I had been seriously debating getting the Nikon 200-500mm instead, but finally decided to plump with the lens I had before, as it had served me so well in the past, it had a longer reach and I was used to using it! It was also about £500 cheaper than the nikon, which was the final clincher!
I could finally go out again and use this lens on my Nikon D500, as the older one had gone faulty and would not focus at all on that camera, I had to use it in the intirim on my older D7200, but although I could still get pictures with this combo, the VR still wasn't working properly and the focusing was messing about, seriously restricting my chances of grabbing instantaneous nature photo's!
So with my new Sigma on my D500, I was confident again and itching to put them through their paces!
I got photo's of a scarce Yellow Legged Gull at Sutton Bingham reservoir near Yeovil, with thanks to a local Gull expert Dave Chown who identified the juvenile in front of us! Young Gulls are so difficult to identify with their varying plumages, only full adults are easy to identify , and they take 3 or 4 years to reach this stage!
I also had a pretty good week for birds of prey!
I photographed a Red Kite near Cerne Abbas in Dorset, A Hobby at Chew Valley Lake near Bristol, Buzzards on the Mendip Hills and near Piddlehinton in Dorset, A male Marsh Harrier on Tealham and Tadham Moor in Somerset and Peregrine Falcons at Sand Bay near Weston Super Mare, Sutton Bingham reservoir and St Mary Magdalene Church in Taunton Somerset! I also got a record shot of a Sparrowhawk near Rooksbridge in Somerset!
Other birds of note this week were a flock of Avocets at Sand Bay, Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail and Cattle Egrets on Tealham and Tadham Moor, Jay and Gadwall at Chew Valley Lake and my first Whinchat of the year on the Mendip Hills, which took my birding year list to 152 species, already one ahead of last years 151 total! :)
Below are pics of all the birds mentioned above, plus a few others since my last blog post;
^Above^ - Scarce 2nd year Yellow Legged Gull at Sutton Bingham reservoir.
^Above^ - Another possible Yellow Legged Gull, this time a juvenile. (Could be a Lesser Black Back Gull, Dave Chown wasn't 100% about this one!)
^Above^ - Pergrine Falcon at Sutton Bingham reservoir.
^Above^ - Grey Herons at Sutton Bingham reservoir.
^Above^ - Pied Wagtail at Sutton Bingham Reservoir.
^Above^ - Little Egret at Sutton Bingham Reservoir.
^Above^ - Mallards at Sutton Bingham reservoir.
^Above^ - Black Headed Gulls at Sutton Bingham reservoir.
^Above^ - Juvenile Lesser Black Back Gull at Sutton Bingham reservoir.
^Above^ - Wheatear on Tealham and Tadham Moor in Somerset.
^Above^ - Yellow Wagtail on Tealham and Tadham Moor.
^Above^ - Meadow Pipits on Tealham and Tadham Moor.
^Above^ - Male Marsh Harrier on Tealham and Tadham Moor.
^Above^ - Linnet on Tealham and Tadham Moor.
^Above^ - 2 Cattle Egrets with a group of Little Egrets, a Black Headed Gull, a Grey Heron and a Carrion Crow at Tealham and Tadham Moor.
^Above^ - Long Tailed Tit in Berries at Dunwear Ponds near Bridgwater in Somerset.
^Above^ - Kingfishers at Dunwear Ponds....almost got a focus!!
^Above^ - Magpies at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - Mallard at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - House Martins at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - Juvenile Chiffchaff at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - Black Headed Gull at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - Blue Tit at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - Painted Lady Butterfly at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - Mini-murmuration of Starlings at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - Young Woodpigeon at Dunwear Ponds.
^Above^ - Peregrine Falcons at St Mary Magdalene Church in Taunton, Somerset.
^Above^ - Grey Wagtails at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Jay with an acorn at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Mute Swan at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Hobby at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ -Juvenile Great Black Backed Gull at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Black Headed Gull at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Juvenile Lesser Black Back Gull at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Juvenile Jackdaw at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Gadwall at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Juvenile Coots at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Canada Geese at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Mallards at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Fox way off on a far bank at Chew Valley Lake (with Grey Heron and Coot!)
^Above^ - Shoveler at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Teal at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Tufted Ducks at Chew Valley Lake.
^Above^ - Grey Squirrel at Chew Valley Lake.....very surprised to see this animal come out of the reeds nowhere near any trees!
^Above^ - Whinchat on the Mendip Hills in Somerset.
^Above^ - Wheatear on the Mendip Hills.
^Above^ - Buzzard on the Mendip Hills.
^Above^ - Flock of Avocets at Sand Bay in North Somerset.
^Above^ - House Sparrows at Sand Bay.
^Above^ - Rear view of a Peregrine Falcon at Sand Bay as it shot past me!
^Above^ - Bit of a tatty Blue Butterfly at Sand Bay.
^Above^ - Buzzard near Piddlehinton in Dorset.
^Above^ - Very sad....a dead Polecat beside the road at Cerne Abbas in Dorset.
^Above^ - Bees and Bumble Bee near Piddlehinton.
^Above^ - Red Kite near Cerne Abbas.
^Above^ - House Sparrows near Cerne Abbas.
^Above^ - Typical Kingfisher view near Puxton in North Somerset!
^Above^ - Juvenile Goldfinch in my home Somerset village.
^Above^ - Juvenile Swallows in the nest in my village.
^Above^ - Distant Sparrowhawk near Rooksbridge in Somerset.
^Above^ - Mute Swans on the Huntspill river in Somerset.
^Above^ - Juvenile Gull on the river at Taunton.
^Above^ - Moorhen at Taunton.
^Above^ - Grey Herons at Kings Sedgemoor Drain near Chedzoy in Somerset.
^Above^ - Collared Dove at Kings Sedgemoor Drain.
^Above^ - Mute Swans at Kings Sedgemoor Drain.
^Above^ - Another typical Kingfisher view at Kings Sedgemoor drain!
^Above^ - Berries at Kings Sedgemoor drain.
^Above^ - Thistles at Kings Sedgemootr drain.
^Above^ - Dandelion seedhead at Kings Sedgemoor drain.
^Above^ - Chedzoy Church in Somerset.
^Above^ - Our friends Border Terrier at Kings Sedgemoor drain!
^Above^ - My Spotter at Dunwear Ponds!!
^Above^ - Beautiful Bunny Tail grass at Sand Bay.
^Above^ - Footage of the scarce Yellow Legged Gull at Sutton Bingham reservoir.
^Above^ - New Slideshow of the mega rare Albino House Sparrow I photographed in my village during the Summer!
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