Stithians Reservoir Part 2

Here is a few more of the Great Crested Grebe at Stithians Reservoir. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and pay credit to the CBWPS reserve warden Simon Taylor and the group who regularly birdwatch and contribute to the feed station. I have only visited the reserve a couple of times but I intend to do more there as I want to photograph the GC Grebe with the chicks riding on the parents back.

This last image was the final position of a courtship display right in front the hide, unfortunately the main display was carried out end on to the hide instead of side on. However it was staggering to watch, I felt so privileged to witness the event.

Great Crested Grebe (Stithians Res )

This blogging thing is strange, almost telepathic. We spent almost a day at Stithians Res today ( Simon Taylor land) Only to read tonight that Bob Sharples and the Resident Rowes had already been this week, and who should I bump into down at Stiths was Splashography Mel.

We left home this morning fed up with the amount of cloud around so I started off with my 300mm lens, aperture set on f2.8, then as the day progressed the light improved and I added my two times converter.

One of my target species to photograph was the Great Crested Grebe and how lucky was I with close views at the Stuart Hutchens Hide. We crossed the road and had an uncomfortable hour in the Southern cut off hide in the teeth of a cold North Easterly wind, although a pie and chips at the Golden Lion pub sorted out the cold and onward we went. I took a few photo's of a some species on the feeder of dreams, but looking at the standard of Bob the blog and JR I may not post them. However I achieved my goal and nailed the GC Grebe and a few stunners of the Little Grebe. I will cover today with probably two more posts as I am pleased with the GC Grebe images.