more pictures here, because I was fascinated by the vast number of small mounds, and wondered which animal had created them. I phoned BBOWT, and it turns out they were created by ants — they must have been present in very large numbers, and have been very energetic! Presumably, the cultivation method, we humans used all those years back, was highly beneficial for these energetic insects, as they have populated the entire area.

So, despite my search for more exotic bird life was not fulfilled, my day had certainly proved interesting. I had known this was not the season for exciting discoveries, it was very useful in at least understanding what might prove to be worthwhile later in the year.

Harold-Odell Country Park

Wednesday dawned bright and crisp, and the car which overnight had been encased in a thick frosty coat, was slowly warming in the bright sunshine above the low lying mist, thawing the windows from the rear of the parked car going forward.

The mist was also burning off though more slowly, and the sky above was a cloudless blue, which enticed me to consider a trip out to record life on the lake to the North of me at Harold-Odell Country Park. I had a leisurely breakfast, by which time the last of the frost had thawed making it a matter of moments to clear the moisture from the front and rear screens, and a swift lowering of the front door windows to clear them, before heading northwards. The only heavy traffic encountered was on the section of the A421 currently narrowed and speed-restricted from the M1 Junction northwards till the dual carriageway.

When I reached my destination there were roadworks just before the turning for the car park, so I parked on the right before the entrance in the small very muddy lay-by. It is was at this point that my day’s luck ran out. Somehow my car key had been damaged earlier in my pocket, and I found that I was unable to use the open switch on it, and using the key manually left me no means by which I could open the boot! Add to my annoyance, my alarm sounded as well due to the delay in discovering that I had to turn that off whilst the key was in the Ignition! It took some while for me to work out a way to get around this Snafu! My woes did not end there, as I had left my monopod in the house, and it had my tripod head on it, so all my shooting was going to be handheld. It was therefore a blessing that at least the exposures were going to be fast enough for my long lens.

Before entering the Park, I wanted to get some shots of the lingering mist and the distant churches before the sun burned this off, and even as I was taking these the mist was lifting, and the distant scene was crispening.

I had hoped I might see Grebe on the water, but they were nowhere to be seen, gulls and Mallards were in the majority, and swan families were reasonably numerous too. Along the margins inshore I kept spotting a Robin, but it was too flighty, rarely still long enough for me to get a focus, before it was off elsewhere.

I only stayed long enough to capture a few representative shots, before it became obvious there were no new views to be had.

Tring Reservoirs — Mainly Marsworth

Despite the dull, overcast weather, I headed south to the reservoirs at Tring; parking the car in the field adjacent to the Tringford lake and the entrance to the Anglers jetty, and walked the short distance to get a view of what life was either on the lake or nearby — there was very little life at all, mainly some coot and gulls. Disappointed, I assembled my camera and 60-600mm Sigma Sports lens onto the EOS R body with the 1.4 x Converter, and headed across the road to see whether my luck was in, at either of the other two lakes: Startops, or Marsworth — it turned out disappointingly for both, with most birds staying out in the middle of both lakes.

Activity was desultory presumably because of the lacklustre weather, so I focussed on the only action there was on the far shore of Startops, where a couple were creating a slight stir for the gulls, by ‘breaking bread’ religiously as a break from their dog-walking. The only other nearby activity was an odd pairing of a Canada Goose and Greylag, and a more natural Swan pair. That helped me decide to travel the short distance to the fourth  of Tring’s Reservoir Lakes, at Wilstone.

This proved to be a difficult route to even arrive at the closest point of its shoreline, and was even more disappointing since I was only able to record some further dog walkers and some distant views of the lake on my return trip to the car, but I enjoyed the exercise, the fresh and mild air, and the knowledge that I was not missing too much, it also made me wonder about how much cross breeding there was between Canada Geese and Greylags. I must ask my Avian Guru, Chris Gomersall, who regularly runs trips for Nikon, to which even Canon aficionados such as myself are equally welcomed.

                I did get to speak to Chris and learn that it is not that uncommon for such relationships to occur; I also learned that my memory is not what it used to be, since he told me I had asked him the same question on an earlier occasion!

