My recent trip to visit family in Munich was most enjoyable, made even better by a trip to the Allianz Stadium to see Bayern Munich play Benfica in the European football league. Except that in the long walk to the stadium, my knee gave out and I was only able to limp along very slowly. I have an appointment for a full knee replacement in early January so I will be out of action for a few weeks.

It has taken me few days to recover sufficiently to venture out, which I did to Welney WWT last Wednesday -13th November. I just needed a break and it was not too far to walk to the observatory. Weather sunny and calm - ideal conditions for a change and to give the new gear - Canon R5 mk2 and the Canon 200-800 lens - a full workout.

There was only common species there but, sometimes, it is really enjoyable to try to take better shots for the library. It all worked brilliantly with 29 new images in the Recent Additions section. Here are some of the ones that I was particularly pleased with.

Wigeon

Whooper Swan

Pochard

Great White Egret

Tufted Duck

Among the Pochard, there was a strange looking bird. After investigating, it was a hybrid of Common Pochard and Ferruginous duck - most unusual but still worth a few shots.

So a very good day for me overall - and the gear worked brilliantly. Auto-focus very fast to lock on and the extra noise in the images was no problem at all to overcome in processing.

 

Ndutu is an area that covers the south-eastern part of the Serengeti National Park and where the herds of Wildebeest and Zebras spend  from October to April to produce young and feed on the grassy plains before continuing on the great migration up into south Kenya. We were there to catch the end of the movement.

Our stay was at the Ndutu Safari Lodge, very remote but wonderfully situated. Once again, we were advised not to walk after dusk between our rooms and the hotel facilities without an armed guard due to the prevalence of predators - pretty obvious in the morning as Wildebeest, Zebras and antelopes were just a hundred metres or so away with no fence.

The hotel itself was rather more basic than previous ones but still adequate - wi-fi only available in the main hotel - but we assembled at the usual 06.00 for breakfast, accompanied by a pair of Large-spotted Genets in the roof timbers over us, waiting for scraps that the waiters put out for them. A tricky photographic subject as there was little light to work with.

The weather was cloudy and rainy and not expected to improve during the day but the first real subject was a Spotted-Thick-Knee close by the track that posed nicely.

After a session with that we quickly found a family of Giraffe, at first rather wary but soon ignoring us.

The grey leaden skies did not help with a couple of raptors  we found later on both in hunting mode . First a Red-necked Falcon

and a Shikra.

Still far from ideal photographic conditions but we found a pair of Verreaux's Eagle Owls roosting in a tree.

Another opportunity that really tested the my cameras ability to shoot in low light.

Later, we came  across a few juvenile Wire-tailed Swallows, vainly waiting to be fed by the absent parents.

and then another colony of Little Bee-eaters that posed nicely with an attractive background for a change.

The light began to improve a little when we found a Hooded Vulture on the ground that stayed long enough for a few images.

An unusual find was a  Tawny Eagle on the ground looking to catch it's next meal

before a  jealous neighbour decided to fly in to intrude on the opportunity.

Then the rain set in with a vengeance in the early afternoon. However a male Impala was undisturbed by the rain or us.

But the rain became torrential so we headed back to the hotel, on the way coming across a herd of Wildbeest that had started migration, but held up by the rain just a couple of hundred metres from the hotel, successfully preventing us from reaching it for an hour or so.

So that was the end of our first day in Ndutu - hopefully it will improve but the heavy rain was not a good sign for the next day.

The usual early morning start, all belongings packed and stowed in the safari bus taking all day to reach the final stage of the trip - the Ndutu plains. So these photos were taken in the Serengeti before  reaching our destination.

First to show in the early morning light was a Long-crested Eagle in the grass looking for breakfast.

and a perched Marabou Stork drying out it's wings

and then posing for a close-up - somehow a bird that is difficult to like.

A short while later, we came across a small pack of Bat-eared Foxes, rather shy

but with patience finally allowing us to get close enough for a half-decent shot.

Perched in a tree was a Great Spotted Cuckoo

that came out into the open

before conveniently flying down to feed by the track side.

And then we came across a pair of Lions.

Our guide, Oliver thought something interesting was going to happen and after half-an-hour, he proved to be correct - Animal behaviorist 1 - Plebs 0!!!

and after well over an hour of more activity, the exhausted male decided to take a nap. The word 'Knackered' comed to mind!!!

