Dungeness Nature Reserve

The murky conditions continued for much of Saturday, so we decided to do a bit of bird watching at the RSPB Nature Reserve in Dungeness.  I don't often suffer from "lens envy", but bird photography is one of those occasions where bigger is definitely better - especially when one's subjects are on the opposite shore of a large gravel pit!

First, the nuclear power station which forms a truly romantic backdrop to the nature reserve.

The grebes came relatively close to the hide, but the more interesting birds - such as the great white egrets - were miles away.  The sequence below is cropped very tightly, but gives some idea of the quality of the 70-200/2.8L IS mkII with a 1.4x mkIII converter.

The only other beasties which ventured close to the hide were a couple of dragonflies.  Why is it that, whenever one manages to capture these superb insects in such a way that they're nicely sharp, the background is always rubbish?

[Later note:  I'd originally thought these were Emperors, but a Wise Man has just informed me that they are actually Migrant Hawkers.  Even having looked at some reference images, I still find it difficult to tell them apart from their profile view.]

I always marvel at the way dragonflies tuck their "undercarriage" out of the way when flying.  Amazing creatures.

Wicken Wildlife

An intrepid bunch of individuals from Cambridge Camera Club ventured to Wicken Fen on Sunday.  We were treated to the spectacle of an emerging dragonfly, although there was quite a queue when it came to photographing the beastie.  We also had to run the gauntlet of some rather vicious mosquitos, which soon developed a taste for photographic flesh...

While waiting patiently to photograph the dragonfly, I turned my lens on other subjects.  The first was an unsuspecting Azure Damselfly which was soaking up the sun on a fence post.  [Later: a wise man has informed me that it's a Blue-tailed Damselfly, not an Azure.  Who am I to argue?]

I then ran out of insects (and patience) so started to look at my fellow mosquito fodder.

I was even lucky enough to capture these specimens of homo photographicus exhibiting some interesting behaviour.  First there is the illicit gardening while nobody is looking, followed by some kind of ritual dance to get back behind the viewfinder.  Finally, I was extremely fortunate to see two individuals interacting in their natural environment.

The poor dragonfly is visible in the final picture - just!