B.D.B - Bobbing Duck's Bums

At Blashford Lakes

My (very) occasional excursion into twitching (birding) down at the old gravel workings near Ringwood (Hampshire), now lakes and a stop-off for many a migrating bird.

One, SO RARE, that it had flown specially for waiting onslaught of twitchers with their high-powered spotting scopes and binoculars, all the way from the Great Lakes of U.S/Canada.

I could barely squeeze myself into the Tern Hide and even had big fronted lenses peering over my shoulder! Apparently, the Franklin Gull had popped in, or over, or neither of either of those, over the past few days. One gentleman had driven down from Lancashire just to get a glimpse (that's half the length of the UK).

Now - my brittle but brilliant Big Sig (Sigma 150-500mm) had been broken for over a year and was lined up for a repair. Once I could find a couple of hundred quid (possibly). It's not a lens I use much when it was working but is absolutely perfect when bolted to the top of a monopod and peering at distant birdies.

For some reason, last night, I tried the lens, once again - and it worked. A miracle? Not fully - I don't use AF anyway and on the monopod the stabilisation is probably not a good idea either. But it didn't send any electronic signals whatsoever before, meaning that it always closed down to minimum aperture (f45 at 500mm), obviously resulting in a black picture.

Anyways, possibly tempting fate I took it down on the bus (awful journey). It mostly behaved. I got fair (not good) pics of a fancy grebe (I was told by twitcher next to me how fancy it was but immediately forgot what he said it was) and a nice grey wagtail, that was underneath the hide window. There were skeletal lines of cormorants, hanging their wings up like bats, but on the other side of the lake, which was probably half a mile away. A deer appeared but that doesn't count, apparently.

After sitting on a wooden board of a seat for over an hour, and needing a pee and refreshment I left this line up ogle-eyed bird fanciers. They would all have made a great picture but I had the wrong lens on and I wouldn't dare anyway.

Twitchers talk solely about birds they've seen. 'Been on holiday?' Not, we went to, with the wife and kids and did this and that, but 'I saw a somethingfeathery which hadn't been seen in those parts for 18,000 years' - and they don't even get to photograph these rarities, just a glimpse and a flash, if they're lucky.

Would they get lucky today? It seems not. I went on to another hide, a good mile and a half away - and that was full too! Unable to sit down and even stooping at right angles couldn't lower myself to see through the camera out the window, so left them to it.

Away from that lot and in the elements once again. I should add that they've designed it so that views out to the lakes are from the hides only, presumably so that rare and scaredy-cat tweeties don't get spooked by peering faces. Heavy scrub and bushes have all been planted around the perimeters.

A small lake had no hide but a gap in the panelled fence. A whole lake to myself! But there were no rare species, nothing to get the birders all hot under their Marks and Sparks collars. Except these dive-bombing ducks.

And very ordinary pair of mallards they were too! Hence my Blip. By making it an arty pattern abstract with a sense of humour I got something very different from all those guys (and gals) with their BIG telescopes. At least I got SOMETHING!

DERELICT THURSDAY CHALLENGE Week 7

Results

My Favourite is from weewilkie.

Runner Up is from woodpeckers

Thanks to ALL who entered.

I also need to thank all who got my sunrise tree of yesterday to the very top of the Spotlights! I also desperately need food and a bath now, so will thank them and other Blip Bits after!