Harrold-Odell Lake– Alive with Swans

Although it was a dull day, I decided to visit the park at Harold-Odell, to see what birds were on the lakes. It was certainly a good choice of venue, as there was a plethora of birds; the largest number of swans on a lake I had seen in a while, a Cygnet and numerous gulls. I spotted a Shoveller, some Pochard, male and female, Mallard ducks in a couple of family groups. I had my sturdy Benbo tripod, and had put the 2x Converter on the 60-600mm Sigma Sports on the EOS  R body. All the birds were congregated at this near end of the right hand lake, but if they were close to the shore, it was by the far bank. As I approached the near bank there was a noisy exodus of half a dozen gulls that spooked several of the ducks, which was a shame, but a man dressed in black and moving a large tripod with a long lens might just be considered a threat, I suppose.

It was definitely a good move to have the Converter in place because the only large birds were the swans, and even when at a distance they were never an issue, and they are definitely very capable of taking care of a feeble human! Obviously, it would have been very nice to have had some sunshine, and even better had my subjects come much closer, but it was good to come away from a computer screen and be outside taking pictures again, and the swans gave me some nice shots, and it was good to see the Shoveller and Pochard.

I feel revitalised once more, since I had not had a chance to get any shots of fireworks this time around, though there is a weekend coming along, so there is a possible chance still. I also wonder when there might be some wind and sun that beckons the windsurfers; I should not be greedy, but I was greeted by an early call from an erstwhile one-off client who is wanting some building progress shots, which came as a very welcome surprise, so we are meeting next week, so as the man who as he jumped from the Empire State Building was heard to say as he was passing the twelfth floor: “I’m not dead yet!”

A Marsworth Reservoir Visit

I have been helping Author Martin Evening, tech-editing his latest edition in the series of ‘Photoshop for Photographers’ books, and unfortunately we have a far shorter lead time in which to have it ready to be supplied to the Printers. As we near the deadline, Martin is working hard to complete possibly the longest Chapter, and on this day, there were no more Chapters ready for me to read and check, so because I really needed a break, I took the opportunity to collect my EOS R camera and Sigma Sports 60-600mm lens, load the kit into the car, and head for Marsworth Reservoir.

Arriving at the Parking area on the main road, there was no sign of the Water Bailliff’s car, or any other angler’s in their Private Car Park, and I later learned he was up in London at the time. I set up my EOS R and the 60-600mm Sigma Sports lens which by default has the 1.4 Converter attached, which on this occasion I should have swapped for the 2x, as most of my subjects were well offshore this late afternoon. However, having crossed the road, and was halfway along the bank path by the hide, before I realised my lack of foresight.

I spotted one of my favourite aquatic birds, a young Grebe, and it proved to be an impressive angler, despite its catch being mainly toddlers, in the time I was watching this one bird, it was successful every other dive, and when it dived it was only submerged for no longer than my  count of ten each occasion. An observation I made was that on most times it made a catch, at one stage it would momentarily loose its prey and either drink or simply wash its catch before it tossed it down its gullet. It did not seem an arbitrary action, it was noticeably consistent, perhaps it was ascertaining that its food was both dead,band clean.

That youngster intrigued me so much that most of the first page of the Gallery is devoted to this one subject. The last two images on that page was my observation of a cross-species relationship between a Greylag and Canada Goose, the faithful Canada Goose stayed close the entire time I was watching — I had not spotted this behaviour in the past, so I was interested and must question my Avian Guru, Chris Gomersall, whether this is normal.

The narrow neck of the Marsworth Lake which for years has been a favoured spot for kingfishers due to its comparatively good access for long reconnaissance trips between the main lake and its source, has been deserted for this season, as every one of my trips to this spot this year has caught nary a sighting of this wonderful little bird, much to my personal disappointment. Initially, some early season gales felled a large tree, blocking this passage partially; but more recently, the situation has deteriorated further with even more fallen trees and bushes, leaving no clear flight path for these beautiful birds.

In their place is what now more closely resembles a small pond, which due to the resultant lack of water movement has acquired a surface covering of algae, and seemingly favoured now by maturing cygnets, who feature on the second gallery page as they very lazily moved around what has now become a pond. I cannot believe that this surface mat is truly beneficial for the new incumbents of this stretch of water, that also now lacks the amount of health-giving sunshine it once enjoyed. I used to meet several photographers in this small secluded area, and if any of them read this, it would be wonderful if we could get together to persuade the Canal and River Trust to provide the means for us to help them tidy this section of the lake to all our mutual benefit — the birds, the fish, a healthy flow to the water, and photographers. It is after all, to all our benefits.

