OUT AGAIN FOR ANOTHER TRY OUT WITH THE NEW LENS.

I am finding this lens is nowhere as forgiving as the 50 - 500 mm and you have to put more thought into what you are doing, I have had a couple of outings not doing this and have paid the price with totally mediocre images, but that's the name of the game. Hopefully with this last visit out with Richard things are improving.

We had our normal Thursday visit out and were very lucky with the weather, the forecast was for fog all day but we had virtually wall to wall sunshine with the frost remaining throughout the day, and some very slippy roads in Rutland.  It was Richards turn to drive and we got on our way and headed initially for Loughborough as some Waxwings had been reported on Nanpantan Road but were not visible to us, so after a search we headed towards Eyebrook Reservoir arriving at about 14.00 hrs and after a quick drive round a new section of road I found on a previous visit where we saw four Buzzards but only managing images of one in a field, they are very nervous birds and are soon away if you stop the car or get close. After this we went to our Red Kite area and put out a few of my frozen chicks that I had for the Barn Owls and then down to the inlet bridge at the reservoir for some lunch and hopefully a site of the illusive Kingfishers. They both actually arrived and duly sat in a Willow tree some 98 metres away, a small bird buried in the middle of all the branches??? Some poor results are below. 

After this we returned to the Red Kite area but this time they never arrived but we can only hope for another day and hopefully some birds.

We then headed for a trip through our Little Owl Sites and managed two birds, one at Site 5 and likewise at Site 9.

May I wish you all a Happy New Year and that we can all manage to get that illusive image we are hoping for.    

EYEBROOK RESERVOIR.
29th December.

Buzzard.

 This bird remained still for a reasonable time whilst we managed a few images but even with us sat in the car and shooting through the gateway it didn't  stay for long. We saw another three birds but they were up in a tree and were away as we approached and were attempting some images.

This is a very pale bird, we had one at Rutland two years ago that was even paler and many people got confused and thought it was another Osprey coming towards Manton Bay. 

Buzzard, Little Owl Site No. 9.

This bird is much darker than the birds we saw at Eyebrook, not a welcome site as it was very close to the area where we see the Little Owls. Also shows that the lens has focused on the branch, not the bird. 

Kingfisher in Willow tree in feeder stream to Reservoir.

This image taken at 600 mm and as you can see the bird is well buried in the tree and is some 98 metres away. 

Image after some cropping, you can see its a Kingfisher but that's about all. 

It then had a quick dive into the stream and returned to a lower branch in the tree.  

Even more buried in the tree canopy, we will keep visiting and hopefully get it sat on some tree stumps {that are considerably closer} that other people have got images on.  

Kestrel {Female I believe due to streaked head}, Near to area where we see the Red Kites.

As we were leaving the Red Kite area to go Little Owling we saw this bird sat in the top of a tree, Richard pulled into a gateway and managed to get the car at an angle so I could get these images.

Dunnock, Near the Bird feeders at the bridge.

Delightful little bird, several were about most of the time we were at the bridge. 

Robin again at the Bridge.

Several Robins were busying themselves about at the bridge and near the feeders. 

RED KITE.

Red Kite.
This bird has a wing tag number 39. 

Here you can see the wing tag is orange, after doing a little research, I find that the East Midlands birds have a White wing tag and Yorkshire birds have orange, so this is a bird that fledged and was tagged in Yorkshire.

Eyebrook Reservoir is in the East Midlands.

They are really beautiful and so graceful in flight. 

Hopefully on my next visit out I can master these birds with the lens, still a way to go to get what I want.

Boeing PT 17, Kaydet.

This plane flew virtually over the top of us whilst we sat in the car waiting for the Red Kites. It was built in 1942 and is powered by a Pratt and Whitney R985-AN1 Wasp radial engine. What fabulous condition this old aircraft is in. It is apparently based at Leicester Stoughton Airfield.

Somewhat different to todays modern Boeing aircraft with Carbon fibre wings and enormous fan engines.




Thank you for your visit, I hope you have enjoyed your visit as much as I did in getting the images. Again this has been a bit of a feeling my way with this lens post.