Watching yesterday's unexpected Mediterranean visitor reminded me of my first encounter with the species: over thirty years ago, also at Cley. I dug out the appropriate bird diary to check the details: looking at the drawing I made at the time, you can see why I took up photography! That individual spent several days hawking around the green, appropriately in front of the 'Two Swallows'. I remember very clearly taking my first wife to see this charming little sprite: it was a glorious sunny morning in early spring, but she wouldn't get out of the car for a closer look: "Someone from work might see me and think I'm a flippin' bird-nerd like you!"
The photo (taken in somewhat better light than yesterday!) was the only one in focus from 36 exposures taken with my old Praktica and 300mm lens. The photo took a week to come back from Boots and reveals that my drawing (based on field sketches I made while watching the bird) shows the tail streamers as being far longer than was actually the case.
No comments:
Post a Comment