Twitching

I must start by saying that I'm not a twitcher and I don't think that these guys are either. Twitchers are bird-watchers who travel to see rare birds but these guys (and I) visit places where we'll see birds - whatever is about. They didn't pose for this shot - I grabbed it while I was getting my camera and monopod out of the car. We're at Capel Fleet raptor viewing site and one is usually sure to see something. They'd been watching Marsh Harriers, a Peregrine Falcon and a Merlin. I couldn't stay long, I'd just left a site that I'd been at from 08.30 and as this is round the corner I went for 30 minutes of "decompression" - sometimes it helps rather than taking some of the stuff home. I watched a Marsh Harrier wheeling lazily over the marshes and a heron with its slow loping flight as it moved along the river.

Something I forgot to mention last week - camera envy. At the gig last Wednesday the college had contracted a photo journalist to take some publicity shots. When he got to my stand I asked him about his kit. Ignoring for one moment the pro lenses with the sexy red stripe he let me feel the weight of one of his Canon 1Ds - it has a magnesium alloy body and he suggested that it's bomb-proof; it's certainly weather proof. It has two cards and he writes to one in RAW and the other in JPEG. The speed at which it takes multiple shots was breathtaking - he fired off 10 exposures in the time it might take for mine to fire three times. No idea what variant of the 1D it was but I have a feeling it cost a few grand more than my car. Lovely bit of kit.