And then it Rained once more

Another Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK , and my first opportunity to go out with the Camera since returning from the Coast to Coast walk….

The forecast was for Showers throughout the weekend. On Saturday I headed off to return to a Nature Reserve that I visit a few times each year at Willington , its a Wetlands Reserve managed by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and often I can find various species of insects , particularly Dragonflies and Damselflies to photograph. Its about 45 minutes drive from my home so I set off early. But on arrival with all of the Rain we have had the Wetlands had now extended as far as the small parking area so I was forced to abandon that. Next choice I headed up to Darley Dale to try to capture some bird life in the wooded area - usually a good selection of small songbirds here and the occasional Raptor (Kestrels and Buzzards mostly). Unfortunately due to having spent time driving to Willington and then up to Darley Dale my arrival also coincided with both the heaviest of the downpours in the morning and also the arrival of many dog walkers , thus the number of species about were reduced and the light was terrible. I did take some images and once processed some are acceptable so not entirely a lost day.

Sunday, and the forecast was worse , this time including Thunder and Lightning for good measure, this time I headed straight to Darley Dale and set up position to get unrestricted views of the bird life (and the Grey Squirrels) and sat and waited for both the light to arrive and the rain to ease off - both did for periods throughout the day and I was much more relaxed at getting some images - with the Robins and Chaffinches coming high on the list of those species that presented the best. For a period I even had a Jay for company.

So it just proves that if you ignore the forecast and get out then there are opportunities to be had…now where’s the summer !!