Wednesday 20 January 2010

Not all black and white!


For many of my readers this 'reflective' view will be familiar, but yesterday in it's winter colours, this was again the start of my walk along the Wey Navigation and onwards into Riverside Park to hunt down the additional species mentioned in my previous post.

My usual route was was under water and I didn't feel brave enough to try even though my feet were suitably protected. So onwards along the desperately quiet riverside towpath.

Pollared trees along the towpath which will provide suitable nesting sites very soon.

Nothing on the river to disturb this tree's reflection.
After a lengthy detour I eventually made it to the lake, mostly frozen, and located one or two water loving species who were confiding enough to be photographed by today's stealthy intruder.

Canada Geese, not quite all black and white.

I spent some time waiting for this Coot to come close enough while changing the settings in an attemt to get a decent shot.

The calm waters provided an excellent mirror image.

Mute Swan, nearly all white!

Male and female 'Tufties'. (Female is the brown one.)

I'm not sure why this guy was carrying a feather....a courtship token perhaps!

Tufted male in full adult plumage, mostly black and white with its blue-grey bill tipped black and long drooping crest.

Now I did see species carrying other colours but they never stopped nor came close enough and on one or two occasions I was either too slow to react or they just didn't want to be photographed!   FAB.

21 comments:

  1. Great pictures Frank. To bad the sun wasn't shining. I went out for a little while and everything around here seems to be brown and white. Wasn't even anything to talk about.

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  2. Thanks Richard. I'm not sure what the sun really looks like anymore! Brow and white's ok providing there is some wildlife to watch. Take care my friend.

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  3. That place looks so tranquil..

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  4. Andy. Looks can be deceptive. This park and lake are right beside the very noisy A3 but it doesn't stop the wildlife!

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  5. You got some good ones there Frank, despite the lousy light. Oh for some sun lol
    That last Tufted looks really proud, showing off his long crest.

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  6. I like the black and white theme and the reflections are just beautiful.

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  7. Nice series of pictures Frank and sounds like a good, if slightly soggy, stroll. The reflective coot is great!

    But a bit more colour, especially blue for the sky would be wonderful!

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  8. Great shots Frank, I love all the reflections.

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  9. Tabib. Thank you very much.

    Keith. There was some better light today but I still struggled to get what I really wanted! Yes, male Tufties are delightful looking chaps.

    Mick. Cheers but can you send us some sunshine....please?

    Tricia. Even wetter underfoot today! I never wish the days away but 'Sun' where are you!

    Jan. Thanks. Still water and the right light does helps to capture reflections.

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  10. Not much to photograph on my patch with all the gloom about, black and white or any other colour!

    Like that Coot shot.

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  11. Mmmm.. the Tufted Duck picture is gorgeous!

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  12. Warren. I had a similar few hours out today despite the slight improvement in the weather.

    Warren and Lisa Strobel. Thanks for dropping by. I appreciate the compliment and so does the 'Tuftie'.

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  13. Lovely shots, Frank. Love the Coot!

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  14. Mona. Thanks. There were very few other humans around so the Coot and other ducks didn't feel too threatened by my presence this time.

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  15. Great photos, the reflections are wonderful. My favorite was the Tufted with the feather. Very cool looking duck.

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  16. Eileen. I should have taken more shots of the 'cool' Tuftie. Thanks.

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  17. I like the tuftie shots and the pollared trees are interesting to look at. Birds that are mostly all black or all white seem to be very difficult to get a good photo of.-Nice close up shot.

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  18. Larry. I hear what you say about B&W species. Would be helpful if they sat still for long periods so we could test various settings.
    BTW How is the January count going?

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  19. That bridge photo is SPECTACULAR Frank!

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  20. Hi Eve. I'm sure it will feature again in the future.

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I hope you enjoyed your visit and I always appreciate your comments and feedback.

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