Alverstone Mead

A few photos from a local walk round here with the camera and the 200-800mm. There's never anything 'exciting' but you can get close to common species here and get some nice photos.

Click for larger versions.

Female/eclipsed mallard on duck pond by footpath

Great Tit looking for insects on the wooden wall of the hide

 

Female Chaffinch

Dunnock

Great Tit

At home a bit later, a Jersey Tiger moth was on the outside of the dining room glass doors. The glass is covered with dog nose prints.

Jersey Tiger

This is why we can't have nice things. The hide at Alverstone Mead was vandalised, again, by some little wastes-of-elements who thought it would be a good idea to smash the door lock, presumably to see what would be worth stealing. They're probably the ones who chucked a can in the river - I wasn't able to get down there to retrieve it.

I don't know why people do this. It's probably the same sort of mindset that caused a load of pea-brains to smash up city centres and mosques, loot shops and throw things at police at the beginning of August just because they hate immigrants or people from ethnic minorities. It takes effort to go into the countryside and wreck something instead of enjoying nature. There are no adequate words to describe how much I despise and feel contempt for people like this, apart from describing them as fucking morons.

Seabirds w/200-800mm zoom

This is the first proper opportunity I got to try out a Canon RF 200-800mm f/6.3-9 zoom which I'd bought three weeks ago. These are currently as rare as the proverbial rocking horse shit, even for Americans who are usually first to get their mitts on new stuff, but some are appearing in a slow trickle. I'd pre-ordered one from Wex Photo Video, but getting one before 2025 was highly unlikely. I don't know whether is this because Canon were holding the existing ones for East Asian customers or whether they hadn't anticipated demand for these, particularly among the wildlife or aviation photo communities.

I wasn't in a hurry to buy one of these but when the opportunity arose to get one from Hdew Cameras, based here in the UK, for just under £2000 (they had a deal on), I took it. Hdew get their stock from Hong Kong or Taiwan, I believe, but the products come with a three year guarantee, despite being 'grey market' items.

It arrived one week after ordering but I hadn't had much of a chance to use it until this week. First impressions are it's decent optically, in fact very sharp, and not as heavy as I thought (the addition of a Black Rapid strap helps with the weight). The zoom ring is large but not stiff and it's easy to zoom in and out between 200mm and 800mm. Earlier reports on YouTube, etc., had said this was stiff and awkward but Canon must have tweaked it a little as that's not been my experience.

My only 'complaint' so far is the tripod foot, as it interferes with the zoom ring but turning it so the foot is on the upper side of the lens helps. The foot isn't detachable, which people have said they don't like, but I don't think that's a problem, at least for me as I don't travel as much as I used to.
Not a complaint of course -  it isn't an L series either, despite being white, but if it was it would certainly not cost as little as £2000.

At 800mm, even with stabilisation, any motion blur is obvious. The higher the magnification of the subject, the greater the magnification of anything such as heat haze or motion blur. Finding and tracking moving subjects at 800mm is also difficult but comes with practice. I have an 800mm f/11 prime which is a great little lens but limited at f/11 and without the flexibility of a zoom.

For the money this is a brilliant lens with a useful zoom range. The aperture range is a little limited, which people have commented on but, unless you can afford a lens such as the EF 200-400 f/4 L (which has a built-in 1.4x teleconverter to make it 280-560mm f/5.6) or an f/4 prime*, then this is an excellent choice. You are not going to get a f/4 or f/5.6 zoom without increased weight or price costs.

Here are a few photos of gulls and turnstones from the other day. Summer-plumaged turnstones are very pretty indeed. Of course, I binned a lot of photos due to motion blur and using a too-low shutter speed; the penalty, as it were, of using slow lenses. I am pleased with the results so far and any optical defects such as motion blur are down to user error. As I get used to using the lens, the keeper rate, which is actually not bad, will increase.

All photos are with a Canon R6 Mark 2 and 200-800mm f/6.3-9 zoom. As usual, click for larger versions.

*500mm f/4 L Mark I primes are readily available for a couple of grand now, Mark II versions a few thousand more. I have a 500mm f/4 Mark I and it's excellent, although very heavy.

Late summer

Summer is a bit of a frustrating time, particularly late summer. Birds are lying low following the nesting season and, if you live in a tourist hotspot like I do, there are far too many people about to make going out worthwhile or enjoyable, not to mention the additional traffic. Migration season is just beginning, with a trickle of summer visitors from the north heading through on their way back to Africa.

I decided, against my better judgement, to go to Seaview and see if any early Sanderlings were around as I know a few are beginning to gather. No Sanderlings, just kids and small boats on the beach. Ok, off to Culver (Bembridge) Down. No migrants. By the time I got home, after having to back up half a kilometre or so on a country road to let five cars through, I wasn't in a good mood, having wasted both time and petrol and spending more time trying to get past cyclists or sitting in traffic.

Surely it isn't beyond the wit of human kind to change things so the island isn't so reliant on tourism, particularly when more people work remotely these days. At work I have to listen to people complaining 'but we are a holiday/tourist island' or 'it looks dreadful, will someone think of the tourists?' when they want something done. Frankly, a lot of the island is run down and with a drugs problem, and the less said about the beach resort of Sandown (aka Beirut) the better, with its burnt-out hotels - there are at least four, one of which is a frequent target of arsonists - and shabby appearance. Just being reliant on holidaymakers for a fraction of the year is surely no longer sustainable. Add in the increasingly unreliable ferry services and ever more expensive fares, it's a wonder people want to come here at all, particularly when you can get a package holiday to southern Europe or Florida for not a lot more money and better weather.