Sunday 13 February 2011

A morning visit to Draycote Water.

On Saturday morning I thought if I was going to go out with the camera I'd better avoid Brandon Marsh and Meriden so I wouldn't take any more shots of Bitterns or Waxwings.I never thought I'd ever have to say this but shots of these magical birds is all I've taken lately.So I decided to go to Draycote Water to try for shots of something different.

Now only a fool goes there at the weekend if the weather is fine because it can become very busy and so it was when I got there not long after 9.00AM with loads of joggers limbering up in the car park.I don't mind the joggers it's the cyclists I worry about particularly as in these days of Health and Safety they are allowed to ride on the footpaths alongside the dam walls.These cyclists all seem to be huge guys racing along to beat their best time and you don't hear them coming till they are right on top of you.Scary.

So how did I do with the camera ? Well not very well as it turned out. It started well when I found a nice female Goosander along the Farborough Bank.





Then a little further on I got the drake Smew who yet again refused to come in close unlike the one last year who was a real gentleman and often came in near the dam wall.




From then on things went to pot. I decided to try and find the female Scaup and this meant for me a massive hike all the way from the spit on Farborough Bank to the inlet on Draycote Bank.I never saw anything of interest on the walk to the inlet and when I got there I was told the Scaup was now by the picnic area but when I got back to picnic area I was told it had just flown the the inlet. Bugger!!!! That was a long walk to not take one shot.

Near the sail club park I did find this Gull resting on the shore. My Gull ID skills suck so I'm not sure what it is but if I had to guess I'd say Herring Gull ????




2 comments:

Pete Walkden said...

I've not been to see the smew yet, and it's one I could do with some better shots of. These look pretty good, even if they are distant. :-)

Max Silverman said...

Cheers Pete.It would be nice if the Smew came in a little closer and if the weather was bright.