Gull City !

Moses Gate Country Park - 17.1.21

Over the last few days I've been reading daily reports of an arctic white winged gull specifically an Iceland Gull visiting regularly a small lake just a few miles drive away. A gull that normally breeds in Arctic Greenland and N Canada so making it a rare visitor to northern England. 

The weather have been pretty grim over the last few days with either fog, rain or just poor light not the conditions that's going to make a visit worth while, but with an improvement this morning and rain for the remainder of the week I'm going to spend an hour seeing what's on offer.

It's a few years since I was last at Moses Gate CP and I must say I wasn't expecting it to be so busy both in terms of people numbers and the shear amount of gulls present. Iceland Gull unlike our resident gulls have white wing tips making it pretty easy to pick out, I say that so long as there isn't hundreds of gulls to sift through, which is exactly what's present !

Scanning the masse of gulls for twenty minuets or so I pick up the immature Iceland gull which is more cream coloured rather that the more light brown of the other juveniles, it's just a matter of waiting for the gulls including the Iceland Gull to get interested in all the free food thrown to the ducks, yes this is real bird photography....not !

Iceland Gull

Canon R5 - First Time Out !

Elton Reservoir - 12.1.21

Over the last few days I've been setting up the new acquisition to the camera bag, the Canon R5 mirrorless camera, too so say it's a little complicated is a bit of an understatement but at least there's continuity with some of the familiar Canon menus but still loads of new features. Anyway with a forecast of some sun this morning I'm going to give the R5 with it's full frame and 1.6 crop sensor modes a bit of a run out, but not too many images thou as I'm still awaiting delivery of the not so available mega expensive 128GB CFExpress cards.

It's a great morning and probably the best light I've had in a long while, a quick scan I see the Scaup is still present sat amongst the Tufties but a little way out in the reservoir along with all the other suspects, hopefully I can get some images whilst it's still relatively quite.

I've provisionally setup the camera with settings I've previously used on the 5D4 and before that the 7D2 but there's still a load more I'm not used to so it's going to be a bit of a learning  curve. The first setting I'm unhappy with is the histogram in the view finder, although it's translucent I find it quite distracting during composure and I can't find the setting to turn it off ! 

The AF eye-detection is incredible quick locking on to the eye and not letting go, a massive improvement over the 5D and 7D AF systems, another feature I quite like is the MF button enabling me to change to custom settings for BIF at a single press, previously you had to press and turn a top knob which was way too slow. Lastly the ability to shoot at 12fps and above for action shots is a big bonus and lacking on the 5D. 

In conclusion, this isn't intended to be a camera review which there are plenty already on the likes of YouTube by users far more experience than me, more a record of my encounters and experiences. Anyway below are some images from the morning of the long staying Scaup and a Little Grebe that was active mainly showing me its backside until it eventually poping up struggling with a small Perch.

Until the next time, stay safe

Greater Scaup

Little Grebe

Tufted Duck - male

Tufted Duck - female

Coot

Rubbish Weather !

Elton Reservoir, Bury - 6.1.21

I've been keeping an eye on the weather over the last couple of days especially for good light as I'm keen to see how the plumage of the long staying first winter male Scaup is transforming into that of the adult. Planning a visit always entails staying clear of the weekend as the constant stream of people invariably sends the duck rapidly off into the middle of the reservoir, so after over a week of the cloud today looks the day for a visit which is only a short distance from home.

Now in my usual location and a lot of slithering around I'm all set now all done to some waiting. Whilst the Scaup can be quite tolerant the Tufted Duck it like to associate with aren't, so to pass the time whilst I'm waiting I do some skyward birding, well it's a nice day !

One duck I've never managed previously to get near at Elton is the always skittish Teal, but today a passing dog walker spooks the ducks and they promptly take to the safety of the open water and an ideal opportunity for some images. The light is pretty good, with the sun is my back the water rippling with shades of gold browns from the far bank vegetation making for some nice images.

Eurasian Teal / Common Teal

Greater Scaup

After some waiting the Scaup returns minus the usually accompanying Tufted Duck, on its own it seems much more content to dive alone but still nearer to the far bank, occasionally a dog walker pushes the duck my way enabling a closer shot but overall I'm happy getting images at this distances.

This image below was taken in October 2020 showing the plumage change well on the way to that of adult.