Having received another message (from my personal bird-alert service :D) that the Grey Phalarope was still in the same place as yesterday (Rick Pond in Home Park, Hampton Court), I headed off this morning. It was grey and drizzly and parking the car wasn't straight forward but never mind.
I found the Phalarope on Rick Pond - and whey hey it was only about 3 metres from the edge. Most of the time it was faced away into the prevailing wind (and rain!) and not much opportunity to get a head-on shot. So I wacked up the ISO to 1600/3200, opened the shutter as much as I dared (wanted depth of field), set shots to continuous shooting and A1 Servo.
What an obliging and beautiful little bird it was too. It was constantly on the move and obviously feeding. Luckily for me, it then decided to have a quick preen. I stayed there for some time (despite the now annoying rain) and hoped for a break in the weather. Patience paid off and for about 3 minutes I had some very weak sunshine.
I'll let the pictures tell the rest. I make no apology for posting so many......
While pausing for some better light, I took the opportunity to catch these.
Canada Geese in flight
Mute swans
- this one (at the rear) was being extremely aggressive to the other and at one time had its beak round the back of the other one's neck chasing it down the pond!
And the Star of today's show...
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