16 October 2014: Testing time on a grey afternoon at Slimbridge.

Have'nt been able to get out since. October for various reasons, so a break in the rain meant an opportunity to dash to Slimbridge to test my new lens - a very lucky boy now has a Canon EF 500mm f4 lens to play with(-:). From South Lake hide, the Cormorant were nicely on show.

The greylag started to depart

but these other Cormorant carried on chilling.

A Grey Heron on the far bank.

Another Greylag leaving.

From the Zeiss hide, a Buzzard cruised down over the lagoon

Immediately in front of the hide this Teal was wondering what I was up to.

THe same Buzzard as previously, sitting in a Hawthorn bush.

Long Tailed Tit.

Over on the other side of the reserve one of the Common Crane was out on the Tack Piece

with Shoveler

and Teal in abundance.

The Crane was now a long way away.

A rather nice Gadwall

A Curlew flew over and I managed to grab a couple of shots.

From the Holden Tower we have a mixture of shots - at thios point I had put the 1.4 converter on so was shooting with a virtual 700mm lens and clearly was able to capture birds and shots that had been unthinkable previously. Two White Fronted Geese out on the Dumbles.

This Jackdaw was directly in front of the hide

This Peregrine was a long way off.

A small group of Pintail.

A flock of Golden Plover rising occasionally from the river bank.

Wood Pigeon immediately in front of the hide.

A group of Barnacle Geese dropping into the tack Piece from the Dumbles.

On leaving, as I walked through the reserve I saw this Cormorant up in the tree. I managed to take this picture in the increasing gloom thanks to the Image Stabiliser, my first real experience with one.

I also saw this Mute Swan heading towards me so snapped away.

All in all I enjoyed my test and look forward to future trips out with ihe lens. Special thanks to the good lady(-:).