Wrong Venue. A check of Ogden and a Dip at Mixenden. + photo equipment.

                                  Common and Black Headed, winter plumage

         Common , losing head speckles for summer plumage

           Black Headed, full summer hood.

Home from a shopping spree in Halifax then a decision between Ogden and Mixenden.
Thinking the roads around Mixenden could be bad I plumped for Ogden ( bad mistake).
                                                                   Ogden Lane was a no go in the car so I parked way up near the Moorlands and walked back to Ogden,( second mistake).
                                                         The water was quiet with just the usual Canadas, Mallards and small gulls along with 2 Lesser Black Backed though the Commons and Black Headeds were interesting with several now in summer plumage.
With nothing in the sluice gate area I decided to walk around the water, ( third mistake ), just picking up a single Jay and a pair of Bullfinch on the western side.
                                                          Half way round the water and a phone call from DJS brought home the mistakes I had made. Dave was at Mixenden watching 3 winter plumage Dunlins and there was I half way round Ogden with the car 2 miles away. Dunlin may not sound a special bird but to get them at this time of year still in winter plumage is something we rarely see. No choice here but to get to Mixenden A.S.A.P.
                                  Thirty minutes later I arrived breathlessly at the reservoir where Dave had left the birds and of course,as half expected, they had gone. Oh well, thats birding. Thanks for the call Dave and well spotted in a very difficult area below the snow line of the banking. See Calderbirds blog for Daves report and hopefully photos.
                                                             Which brings me on to several query's I get about what photographic equipment I use when I,m out birding so I,ve put together a list of my main rigs.

 Canon 7d Mk 2. The camera I depend on ever day. Fantastically fast
                         auto focus and super fast frames per second.

Canon 7d which I updated with the Mk 2 but a good performer.

 Sigma 150-600 mm IS Sport. ( Big Bertha ) My everyday best mate.
Coupled with the 7d Mk 2  it makes a killer rig.

  Canon 70-200 mm1.28 L. A good versatile lens for flight
 photography and classed as one of Canons sharpest lenses.

 Canon  300 1.4 L  IS. A fast and lightweight lens. Ideal if you don,t
feel like carrying the big 600mm round or in poor weather conditions.
This lens is handy to throw around your neck under your coat and with
a 2x Converter in your pocket you can take it up to 600mm if ness.

   If the birds are at distance its always handy to have converters
 available although you lose 2 stops of light and it slows
 the auto focus down slightly.

 I also use a Canon 1200d with a 18-55 IS lens which I use for scene shots , wide angle
 and macro. Ideal lens if you,re into Moths and Butterflies, which I,m not.

I always have a Manfrotto tripod with me but use hand held if at all possible unless its very windy or low light.
So thats about the size of it. Of course the ideal birding lens is the Canon 800 mm IS L but at £15,000
its a bit out of my range.
                                     The only drawback I find with all the above equipment is that when I,m at Ogden and a mega turns up at Mixenden none of it is a bit of use.
BS