Tuesday 8 November 2016

The Last Three Weeks

21st Oct

I took a walk along the seawall at Reculver hoping to see the shorelarks again but no luck. However, I did bump into a snow bunting which was in the deep shade of the wall and managed to get a couple of shots before it wandered a bit further along the beach and then lost. Also I met Gary Faulkner, a Flickr contact. 


25th Oct

CANON vs NIKON

I have been researching photographic equipment that would give me a better and lighter kit for some time now. I had always admired results from the new Nikon 300mm F4, small and half the weight of my lens and then the Nikon D500 which was the new all singing and dancing camera from the Nikon stable. With trembling nerves I bagged up all my Canon kit and traded it all in for the above kit plus a 1.4 extender. The first day out it was great, smaller, lighter and seemed to respond in every way as it was the following day.  However, as we all know, its what looks good on the PC and not the back of the camera. Reviewing the shots I got that horrible feeling, 'what have I done', oh know.  

The results were not terrible but clearly not as good as my Canon, rather soft and no real 'bite' in the detail. It was not a focus issue as front and back of the focus point were just the same. I was convinced there was a problem with either the body or lens as this combination should have produced equal or better results than my Canon kit.  Fortunately, I was able to go back to the shop where they took it all back and returned my Canon kit, thanks to them!   

Fingers slightly burned with that experience I was not going to try another kit from elsewhere but it shows that when you buy new, be careful because even paying out a lot of money does not guarantee you will get first class results.  I have known several cases where this has happened so always buy 'on approval', you shell out a fist full of money and you are given a box with gear that's untested and could easily have faults.

28th Oct

A fine day so I went to Stodmarsh meeting up with Steve and Tim. Walking to the Marsh hide we had good views of a heron with an enormous eel which it swallowed without too much trouble.  A couple of beardies showed briefly but otherwise it was fairly quiet.







29th Oct

A visit to SS plots proved rather unexciting, the only thing of note being 14 fieldfares in one of the trees otherwise it was goldfinches, song thrushes, chaffinch, wren, cetti's but it was good to see 2 greenfinches here. On the LNR I took photos of this grey plover resting on the breakwaters.



30th Oct

A rather damp quiet morning.



2nd Oct.

A day out with the other half to Sheffield Park gardens, managed to get in this week, last week we had to abort, crowded, no room in car park.



3rd Nov.

A short pm visit to SS seeing 8 snipe flying over plus a distant barn owl, no shorties today though.

5th Nov.

The weather was doubtful but I went to SBBOT, the hide was unexciting with mainly teal on show so I went along the toll road and found the greys.  I parked up and just waited until they came close (6 off) mizzly rain started but I managed a few shots as they gradually came towards me.




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