This week’s visit to the Lake was a little unusual as I’m normally on my own. I’ve learnt that my slow pace as I gaze around and constantly stop to look at flowers or look for birds and insects doesn’t endear me to people who want ‘a walk’.
However, having duly warned my companions, Karen, Sue, Ewan and Lucie, we set off. I did my best tour guide impression explaining about how the walk we would do contained the lakes, the Grand Union Canal and the River Colne.
However as expected it wasn’t long before they were a little bit ahead of me, walking faster and chatting among themselves. I would, every now and then, call them back as I saw something and point it out to them.
A heron in a tree on a small island in the lake.
A small hide that provides a lovely view out across the water and some cormorants in the distance. A particularly attractive sight as the sun was up and bright and the sky blue.
Birds moving in unusual ways
Their pace made me think of an earlier observation from my trips, namely that as I’ve become more interested in photography and particularly when I set out to take some pictures, I look at things differently. I not only look at things more closely, but I look at them for longer and maybe, if possible, from more angles. I’m looking at textures, colours and the interplay of light and shade. I’m looking for things that I think might make a good and interesting photo.
If I hear a birdsong I stop and try and locate the bird, I watch the sky as I love trying to capture birds in flight.
I don’t have the patience of a true bird watcher or a wildlife photographer but I’m willing to stand still for a few minutes waiting, hoping for a bird to appear. My companions all dressed in shorts, compared with my jeans, complained when I waited for while at the water’s edge for the opportunity to capture a gull in flight. I was lucky that not only did some gulls fly over but a red kite appeared. They weren’t so lucky as what they got was a number of small insect bites.
A pub lunch at the end of the walk was a reward for everyone. While we waited for our food, I explained that I tried to theme my blogs each week and what were their suggestions. Ewan, demonstrating his skill as a blogger said “Geese, geese and more geese” which fitted with the number of Canada, Egyptian and Graylag geese we had seen and was a suitably catchy title.
However, it also made me think about why I enjoy my visits to these lakes so much. Yes, there were plenty of geese, but geese weren’t the only birds we saw and in fact my rough tally suggested we had seen 17 different varieties…
1. Garganey
2. Shoveller
3. Grey heron
4. Coots
5. Moorhen
6. Canada geese
7. Egyptian geese
8. Greylag geese
9. Mallard
10. Mute swan
11. Cormorant
12. Magpie
13. Tufted duck
14. Robin
15. Red kite
16. Common Gull
17. Grebe
While this is well below the number I saw in February and March (31 was the highest if I remember correctly), it was much, much higher than many other woodlands and lakes I have visited locally. I remember walking in Oxhey Woods for about an hour and seeing only 3 varieties of bird and hearing just one more.
We all know the old saying that ‘variety is the spice of life’ but it is also one of the joys of my lakeside strolls.
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