Osprey meet, Rutland Water

[pressld2]

Good plan Pauline. I'm off to bed now too with an alarm set for 5am!

See you tomorrow!

Dave P.

[Fourwings]

Just heading off on my long journey to Rutland Water ( 9 miles )

If anyone else would like to join us either today or tomorrow you would be most welcome to do so.
If you turn up today just ask at the visitor centre for directions to the Osprey hides and you'll find us there.
If you fancy coming tomorrow drop a quick reply here on the thread, I will be back this evening to check and then meet us in the Lyndon reserve carpark at 9am in the morning.

[John]

I have not longed got back home from an enjoyable day at Rutland. Some excellent company from some old & new friends. The weather was great but perhaps the birds weren't as much in evidence as I would have liked, although the Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff's more than made up for that.

The Osprey's were easy to watch from the hide in front of the nest although the male didn't really play ball with us apart from one quick, relatively distant, fly past before disappearing for ages and only returning after we had decided to return back to the visitors centre for a bite to eat.

I would have expected to see far more Terns and Hirrundines but they were really low on numbers with only a handful of Common Terns, Swallows and Sand Martins with one lone House Martin being seen. Bonus bird being a very distant Little Gull.

There are a few more staying on for tomorrow and they are being joined by a few more WAB members. Lets hope that the Osprey's are a bit more co-operative for them.

BTW there should be a story about a dead Morel but I will let others tell the story about this one. It's priceless.

Below is a very distant photo of the pair mating (although there is already one egg in the nest). It is fairly heavily cropped but is the best I could manage.



John

[jerryh]

I echo all that John says. A very enjoyable day, in good company, and with Ospreys!

Here's the Morel in question - others will have closer images...





Jerry

[dave midi]

Good to meet everyone that was there today. I enjoyed my time at Rutland, and the weather was great too.

[Fourwings]

Day one of this meet was very enjoyable, typically the Ospreys did not play ball with any close fly-pasts but everyone got to see good veiws of them at the nest.
As usual with WAB meets the company was excellent and it was great to see new friends as well as old.
Star find of today were 6 Half-free Morel (Morchella semilibera), the most photographed fungi in Rutland, these were found by Dave (pressld2) and identified by Pauline (PMG), the best specimen was admired photographed by most members of the group before ironically being trodden on and crushed by Dave as we eventually moved on, we are now considering replacing his nickname "Horizontal Dave" with a new name "Morel Murderer!"
I'd just like to add a personal thanks to Pauline for letting me use her Canon 500mm Prime lens for a while, a superb lens that is now top of my wish list!

Just a few images from today.







Semi-free Morel

[Hobjob]

Originally Posted by John

Below is a very distant photo of the pair mating (although there is already one egg in the nest). It is fairly heavily cropped but is the best I could manage.

John

Considering the distance John, that looks very sharp, and looks as if the 100-400 is still OK.
What about the other Photos?

Sorry was only there for half the day, but I did get home in time
for earning those necessary brownie points
Another lovely WAB day - Thanks to all.

Steve, have you ordered you 500mm prime yet?

[Melus]

I'd like to echo what everyone else who attended Saturday has said. It's been about 18yrs since I last visited Rutland and forgot what a fantastic habitat it has to offer. Already planning to go again when the young Osprey are on the nest.

Next time the group meets I will be better prepared and hopefully a bit more mobile and in a more sociable mood.

Thanks again Steve for orgainising the meet and it was a pleasure to meet some friendly Wabbers.

Here is my photo contribution for the day, with some of the group gathering around the Half-Free Morel. The ground was level but my cameras wasn't. You can see why I didn't take many photo's




Regards
Gary, Sue and Hannah

[John]

Hi David

I binned the rest. The one I attached I had to sharpen up quite a bit.

I have been out locally today and the photos are the same, very soft, so I'm not sure what to do next.

How do you feel today?

Have you checked your diary yet?

John

Originally Posted by Hobjob

Considering the distance John, that looks very sharp, and looks as if the 100-400 is still OK.
What about the other Photos?

Sorry was only there for half the day, but I did get home in time
for earning those necessary brownie points
Another lovely WAB day - Thanks to all.

Steve, have you ordered you 500mm prime yet?

[mrcheeky]

Originally Posted by Fourwings

Day one of this meet was very enjoyable, typically the Ospreys did not play ball with any close fly-pasts but everyone got to see good veiws of them at the nest.
As usual with WAB meets the company was excellent and it was great to see new friends as well as old.
Star find of today were 6 Half-free Morel (Morchella semilibera), the most photographed fungi in Rutland, these were found by Dave (pressld2) and identified by Pauline (PMG), the best specimen was admired photographed by most members of the group before ironically being trodden on and crushed by Dave as we eventually moved on, we are now considering replacing his nickname "Horizontal Dave" with a new name "Morel Murderer!"
I'd just like to add a personal thanks to Pauline for letting me use her Canon 500mm Prime lens for a while, a superb lens that is now top of my wish list!








Semi-free Morel

Just a few images from today.

Thanks Dave for organising a superb day. Thanks for all your hard work.
Its was good to meet everyone.

Pity about the weather today.

Once again thanks for a great day it was good to meet nice people.

Cheers


Peter