23/101.
Cinclus cinclus Dipper
Location: Rocks on the Almond River, by Nasmyth Bridge, Almondell & Calderwell Country Park, Lothian, Scotland.
Conditions: Mostly cloudy but bright, mild, calm.
Photograph quality: 2 (borderline 1).
Comments: I took my parents to this lovely country park, as they live nearby and it's a great spot for tranquil walks by the river and in the woods. I had my bird lens on me, but didn't expect to see anything notable. However, crossing the glorious Georgian/Regency bridge, we all spotted a small brown bird flit across the rocks. I thought a blackbird maybe, until I looked through the camera and realised it was one of the local specialities I'd hoped (but failed) to see on every previous visit. It dipped, and walked through the water, giving us a couple of minutes' viewing, before it disappeared. I had to use longer than ideal exposures, and reached the upper limits of ISO I'm comfortable with for birds on my camera (3200-4000 for some shots), so the fast-moving dipper was often blurred. Still a few shots were okay - even one I was comfortable using on Flickr.
No comments:
Post a Comment