Yawn

Got a teleconverter at the weekend, as I figured £80 on that was better than £1000 on a new len, and I'm working out the limitations on it. The autofocus works... just. At 300mm, or 600 I guess, it just searches and I have to manually focus it. So expect to see a lot of just out of focus pictures coming up as I adjust.

I also got a reflector and a flash, so I might try my hand at some portrait shots. You know, when I can be bothered tricking a friend into standing still while I play about with settings.

Anyway, went back to Lochend Loch, not seen the heron there in a while, which is a shame. Saw this... thing. Going to go with black-headed gull until I find my bird book. There was quite a few of them just floating about not doing much, and I was trying to catch this little guy with his reflection when he opened his mouth at just the right moment.

Also saw a couple of rats down there, and was only able to work out what they were by photographing them and reviewing it after. I'd thought they were something interesting like voles or weasels, but no, just rats. They seemed to be trying to avoid being seen by me, and I know that at some of the lochs they put up signs asking you not to feed the birds when they're not eating as it attracts rats, so I figure the ranger in the area has been after them.

Annoyingly, I've discovered there's a tiny dot appearing in the top left of a lot of my photos, and I'm pretty sure that when I can see something tiny on the sensor when I open up the camera. So that's a bummer, but it's only just noticeable enough to piss me off without being obvious or ruining the picture - you kind of have to search for it, and it doesn't show in pictures like this. But still...