Since visiting Norfolk and then Slimbridge in the autumn my birding has been entirely around the tarns and forests of North Cumbria and its Solway coast ... I now use a mirrorless system - Canon R7 with rf 100-400 lens. This setup weighs 1.2 Kg whereas my previous Canon 7D mk 11 with a 300mm f4.5 and 1.4x converter was twice that weight.
The weight advantage alone is very compelling but the results have been very pleasing. Setting up the camera required a new mindset and interestingly the Youtube videos which were mainly American proved to be less than helpful - North Cumbria is not the USA !
The Goldeneyes that we see at Talkin Tarn and mainly females and many of these are first winter birds with relatively dull yellow eyes and all black bills ...
... a group of female Goosanders loafed in the middle of the tarn ...
On a lovely bright late November day a Mistle Thrush posed on a treetop ... the shorter and paler retained juvenile outer greater coverts showed it to be a first winter bird ...
... and a male Reed Bunting perched among twigs - the 'bird' setting on the AF made the bird rather than the twigs the cameras priority for focus ...
Near Tindale village a small flock of around six Bullfinches foraged on heather seeds a few days later when the sun was nowhere in sight ... but a welcome bit of brightness nevertheless ...
On a small tarn near Upper Denton six Whooper Swans appeared ... the three juveniles being a welcome indication of breeding success ...
On another lovely December day back at Talkin Tarn a Little Grebe swam obligingly by ...
... and with frost on the ground at Thorn near Tarnhouse Rigg a Fieldfare posed nicely ...
Back in the Border Forests Crossbills were present in better numbers than of late and this displaying male was a fine sight ...
... while on the coast again Pink-footed Geese were on the move in late January
At Tindale Tarn today all the birds, few that they were, proved to be frustratingly distant ... this provided a good chance to test the camera's 'reach' ...
... a female Tufted Duck just looked all dark through the bins but the camera revealed some detail including bill pattern at a range of around 400m ...
... and a pair of Wigeon along with another first winter female Goldeneye were at a similar distance ...
... a female Smew had been on the tarn for a good while over the winter and with bins it was just about discernible on the most distant part of the far shore at around 500m range ... the camera added some detail.