A Tringford Lake Visit

It seems quite some time since visiting Tringford Reservoir, and having had a brief chat with its Water Bailliff, I decided that despite some occasional light rain, it was worthwhile travelling down as apparently they had been visited by a fair number of Egrets, a bird I have had less opportunity to record.

To get close enough to the activity on the lake I needed to be at the far end of the lake, and for that I needed to enter the woods over a bridge across the stream and make my way through to the shore with my heavy Benbo tripod and set up in the soft mud of the entry stream to the lake, and even then I would still need the 1.4x Converter and some further cropping later! Fortunately the EOS R with its extra pixel density handles this surprisingly well. And certainly in many instances that crop was quite extensive! Up till now I have shied away from using more than the 1.4x crop, but with this body and the Sigma Sports 60-600mm I have it attached most of the time. I will certainly be considering the 2x Converter because it would seem very good sense to use for wildlife and possibly for some Sports work.

As an indication of just how well this lens combo functions, the third picture in this gallery is a full-frame uncropped, and two frames further is a seriously tight crop, capable of an A4 colour print with great detail! Sigma have built a superb lens with fantastic capability which is a real joy to use, and the EOS R is making the most of its capabilities. The Benbo tripod supplies the necessary stability for use at the long end of the range, that I was pushing the envelope on this occasion. For most of the time I was operating at the maximum available aperture as well.

As a further indication of the sheer versatility of this lens, the shot of the mating dragonflies in frame 37 is also a tight crop at less than the full focal length at f/6.3, and that will definitely achieve a Super A3 print, and yes, I would have liked to have been closer, but knew that was simply not practical!

This camera and lens gives me so much joy in use, but it also makes me realise how much I need a more powerful Mac to lessen the post-processing time that invariably follows any outing I make when using the kit to its full potential.

My prediction is that for ultimate quality still images the next step will be a dual processor to accommodate both viewing and shooting as separate, parallel operations to allow for meaningful panning in Sports and Wildlife situations where currently these currently work against each other; my short term way of coping is to use multiple short bursts, but it is a compromise. What is life without a challenge?!

Windless Brogborough Sunny Afternoon

Sunny afternoons with little wind gives Brogborough Lake a different feel, for some it offers relaxation on a paddle board for their dogs, for others to watch their partners on the water trying to make the most from what little wind was on offer, but for a few to try their hand with foiling boards — two such were experienced windsurfers new to this extension to their kit who were joining Sam Barnes to explore this latest addition to their windsurfing boards.

It was this group that held my interest on this occasion, Richard and Geoff were taking the opportunity to explore this new addition to their sport, and I wanted to capture their exploration of this kit as they learned the nuances of this feature. It was not without its mishaps, but that was not my motivation, I wanted to capture their early successes as they added to their experience. The nature of the surrounding hills and trees meant that the best wind tended to be quite far from the main shoreline and jetty were, and this was handy for me to get the best out of my EOS R camera body with its Sigma 60-600mm Sports lens and its 1.4 x Converter.

In addition, I was also using a different head on my Benbo tripod; the Acratech Long Lens Head and Leveller, in place of my gimbal head, I have been assessing different options of kit, for when I need to keep weight down, and this was the second time I had checked this option out, but since I have no distance to travel the weight saving is insignificant and the gimbal head is probably better.

The combination of the Sigma Sports lens and 1.4x Converter with the EOS R is a really good mix for this type of work, because the camera body allows for excellent quality at high ISO speeds often necessary due to the light levels encountered, and the quality and range of this lens and body is superb.

I hope these results please the subjects of this day’s galleries, as I feel some have captured the essence of what they were experiencing.

An Interesting Visit to Tring Reservoirs

 

On my arrival at the Car Park at Tringford Reservoir,  I noted several cars already there, so rather than immediately set up the camera and tripod, I decided to check out who was at the lakeside. It was good to have a chat and one outcome was that I was treated to a privileged trip through the woods to visit one swan on her nest. Before that, I recorded the gathering of the circular bales from the now otherwise bare field, by tractor with twin spikes. These early shots were handheld on my EOS 5D MkII using the 24-70mm lens.

