5 October 2007

Minsmere delivers again

After a long time with no real birding, three days at Minsmere was a real opportunity to 'fill my boots'.

It was an opportunity I didn't waste. The highlight of day one was a Great Grey Shrike, a lifelong target for me. It showed well, albeit a long way off, and was a real thrill.

Day two was equally good, with a Brambling on the north path followed by a Snow Bunting on the coastal track (another lifer). On the scrape there were at least six Little Stints (best ever views) plus the usual wide selection of waders.
In the woods I was lucky enough to photograph some Red Deer through the foliage, and found a good collection of woodland birds.

In all, I found 75 species, including two lifers, a few 'best ever views' (the stints, two Lesser Whitethroats and the Brambling) plus lots of lovely fresh air and peace. Unbeatable.

2 comments:

The Quacks of Life said...

very nice pics and i do like minsmere

i think you may find a tcon won't work with your tamron. well it won't autofocus probably

Hornet said...

Surprisingly, it does OK. There is a section on the Tamron website about the combination, and a great deal of commentary about it in the DP Review Pentax forum. So I took the plunge and it's pretty good.

Did a load of resolution tests today - the Pentax + Tamron + TCON resolves detail best from a tripod shot, but handheld, the wider aperture, hence faster shutter, on the FZ20 + TCON wins.