With the light improving, we came across a lone Elephant in a very attractive setting worth a shot.

and then, for me, the highlight of the day - a small colony of Little Bee-eaters posing very nicely.

Moving on, we came a cross a pair of rather distant Straw-tailed Whydahs. I took loads of shots as the male was making advances to the female with little joy, but at least some shots were worth keeping, especially that it was a new species for me.

By now the light was beginning to fade so we headed for the Ndutu Safari Lodge, catching a herd of Wildbeest on the way.

The lodge was reasonably basic compared to the previous hotels but very well situated. Once again, walking from the room to the hotel needed to be accompanied by an armed guard as it was totally open to the bush with predators in sight. The next couple of days should be very interesting as heavy rains were forecast overnight.

 

Last Thursday and a friend and I decided to visit the Hawk & Owl Trust reserve at Sculthorpe Moor in Norfolk. I had not visited for several years which surprised me when I resalised as I was quite a regular for a time a few years ago.

It has changed, a lot of work having been completed with new hides and a special enclosure for Beavers but since they are mainly nocturnal we did not really expect to see them, let alone photograph them. And we didn't so no surprises there!!!

The entry fee had increased considerably since I last visited - now £9.00 per visit - so we both joined for £35.00 for the year and out-of-hours opening included so I will be visiting more frequently now.

The first hide appeared to be a disappointment until we realised that there were feeders at both ends, one in the sun and with a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers regularly visting - an ideal opportunity to try the pre-capture on the new camera. It took some practice but I managed some decent photos in the end.

I could not have managed shots like these with the Canon R5 so a bonus with the new gear.

Moving on to the next hide, the only bird within range was a feeding Great White Egret but that gave decent photo opportunities to add to the 100 or so that I already have in my library but these will replace some older ones that are not up to scratch by current standards.

It is getting much more frequent to try to take photos of common birds that are, in some way, different as new species are few and far between. That was the story in the next hide and this was the only shot worth keeping.

After that, we left for the Norfolk coast. Brancaster Staithe proved to be good as usual with the Turnstones back for the winter.

a couple of Little Egrets

and even a Greenshank that took flight but the auto-focus on the new camera kept up with it despite the poor light at the time.

Final call was to Thornham harbour with little showing except for this Redshank on the bank in the evening light.

The new camera worked well and I am happy with it so far but there are still benefits with it that I am yet to master.

 

I ordered the new Canon R5 MK2 on the day it was first announced and it finally arrived late last Wednesday 16th. Thursday afternoon and I was busily checking it out and setting it up the way that I like. Should have been simple, like the R5 that I still have but it was not as easy as that.

There are extra features like pre-capture. It is possible to half press the shutter button and it will temporarily record  half-a-seconds shots (10-15) but only save them to the memory when the shutter is fully depressed. Ideal to capture a resting bird when it quickly takes flight.

In addition, it has the facility of focussing where the eye is looking through the viewfinder.

So after setting it up, last Friday a visited WWT Welney, just up the road from me, to test it out from the main hide. Sun forecast but it was foggy and misty all morning - far from ideal but I took 10/12 shots to begin with. First mistake. Pre-capture was on and there were over 100 shots on the card.

Anyway, I ploughed on but the shots were disappointedly noisy, mainly due to the adverse weather. I had not calibrated the eye focus sufficiently (it takes several tries apparently) so that was a non-starter.

A party of Whooper Swans came close allowing a head shot of a juvenile.

and loads of photos later - all subsequently deleted, partly due to the noise - I had tested the autofocus with the 200-800 lens, adding a 1.4 converter and also adding a 2x converter. Speed of autofocus is much improved from the R5 and there was little noticeable difference with the 1.4 converter attached. The 2x converter did slow it down but, surprisingly with a zoom lens, some of the photos could have been keepers.

Moving back to the reception, there were flocks of Sparrows on the feeders, including Tree Sparrows that are becoming very much a rarity in this area.

By now, the light had improved but, in the shade, ISO's of 2,500 to 3,500 were necessary but Topaz Noise Reduction soon sorted that out.

On the way home a male Pheasant was feeding on the top of the roadside bank, staying just long enough for a shot from the car.

First impressions of the camera are good but I will need to get several more sessions in before I can say that I have fully mastered it.