A bit of a change....

Tree lined road to Calke Abbey

Busy old day. Didn't get out to Snettisham - the weather forecast was really bad so couldn't see the point. Anyway I have so many potentially great photographs from the Monday shoot to keep me busy for the next few days. On top of this I also got some really great shots, even if I say so myself, from Welney. I just love Whooper Swans. They are so much larger than life compared to our Mute Swan. They are almost geese in their approach to life - large gregarious and full of life.

Whooper Swans Landing - Welney

Snettisham...

Roosting Knot - Snettisham

So I made two days. Well to be fair to myself I couldn't make today as I have the builders in and so couldn't go. Anyway what to write? Well the first day was pretty grim. The light was appalling, dark overcast with very little in the way of interesting hues and saturation to really produce anything worthwhile. However, it was not wasted as I got a good chance to scout good vantage points and watch the professional BBC cameramen at work. This week's Autumn Watch is featuring Snettisham and two cameramen were there on Sunday, one in a hide near the roosting birds next to the lagoon and one on the beach with the rest of us. Along with this cameraman there was a sound recordist. Nothing too over the top apart from the fact that they had permission to drive onto the reserve whereas we poor saps had to trudge the mile or so from the reserve with all our heavy equipment. But overall a bit disappointing photographically but vital prep work for Monday. So frustrated but satisfying day.

How many production staff does it take to get Chris Packham onto the small screen?

Monday arrived, spirits were high and the weather look a whole lot better. When I arrived at the car park it was already 3/4 full, this was at 6:30 am in the morning! people were rushing off into the murk to get a good spot. I took my time reasoning that the scouting I had done the day before and the later tide would mean that nothing would happen at least an hour later than Sunday. So I took a leisurely walk to reserve, again lugging my heavy kit the mile to the spot I had ID the day before. As I suspected this was missed by all the other photographers who headed further up the beach but I had my perfect spot with a really good and close view of the seething mass of Knot on a small island just below me. As I set up I got the usual strange looks but paid no attention as I had bagged the best spot.

So the morning progressed. The light got better and people started to realise that I was standing at the best spot on the whole beach. As nothing was happening I started to study the BBC production team that had turned up along with Chris Packham. This time instead of just the camera man and sound recordist, who would appear to have been the director/producer a second camera crew was on the beach as well as two young women who, for the life of me, didn't appear to be doing anything. Make up? Continuity? Provider of hot drinks? Who knows? What I do know they did not come in the cavalcade of BBC vehicles that were there today. They had to walk like the rest of us.

So the morning went on. Some activity but nothing special. I suddenly became aware that the BBC crew, their RSPB minder/guide and Chris Packham were showing interest in my position. Clearly where they were wasn't quite right. I had vision of them trying to dislodge me from where I had set up. Anyway this didn't happen but eventually they did come down to where I was standing. I must admit I did feel just a little smug, for all their undoubted experience and expertise I still had the best position! Small victory for the small guy.

So the day was wonderful, I captured some wonderful images and was able to wonder at the cost of the BBC production for that morning. I still cannot work out what the two women were there four. So as I was trudging back to the car the BBC cavalcade drove by, it was almost presidential some people even waved. I must say it was a bizarre end to a wonderful day.

Snettisham...

Brent Geese against the moon - Snettisham,

Well it is going to be a long next few days and I am not sure whether I will make it through to the end - but nothing ventured nothing gained. I have set myself the task of spending 4 days to capture the wonderful autumn bird feast at Snettisham RSPB reserve. This will mean getting up at 4am to get there in time. I have no idea if I will make it all the 4 days but I am setting off with good intentions - lets just see if I feel that motivated after tomorrow!

Try again...

Well I was sort of right and sort of wrong about today. It was nice when I got up and then I realised that Snettersham is 70 miles east of me - where the weather wasn't as good. Whether this would have made the trip a wash out we will never know. Anyway, I'm going to try again tomorrow - this time deer hunting in Bradgate Park. At least the weather looks more promising.

Best laid plans...

Snow Bunting - Titchwell

Well I was going to get up early tomorrow and get over to Snettersham for dawn and the wader spectacular. However, the weather forecast is for heavy rain first thing in the morning and so this would spoil the whole experience - so I have decided not to go. Now I can guarantee that when I wake up tomorrow it will be brilliant sunshine and the weather forecast was not as accurate as promised. For once I hope it is raining when I wake up - we'll see!

Knott at Snettisham

This is just a very small part of the huge numbers of wading birds - in this case Knot - that congregate at Snettisham.

Geese at Dawn - Snettisham

Just to give you an idea of the number of geese that flew over at dawn.

Snettisham 17th October 2008

What a wonderful place Snettisham is.   Well, the reserve is a bit of a dump but the birds more than make up for this.   We got there as dawn broke and the sky was a beautiful orange.   The sky was covered with geese leaving their roosts and making their way to nearby fields to feed.   No picture can ever do this justice but I tried anyway.

The RSPB have finally made an effort to make the mile walk from the car park to the reserve passable.  This is important as the average bird watcher/photographer carries a huge amount of kit and walking along a rough path doesn't make things easy.

Once at the reserve there is not a great deal to see.   It is made up of two elements.   Two fresh water lagoons - these were old gravel quarries - and miles of mudflats that are covered by the Wash at High Tide.   At very high spring tides the mudflats disappear under 7+ metres of water.  This means the waders that feed on the mudflats have nowhere to go and so leave the sea and settle by the lagoons.   The number of waders is countless and so they arrive in dense clouds of swirling bobbing bodies.  How they avoid crashing into one another is unknown but they do.   The sight of these cloud moving is stunning and the reason to come the reserve.

Around about an hour after high tide something makes the waders take off and return to the mudflats.   You are the treated to one of the best wild life shows in the Britain as the sky becomes a constellation of birds rushing from the lagoons to return to the mudflats.  The clouds again swirl and gyrate to form intricate shapes and patterns.   To add to the show the plumage of the birds is highlighted by the sun to produce  a mosaic of colours to go with the mystical geometric shapes.   As if to accompany this display the flapping of the wings and the muted call of the birds makes a fantastic orchestral noise that enhances the pleasure.   No one who has witnessed this can help but be dump struck by its brilliance.

This show only last for about ten minutes and the clouds of birds disappear across the sea. Occasional  flurries of birds then sweep across the emerging mudflats but these do not compare with the performance you had just seen.

I hope the images I have captured do justice to this natural spectacle.

Hunstanton

We've just got back from a two day shot at Hunstanton.  It should of been three days but the stay at the Le Strange Hotel was so stressful that we called it a day after two days.   However, the two days were simply brilliant for photographs.  ( I say this when I haven't even started to process the images captured so I may find myself posting another blog retracting all of this.)

The main reason for the visit was to watch and capture the awesome display of birds at Snettisham. (More on this in a subsequent blog).   This didn't disappoint.