Pennington Flash

[squidfish]

Hi

Had a day off work last week and woke to clear skies and a hard frost (at last!!), looked like a day with some good light potential and decided to head out for the day with camera. I thought I would try and fit two venues in to the day although daylight hours are short now. The first venue for the morning was over to Pennington Flash, near Manchester to see if I could get a shot or two of a water rail. This very shy bird is known to visit the feeding station there.

I had a good start finding a grey wagtail moving along the edge of the main lake but only managed to get one shot in before it did there characteristic vanishing act..



http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/greywagger.jpg



Moving on to the hide there was no sign of a water rail so I past the time photographing the steady stream of birds appearing.

Blue tit


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/btiter2.jpg


One of our smallest tits the Coal tit



http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/coal1-1.jpg


The photographic nightmare the Long tailed tit which are quite amusing to watch as they are perfectly happy hanging upside down from branches.



http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/LTT2.jpg


and the Willow tit



http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/wilt.jpg


and a ringed male bullfinch for good measure



http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/buller1.jpg

Eventually a water rail came creeping out the undergrowth, only to rapidly disappear again



http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/Rail2.jpg

It appeared again later on :)


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/rail8.jpg


http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k217/squidfish_2006/rail9.jpg


Cheers

Rich

[matpreec]

Im 'gobsmacked' Rich - Thank you!

[alanhill]

What beautiful water rail shots! The poses are so characteristic and you can see how wary that bird is. You had a very productive day.

Alan

[Travis Bickle]

I like the first because of the wonderful reflection. I like the second also, I think mostly because of the colours and soft look of the bird. The bullfinch is just a handsome fella though, I think. Great shots.

[JerseyJay]

Rich,

You are officially obsessed with wildlife / birds, aren't you :) You are really enjoying that 500mm. Are you officially using new body ? You have 20D still listed under your username.

Photography is excellent !

[Cuong]

Heh, I came into this thread thinking it was about camera flashes, but I suppose I'm not disappointed with what I found. Great shots Richard.

[squidfish]

Thanks for the replies.

Alan these shots were just from the morning as I then went over to Martin Mere in the afternoon after the Whooper swans :)

Jay I do like to take the odd bird and wildlife photo :). Yes I do love the 500mm and have now changed the body listed on my profile, so yup its offical

Cheers

Rich

[JerseyJay]

...and have now changed the body listed on my profile, so yup its offical
Come over to US. I wouldn't mind playing with 1D MK2N attached to 500mm. I was at PhotoExpo last weekend and got to play with one attached to 70-200 f/2.8. It was nice ! Enjoy your equipment and get some insurance !