Blashford Lakes

Sparrow in the Greenery

Over the past weekend I went on a couple of walks over two nature reserves, Blashford lakes ( windy and somewhat dull weather )  and Stour Valley Way – much nicer. At Blashford I did manage to get this shot of a Long-tail tit though. Whereas the Stour Valley yielded more.  

The Starling Slipper

In this post I will be posting my videos and occassional images of the Starling Murmurations I have seen at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve for the 2018-19 season. First off a still image – I don’t often take these as I am normally filming videos.  It reminds me off a glass slipper from Cinderella for some reason. Below here are my videos.

Little Rabbit

I spent a couple of nice weekend in early May at Blashford Lakes Nature reserve, wandering around with my Canon 500mm lens and converters.   I saw a wide variety of birds and some bunny rabbits, as this post will hopefully show. First from the Tern Hide, and with a 2x Converter attached to the lens – a Little Ringed Plover. Reflections of a Black-headed gull and Redshank from the same

Robin singing on a branch

There were two very different types of bird that I photographed on Saturday at Blashford Lakes. First, there was the posing and singing Robins.  They are plentiful at the reserve at the moment, and will tolerate the closeness of camera wielding humans like no other bird I know.  Which was good as I was trialing out a 2x converter and 300mm F4 IS combination for the first time.  The results

Little Grebe

I got another Canon extender last week – a 2x mk III, so I had to go try it out.  As I already had a 1.4x extender mk III, I read you could stack them to even further increase the range of the lens.  You need a Canon 12mm extension tube to stack the mark III extenders.  So with my 500mm and a tripod I had to have a play

Robin feeling the cold

Having some time off over the festive period, I visited my local reserves of  Blashford Lakes Nature & Hengistbury Head, a few times to try out the Canon 5d MkIV with both stills and its 4k video capability.  It also allowed me more time to play with my recent lens addition with it – a Canon 100-400 IS L lens. Whilst out I at Hegistbury Head, I was able to

Incoming

I recently purchased my first full frame digital Camera, and with good weather at the weekend it was time to try it out with my Canon 500mm Lens and another recent purchase a used Canon 100-400mm IS v1 lens. I am impressed with the noise handling of this camera – especially when comapring it with my Canon 760D.  Up to about 3200 the shots reveal very little noise, even when

Adult and Juvenile Little Grebes

Here is a short video of an adult and juvenile Little Grebes, taken at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve today.    

Easter Rabbit

Went on an Easter Sunday Afternoon wander around Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve in mixed Sun and Cloud weather.  The wind making the later shots of this coot, interesting to take in the choppy lake.  Fortunately on land it was easier. And for Easter – you have to take a bunny rabbit!