Psilos Bird Journal
Friday October 19th 2007
     
"Whiter shades of grey"
 
     
Second time out with my new camera and the sunny weather that was forcast did not materialize. The day looks so grey but no matter as I can use this time to see just how this camera performs in low light.
     

     


Geese numbers are very low. Pink feet are far out but there are plenty of Greylag geese flying around. Light is terrible with a misty haze that is blurring everything. The background colours at Martinmere are very subtle and compliment the colours of the greylags perfectly.

Watched a buzzard sat on a post for quite some time. Eventually he took off and flew by at about 25yards. At iso 500 this image was very noisy and to me seemed no different in quality to the 350d. I was quite disappointed.
Martinmere seemed very quiet today. Watched all the swans fly out to feed in the opposite direction to where I was sitting. At some point they had to come back so I hot footed it down to the far hide to wait for their return.

 
Whilst awaiting the return of the swans my attention was distracted by the antics of a stoat. A very lively creature he was leaping through the grass and running up and down in front of the hide, giving some excellent views. Even more bizarely a large rabbit who looked like he would stand for no nonsense ran out and chased him away.
 
 
Today I got lucky. The whoopers may return or they might not. They might fly by my hide but on the other hand they could return by a completely different route. White streaks on a grey horizon several large flocks returned. Slow and steady they keep in their formations, the low whooping call carrying on the damp autumn air. They make their way to the main mere hugging the treeline and making flying look very easy indeed.
 
 
As always I thoroughly enjoyed watching the swans return but I dont think I have ever seen Martinmere look so dead as it did today. The stoat and the female Stonechat above being the only other highlights. Looking at my photographs I was quite disappointed with the noise levels of the 30d. They didnt seem any better than the 350d and I was so hoping it would give better results in poor light. I think this camera needs further testing in poor light though before I make any final judgements.