With a gale force W>8 gusting 9 throughout the morning, in excess of 40 m.p.h., I just went out to get blown around Foxhill with the dogs. By mid afternoon the wind had dropped considerably but working on the assumption that it was still strong enough to keep the crowds away from Ogden, which it did the trick, I risked a visit.
The water was very rough with white horses on the waves with around 70 small gulls present and 5 Herrings but all well out in the centre of the water.
A check of the west bank produced 2 male and 1 female Bullfinch plus the usual Tits, Goldcrests and Treecreepers but all very active in the wind. The Siskin/Redpoll flock was present but moving around the tops of the pine trees in the edge of the plantation so no photos today.
Expecting to get the flock in the Alders as yesterday I swopped lenses and took the Canon 70-200
which has a much lower aperture of 2.8, as opposed to Big Berthas aperture of 6.3 so, although its a smaller lens, it has much more scope for very low light working in the dark trees. Only problem here is you have to hope you don,t get any distant wildfowl on the water whilst working with low magnification.
Looking like a wet and windy day tomorrow but the wind not as strong as today.
BS