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| Mallard |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Black Headed Gull (yellow 2XLD) |
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| Black Headed Gull (white J4U2) |
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| Common & Black Headed Gull |
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| Mallard |
 |
| Mallard |
 |
| Tufted Duck |
 |
| Black Headed Gull |
 |
| Mallard |
 |
| Mallard |
 |
| Carrion Crow |
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| Black Headed Gull (green JN69) |
 |
| Black Headed Gull |
 |
| Greylag Goose |
 |
| Black Headed Gull |
 |
| Tufted Duck |
 |
| Tufted Duck |
 |
| Black Headed Gull |
My usual photographic kit that I carry around while birding is a bit on the heavy side, so for quite a while I had been considering purchasing something a bit lighter and more portable. I did briefly own a Nikon P500 bridge camera but I was completely underwhelmed by the image quality and it was sold on after very little usage. However, having seen some reasonable photos and video online, the Canon SX-50HS bridge camera had tempted me once or twice but the price tag of upwards of £300 put me off. The recent Black Friday 'event' saw the price of the camera drop to £199 at Currys. However, it wasn't in stock in Dundee and I missed out.
All was not lost though, as it reappeared on the website, still at the lower price, after a couple of weeks. I bit the bullet and ordered the camera, however I then found I would have to wait for the stock to be delivered. As things worked out, the price rose once again back to its pre-Black Friday amount before I got my hands on the merchandise, so I made my purchase at just the right time. The replacement for the SX-50, the SX-60, isn't getting as good a write-up and the image quality is reportedly not as good.
Anyway, having picked my new toy up on Friday after work, I debated whether or not to take it out for a test run on Saturday, but decided to stick with my usual gear instead. However, with no plans in place for Sunday, I decided I would put it through its paces then. With rain showers in the morning in addition to a bitingly cold wind I had to wait till after 1pm to get out and about. The light isn't the best after lunchtime at this time of year, so it would likely be a good test of the camera's capabilities.
I headed out at around 1320 armed with only the SX-50 in one large coat pocket and a pair of binoculars in the other (the coat was another recent purchase). Travelling light for a change. Herring Gulls hung in the wind, some at rooftop height, others much higher but there were no other birds to be seen initially as rain threatened but thankfully didn't come to anything. Walking further on, a Carrion Crow was perched on a chimney and Feral Pigeon was added to the very short, but growing, list a little further on up the hill towards Clepington Road.
The first surprise of the day came when a female Sparrowhawk shot across the street in front of me and into the back greens of the tenement blocks, the alarm call of a Blackbird chiming loudly suggesting it may have been the target. The outcome however was unknown. A Black Headed Gull was perched on top of a lamp post on Clepington Road and another wheeled around overhead. Taking a detour to Mains Terrace found me a Dunnock which flew from a garden into the long grass. As I neared the junction with Castle Terrace, I heard the calls of Redwing as a few birds flew up from a berry-laden bush into the top branches of a larger tree nearby. Unfortunately the full group took flight and headed eastwards away over the houses before I got close enough to take the camera out.
A Great Tit flitting around in the bushes gave me an opportunity to see how well the focus worked, though the resultant photo showed the bird's head turned away from the camera. A male Blackbird posed a bit better and I did succeed with a half-decent photo. The local House Sparrow flock stayed mostly hidden in the undergrowth behind the trees with only a few glimpses of the birds though their loud chirping confirmed their presence anyway. A few Blue Tits foraged among the trees and Feral Pigeons were on the rooftops of a few houses nearby.
A Woodpigeon sat atop a house in Lammerton Terrace giving me another species for the list. On reaching Swannie Ponds a few minutes later I found a different scene from the previous day with the ice having almost all melted again. Lots of Mallards were stood around the edges of the path by the water, while the adult Mute Swan pair snoozed a few feet from the bottom of the stairs, the cygnet pair out on the water. I managed to skirt past them without disturbing their sleep. There were numerous Black Headed Gulls on the path much further round, with yet more on the water, along with some Herring Gulls of mixed ages. The Tufted Ducks which had been posted missing the day before were back again too. A Pied Wagtail foraged out on the remaining bit of ice by the northeastern end of the island.
I spotted a ringed Black Headed Gull among the flock on the path opposite and attempted to get close enough to try to see if the code on the photos would be readable. The bird was yellow 2XLD, which had been around earlier in the year, and which had been ringed the in June the previous year at Foveran in Aberdeenshire and the photos were indeed detailed enough to be able to see this. I spotted another ringed Black Headed Gull among the flock and again attempted to get close enough for photos to confirm the code. As suspected, this was white J4U2 ringed in Norway and which had also been seen at the ponds in February/March when the long staying Iceland Gull was around.
I found a few Common Gulls on the path with the other gulls before the whole flock took flight towards a family who were attempting to feed the ducks without the gulls noticing. A Carrion Crow landed in the conifers on the island. One or two male Blackbirds scooted around, to and from the island and once the family had moved on again, three Dunnocks appeared on the path to forage among the crumbs. The first sighting of one of the resident Moorhens came when I spotted one out on the water among the gulls. Two more put in an appearance further away. The light varied in intensity and I took plenty of photos to test the capabilities. Having set the ISO to the lowest setting to try to retain quality I was only getting shutter speeds of between 1/100 and 1/160 sec. However the image stabilisation built into the camera seemed to cope quite well and only a few photos suffered badly from blur.
I had decided to shoot in RAW to maximise the image quality and the processing possibilities. Editing later I found that there were a few white areas on some of the gulls that were completely blown out but given the strength of the low sun when it shone this wasn't a major surprise. I shot a short video of the Black Headed Gulls feeding and arguing by the edge of the water although the wind cancelled out the testing of the microphone. One of the 1st winter Black Headed Gulls was yet another ringed bird - green JN69, another Norwegian ringed bird and one that I saw a few months ago. With the sun getting lower in the sky and the wind seeming to get even colder I contemplated heading for home. A small flock of five geese struggled to make headway as they flew into the wind. The photos showed enough detail to identify them as Greylags.
With my fingers starting to really feel the cold I headed for home, retracing my route adding Jackdaws in Lammerton Terrace and a few Starlings going to roost as I headed downhill. Herring Gulls finished off the list just as it had started. Only 21 species seen but a decent workout for the camera with the results above. Although they aren't close to DSLR standard they are good enough as record shots with the close-ups in particular showing good levels of detail. I suspect that this camera will see a good bit more action in future, though probably mostly when birding isn't the main reason for being out and about (maybe to/from work etc).
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Dunnock, Great Tit, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Redwing, Feral Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon.