The seemingly endless gloom persists, it's at least two weeks since even a glimpse of the orb in the sky. It's dark and, for photography, a waste of time. Despite this, I did go to Ryde and Seaview as I was on the third of my four days off and wanted to get out of the house so I didn't return to work feeling the time has been completely wasted.
I took the 500mm f/4 and R6 Mk II with me, simply because I don't think the 200-800 would have been fast enough for the conditions. The R-series cameras have insane sensors that can deal with ISO stupid-thousand but, even so, it's nice to have a faster lens option. I put the 1.4x extender on so I had a focal length of 700mm, which is good enough.
Most of the birds gather west of the pier, probably because there are fewer humans and dogs at that part of the beach. The Brent Geese have arrived and it's always nice to see them. They were joined by Sanderlings, Turnstones and the usual gulls, plus some swans floated offshore near the pier.
As can be seen, the light was horrendous and flat, dull, weather means flat, dull photos, but it was nice to go out and see and do something.
There was a mini-drama while I was there. Down in the corner by the sea-wall was a first-winter juvenile Herring Gull which looked injured or unwell. When it moved, as it did to get away from the incoming tide, I saw one of the legs was bent backwards. I called a local gull rescue group and a lovely woman came down and, between us, we collected the gull from the beach. Sadly the youngster passed away a couple of hours later. I know 'they' say you shouldn't interfere with nature but I couldn't, in all conscience, leave it to drown in the rising tide. I also believe that, as a so-called intelligent species (haha), we humans have a duty to help other beings when we can. After all we have destroyed so much.
After that, a brief visit to Seaview. This was busier human-wise than Ryde. I like Seaview but it can be an absolute pain in the arse at times as it's a popular spot - unfortunately there are really no places on the Isle of Wight that are completely quiet. The hide was busy but the people were just about to leave, so I had it to myself. For the grand total of five minutes. My peace was absolutely shattered by a family with three very small children, including one little banshee that could shriek out of all proportion to its size. I don't mind kids (honest!) but when the parents don't encourage them to be quiet in such a place and they bang on the windows and shout at the birds, then it's a bit much. I left. I do think kids should be encouraged to be interested in nature but letting them shriek the place down is annoying and sheer bad manners.
After I 'abandoned hide', I went to the beach. Trying to follow a flying bird while hand-holding 4.7 kg of lens, camera and 1.4x extender is a bit of a tall order but the photos of the Grey Heron are ok. Ish.
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