I then set up the Benbo tripod and Gimbal head and mounting the Sigma 60-600mm with the 1.4x Converter on the EOS R, and headed over the road to the Marsworth Lake, where I met up with a new young family of Greylag Geese. The new Season’s youngsters were in evidence for Swans, Geese and Ducks, which is always a welcome sight, and in the sky above the Lakes were black headed Gulls, Tern and Pigeons, and on the banks were luckless anglers, one of whom had put out bread and bait to attract fish, which only attracted the gulls which demolished every last scrap as if their lives depended upon it!

Much to my regret, I saw no sign of Kingfishers and precious few Grebe, though I spotted two Herons, they were at a distance, and as if to rub sand in the wound, upon my return to my car a lone heron was in the middle of the very field the car was in, but too distant even for my lens, but I did attempt to lessen the distance but in vain, for I had barely reduced the distance between us by five feet, it took off into the distance!

Harrold-Odell Country Park Birds

 

I now had the EOS R mirrorless camera and Sigma Sports 60-600mm lens back, and was keen to set everything up again, and also having learned from Canon how to shoot sequences with breaks in shooting, without the interruption of the saved files in the viewfinder until I needed to review the captured images. I did not find it as fluid as when using a conventional DSLR, but with practice I believe I will manage to master it. When you learn how to set this up, it is straightforward, but I had to find the setting by asking my Canon Guru!

Now if I need to review the image I click Preview rather than have to wait as the sequence is displayed in the viewfinder, when what I was trying to do was continue shooting once an action continued. Thus far it is not as fluid as my earlier experience with a mirror flipping, but I am hoping I will master it with more practice. One piece of advice offered was to slow the frame rate, but that would seem counter-intuitive, but I will explore all this as every opportunity arrives. What I have already found is that the quality of the captured images exceeds that of the earlier lenses due to the reduced camera shutter vibration and the larger inherent file size; in other words the image quality exceeds what I previously achieved. Another factor also comes into play in low light levels; the image brightness improves both the cameras ability and mine to focus accurately.

The adapter to use my existing investment in lenses is yet another benefit of the move to a mirrorless body, but it has been a steep learning curve, and as yet I do not have the fluidity I experienced with my earlier bodies (and my brain is older, and less tractable!) My own body has a similar issue with my wonderfully stable Benbo tripod, whose weight is a severe issue when travelling on foot for any distance!

On this trip the only bird that was in any way special was a lone Grebe, but the trip was mainly an exercise to gain confidence in the mirrorless body and the Sigma 60-600mm lens, which I fulfilled albeit not spotting the incorrect setting of colour temperature, which fortunately I was able to sort in ‘post’! I still have further settings to reinstate, but for anyone considering the change to the EOS R, fear not.

Briefest Brogborough Visit with Biting Wind

          I was thinking that with a stiff breeze, there might be a chance of some activity on the nearby lake, but upon arriving at the Car Park for Brogborough’s windsurfing and paddleboarder afficianados; I found there were few takers.

          It was a bitterly cold late morning, with an added bonus of a biting wind, perhaps the cold was enough to deter all but the hardiest of windsurfing sailors from venturing out on the lake. Only when the winds don’t blow do the paddle boarders take to the water. However, on this occasion the low temperature was enough to deter all but the most determined, unless some were hidden from view the total was a mere half dozen.

          Sam Barnes who runs the show reckoned the cold would not draw too many on this occasion, and it was a while before the number, rigged and on the water, rose to three, which meant it was worth my while to put the camera onto the Benbo tripod and set up on the shore or the jetty to get shots of any action that caught my eye.

          I cannot promise that what I captured was earth shatteringly exciting, but before leaving I did take a few shots of the Benbo with it as Hero, because last weekend I learned that the Distributors, Paterson would very much like to see shots of the Benbo in action.

          I moved it around the shoreline with the lake and windsurfers as background in a small gallery to say thank you for their very useful, and firm tripod. It takes to water well, since the lower leg sections are closed at the bottom, so can be immersed in more than a foot in water with impunity.

          Click this link to view the Benbo tripod I used for these shots with the 5D MkIII and Sigma Sports 60-600mm

http://www.fntn.co.uk/rodwp/BenboTerritory