Having been considering purchasing a replacement camera for my Nikon D7100 for some time (and indeed actually buying a second-hand second D7100 body from a pal a few months ago, which has fairly recently died on me) I had been paying particular attention to the reviews of the Nikon D500. Having been a big fan of my Nikon D300S which I used before getting the D7100, I was pleased to see that a lot of the good features of that one had been mixed with some of the good stuff from the D7100, and a few new things added - new sensor, touchscreen display etc. It sounded exceedingly promising. The price tag was the one thing putting me off. However, I happened to discover that Currys/PC World could have one delivered to the Dundee store for collection within 24 hours. I bit the bullet and despite a few hiccups actually placing the order, by Friday evening I had a new camera.
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| Little Egret |
I read up on it via the 400 page manual, and played around a bit with the settings at home - photographing an adult and juvenile Herring Gull from my living room window. I decided I needed to get out and test the thing on some birds, especially birds in flight, with the autofocus in particular being a major plus point in reviews. Things didn't go exactly to plan with a slight plumbing problem at home ensuring that I didn't get out until after 1400. I decided to head to Guardbridge for a few hours, knowing that there is always a decent chance of birds in flight along the river.
I walked to the bus station though birds unsurprisingly were in short supply - Herring Gulls, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Lesser Black Backed Gull and a loudly calling Blackbird mobbing a prowling cat. From the bus I added a few more - Swallow, Carrion Crow, House Martin and a nice bonus Sparrowhawk circling above the fields as the bus entered Leuchars. Jackdaw and Rook were perched around the village as the bus passed through. A few Swifts were overhead as the bus arrived in Guardbridge with a few Mute Swans on the Motray.
Walking in to the hide gave me the first Pied Wagtail of the day. I struggled to get the door to the hide to open but two Fife ladies in the hide thankfully let me in (and later worked out how to bypass the 'sticking' door). They pointed out a distant Osprey on the mud. A Cormorant flew by. There were Lapwings and Redshanks along the opposite bank. There were around 20 Mute Swans out on the river. The camera was taken out of the bag and as opportunities arose I took some photos. I couldn't settle on a particular autofocus mode, so it was largely trial and error to get something that worked. The first batch of photos were mostly consigned to the bin, though there were a few in focus.
At the feeders a family of 4 Dunnocks fed below and a juvenile Robin joined the Blue Tit family at the peanuts. A Black Headed Gull landed on the post out front. A bit of scanning found a small group of Dunlin among the Redshanks, while further back on the mud were a number of Curlews. Among the Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls near the bend in the river were a few Great Black Backed Gulls. A pair of Common Sandpipers flew by low over the water. A single Goosander flew upriver. The first Grey Heron of the day flew low from one side of the river to the other. A young Buzzard put in an appearance before landing back in the conifers across the water.
A Tree Sparrow appeared at the feeders, and a short while later so did a single male House Sparrow. A few Goldfinches flew over into the trees by the hide. An Oystercatcher adult and youngster landed on the mud below the hide. A small group of Mallards were spotted quite distantly flying in and landing near the bend. The two Fife ladies left and a short while later I was joined in the hide by another two birders I've met before here. I spotted a pair of Magpies fly into the trees at the local nature reserve on the north bank of the river. Cormorants, Woodpigeons, Redshanks and even an Osprey all gave me the chance to try the camera and some of the results showed an improvement. Flight shots in particular were showing an improved 'hit rate'.
The next bird on the list was an uncommon one for the location - a drake Tufted Duck, which landed on the river in front of the hide for a few minutes before flying off again. A Little Egret flew upriver, while a few minutes later Great Tit and Chaffinch were both added at the feeders. Nothing else was added before I headed for home just before 1700, discovering a wasp's byke in the garden behind the bus stop and keeping a wary eye on the comings and goings until the bus home arrived.
A decent initial test of the camera with some promise recorded, and some decent results, though hopefully with more practice and a better understanding of the camera itself the 'hit rate' will greatly improve. Only 39 species seen, but as it was primarily a camera testing trip, this was a positive.
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| Redshank & Dunlin |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Cormorant |
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| Redshank |
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| Osprey |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Redshank |
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| Redshank |
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| Feral Pigeon |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Little Egret |
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| Buzzard |
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| Curlew |
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| Grey Heron |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sparrowhawk, Swallow, Swift, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon.
