Photographs and Fishermen

Last weekend, I went to the British Birdfair at the Egleton nature reserve, Rutland Water. Normally the preserve of England's best known osprey population. Today the place was full of wildlife artists, wildlife holiday travel companies, bird NGO's and optics companies, all squeezed into a series of marquees. Imagine a giant county show for birders only without the farm animal displays and giant vegetables. This was the first time I had been to Birdfair which was established many years ago and has, among other things, raised an amazing amount of money for conservation projects around the world. Apart from listening to one talk, styled as an interview between the wonderful duo of Georgia Locock and Chris Packham (as passionate as ever about our beautiful but oh so threatened hen harriers), the key area for me turned out to be the optics tent as slightly to my own surprise, I came away with a new camera. It could have been worse, I was also sorely tempted by a limited edition print by one of my favourite artists, Chris Rose, a truly stunning depiction of sanderling on the tideline, a scene I have witnessed many times at places like Titchwell in Norfolk. In my defence, my current camera is literally heading south when my daughter takes the existing camera with her to university on the south coast so clearly I had to do something, yes?

So time to try out the new camera but where? In the 'how to' birdwatching books, they always say to start in your local park and in a simple bid to get used to the extra bells and whistles on the new machine, I strolled down to the lake that sits in the middle of Goldsworth Park, which isn't a park at all but the name of the housing estate on which I live. To be fair, it is a rather green estate with lots of trees (it is former nursery land) and that lake, complete with clumps of reed and a sadly unused kingfisher bank.

Moorhen 

The lake boasts modest numbers of fairly common species including moorhen, along with larger (or at least more obvious) numbers of coot. Whilst on my knees pointing the camera in the direction of this young moorhen, a couple of local fisherman, thinking I was one of them I suppose, kept shouting 'good morning' at me until they realised I wasn't (a fisherperson that is). I responded politely of course (amazing how many fishermen, joggers, dog walkers and birders there are around at 6.30 in the morning) but they certainly seemed disappointed when they understood I was carrying a camera not a rod (wouldn’t have said the lens was that long).

The centrepiece of the lakes wildlife is the pair of great crested grebe who have bred successfully here for a good few years. This picture of one of the two youngsters almost works as the water splash is perhaps more in focus than the birds. The adults, not quite at their finest now but still handsome birds, must by now be tired of being pestered for food buy two 'chicks' who are almost as well grown as they.

Great Crested Grebe 'splash'

Great Crested Grebe

Given I was sat at the bottom of a grassy bank whilst waiting for the grebes and the bird was at the top, I couldn't resist a low level shot of this woodpigeon (best not to think about what the red bin is behind the bird).

Woodpigeon

Black headed gulls are a feature of much of this country but still worth pointing the camera towards when the occasion arises (certainly while you are trying to figure out a new camera), so this forms a sort of gull study; standing, floating and flying. The flying shot perhaps isn't quite sharp; flying shots are hard whatever equipment you are using it seems.

Black Headed Gull 

Black Headed Gull

Black Headed Gull

 I finished by wandering off the park and onto some nearby common land. In one damper area, I found these mushroomy, fungi things. Now I clearly don't precisely know what they are (although there is a strong resemblance to the centrepiece of a recent field mushroom wellington recently enjoyed by me in a pub very close indeed to this site), but I did just like the view.

Autumn is essentially with us from a wildlife viewpoint and my next wander might see me further afield. Clearly, I need to test out the new camera as much as possible!