On 2nd October I was surveying near to Christchurch and couldn't resist quickly popping into Pennington Marsh on my way to site for a quick try for the Long-billed Dowitcher that had been present since 23rd September. In addition, I had just purchased the Swarovski ATX 85 with a TLS APO DSLR digiscoping adaptor which was attached to my Canon 7d Mark 2 and wanted to trial the scope and the digiscoping set-up. I was on site at around 09:00 and bumped into Pete Durnell, a friend of 31 years and the site warden, we had a bit of a chin-wag and then I headed off with time to bird Shoveler Pools and Fishtail Lagoon only. The usual range of birds was present with the highlights being the Long-billed Dowitcher, although this showed rather distantly at the back of Fishtail Lagoon, and a single Spotted Redshank.
I was back at Penningtoon on the morning of the 3rd with around four hours available so I wandered a route around Shoveler Pools, Butts Lagoon and Fishtail Lagoon taking my time in the early morning light and playing with the new set-up. Wildfowl numbers are starting to climb rapidly now with 25 Pintail, 30 Shoveler, 150 Wigeon and 225 Teal - most of these birds either juveniles or eclipse plumage males. My first Brent Goose of the year were present with 15 birds seen. Wader numbers were fairly low with the highlights being 15 Snipe, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, 4 Spotted Redshank and the Long-billed Dowitcher again, this time asleep at at the back of Fishtail Lagoon and showing poorly. A single Tree Pipit flew high south overhead and around 250 House Martin and 30 Swallow were present in the area.
On the 4th October I took Tobias across on the Isle of Wight ferry to stay with his Grandad for a few days and on the return I stopped at Pennington Marshes again for an hour or so. Birds were much as yesterday. I counted 87 Coot on the Efford Lagoon, they really seem to like the lagoon with a big increase in numbers since this time last year, in addition there were 5 Mediterranean Gull and good numbers of commoner gulls, I scanned the flock for ringed birds but there appeared to be none. As I scanned Fishtail Lagoon I noticed the Long-billed Dowitcher a little closer to the path and feeding on the island in the middle of the lagoon with around 50 Redshank. The batteries on the 7D Mk2 had died so I hurried back to the car to grab my 1DX and 400 DO Mk2 with 1.4 extender, this is my favourite photography combo. A rattled off a few shots but the Redshank, being the nervy birds they are, took flight taking the Dowitcher with them.
So, these are the best of the ATX85 and Apo plus 7D Mark 2 combo tested early in the morning when the light is perhaps not the best giving a rather orange cast. I am fairly pleased with the results, my favourite image being the Mute Swan. I used the camera on TV setting with the shutter speed at 800-1200th and ISO at 800 and played around with the zoom on the scope. The bottom four images were taken with my Canon 1DX, 400mm DO Mark 2 and 1.4x extender.
Greenshank in the early morning sun at Pennington Marshes. Taken with the ATX combo at 25x
Curlew in at Butts Bay, Pennington Marsh. Taken with the ATX combo at 35x
Mallard - Fishtail Lagoon. Taken with the ATX combo at 25x
Wigeon - Fishtail Lagoon. Taken with the ATX combo at 35x
Pintail - Fishtail Lagoon. Taken with the ATX combo at 45x
Mute Swan - Fishtail Lagoon. Taken with the ATX combo at 25x
Coot - Fishtail Lagoon. Taken with the ATX combo at 40x
Kingfisher in the early morning sun and fog. Taken with the ATX combo at 40x
Reed Bunting, female - Butts Lagoon. Taken with the ATX combo at 35x
Long-billed Dowitcher - Rather distant on Fishtail Lagoon. 1DX and 400 DO plus 1.4x extender
Long-billed Dowitcher - Rather distant on Fishtail Lagoon. 1DX and 400 DO plus 1.4x extender
Grey Heron - Fishtail Lagoon. 1DX and 400 DO plus 1.4x extender
Redshank - Fishtail Lagoon. 1DX and 400 DO plus 1.4x extender
