Before the snow

Rob and I went out yesterday to take some test pics with the Sigmonster, to send to Sigma. Despite being repaired, it is still underexposing by up to a full stop (getting worse the further you zoom). So our short visit to Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve was mostly spent taking simultaneous photos of the same subjects using various different lenses. It was very cold (more ice than last Wednesday) and rather grey and still.

Not many photos taken besides the test shots, but while Rob was setting up in Grebe hide I photographed the tits coming to the feeders.

Heavily cropped male Bullfinch, from the car park. My best photo yet of this species... but there are acres of room for improvement!

On the way to Willow hide we met a woman coming the other way, who advised us (really rather strongly) not to bother going there because the lake was iced over. We went anyway. There was a small patch of clear water around the island, full of Coots, but all the ducks seemed to have moved on, apart from a couple of Mallards. Another couple in the hide found the Bittern sitting out in full view, sadly much too far away for a good photo. It took both Rob and I a while to find it despite clear directions. My terrible photo at least shows its great camouflage!

We didn't see much else as we didn't check the East lake, but there were rumours of a Jack Snipe somewhere, as well as the White-fronted Goose that I may or may not have seen on Wednesday.