It gets from stupid to great ! We all know how things sometimes work and others they don’t. You have to go for it, and I never realised that so much as yesterday.
As I have mentioned, I have a hide on a pool where the martins are bathing , drinking and dunking. With the hot weather the pool has gone down a lot, so I went to check to see how much drinking area water was left and to check the reeds I had pushed in to get the martins perching after bathing.. As the water goes down, you have to move the reeds to follow the waters edge. The birds seem to prefer to be over water. Much of the pool is covered in green slime and they don’ like that at all.
Anyway- as I stood there assessing the situation I could see there were 6 Broad Bodied Chasers skitting around (5 males & 1 female ) and one male Emperor- which I had not seen since my days at Castor Hangland NNR 40 years back ! The female depressa was egg laying and I am thinking- this is daft ! The pool won’t be there next year !
I moved some of the reeds and watched where the insects were landing. About a minute later two male Libb depressa’s landed in front of me on some dead willow herb stuff 9 inches apart. ! How often does that happen ? Two males that close !
I am standing there with the 500 Sigma on a tripod and this happens in front of me. I took about 60 shots of the two, focussing on one then the other with some “stacking “ shots in mind.
I moved over to the other side of the puddle- stuck another reed stem in , and started to erect the tripod on a 45 degree bank. I got it sorted and focussed on the reed stem and bugger me – there’s the male Emp sitting there.
Its just one of those days- but it just shows – if you go for it – sometimes it happens !
Pics to follow when I get through me Martin and Owl stuff.!
Great to be retired !- you are nearer that 100 million pixel job in the sky – but hey you have loads of time .
JR
Discussion
2 repliesAs I have mentioned, I have a hide on a pool where the martins are bathing , drinking and dunking. With the hot weather the pool has gone down a lot, so I went to check to see how much drinking area water was left and to check the reeds I had pushed in to get the martins perching after bathing.. As the water goes down, you have to move the reeds to follow the waters edge. The birds seem to prefer to be over water. Much of the pool is covered in green slime and they don’ like that at all.
Anyway- as I stood there assessing the situation I could see there were 6 Broad Bodied Chasers skitting around (5 males & 1 female ) and one male Emperor- which I had not seen since my days at Castor Hangland NNR 40 years back ! The female depressa was egg laying and I am thinking- this is daft ! The pool won’t be there next year !
I moved some of the reeds and watched where the insects were landing. About a minute later two male Libb depressa’s landed in front of me on some dead willow herb stuff 9 inches apart. ! How often does that happen ? Two males that close !
I am standing there with the 500 Sigma on a tripod and this happens in front of me. I took about 60 shots of the two, focussing on one then the other with some “stacking “ shots in mind.
I moved over to the other side of the puddle- stuck another reed stem in , and started to erect the tripod on a 45 degree bank. I got it sorted and focussed on the reed stem and bugger me – there’s the male Emp sitting there.
Its just one of those days- but it just shows – if you go for it – sometimes it happens !
Pics to follow when I get through me Martin and Owl stuff.!
Great to be retired !- you are nearer that 100 million pixel job in the sky – but hey you have loads of time .
JR
Cheers
Austin