Species Seen
After starting the year with sickness, we decided we need to get out the house and were debating where would be best to go. Initially considering towns and villages which we haven’t visited, we chose to go to Windsor Great Park, Neither a town or village, although its near one!
Windsor Great Park is massive and we knew we wouldn’t get around it all in one day. for our visit we chose to go to Virginia Water. This is a large man made lake with a rocky waterfall. For this reason, I was anticipating that this would be a Travel/Landscape photography day, which I have been trying to do more of lately, so I prepared my z50 ii with the 16-50 lens. I couldn’t leave the 180-600 at home though, this was in my bag waiting for its time to shine.
I was trying to convince myself that I would spend most of the day with the 16-50 which lasted about an hour. Quite good going I think. I took some photos of the ruins, across the lake and the bridge. But then we spotted a Black swan the opposite side of the lake, not a chance the 16-50 would get this so I had to break out the 180-600 after that. Even with the extra reach it was quite challenging to get a photo
After getting the 180-600 out I was hooked on the birding and aside from a couple of shots of the bridge, it was like I forgot that I was hoping to capture something other than wildlife today and if I’m honest, it was well worth breaking the lens out as I had some great encounters.
especially when I ended up in the Valley gardens on the red path where I spotted a pheasant. but was immediately distracted by the sound of the redwings. Being a bird I’ve not seen before, I was determined to find them. Between using Merlin Bird ID to identify the sound and understand the birds Habit, and figure out where they were. I ventured and noticed them high up in a tree. I wasn’t able to get a portfolio shot, but I got a shot which is all that counts. Yet, after this I kept spotting them around the park.
The gardens were quite possibly the highlight of the visit, thriving with birds, this is where I encountered the most species. even the woodpecker that flew right in front of me into an opening in the bushes. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get an image of this one, but I did get several other birds including a treecreeper, which I usually find to be elusive. I also had a brief moment with a rabbit!
I certainly had a great time in the gardens with the woodland birds, but coming out the other side of the lake, I was surprised to see a family of Egyptian Geese with goslings in the middle of January and im always happy to see a squirrel. Probably because I don’t get them at home emptying my bird feeders!
As the day begun to draw to a close with the sun setting and bringing the mist across the lake. I decided to switch back for some landscape shots to top the day off with this shot. capturing a few birds on the lake in the distance between the reeds. I was so happy to got this shot. Although, I must admit I thought I had the focus more on the birds than the reeds. Yet, I’m still happy with how this shot came out.
