Where I’m based, in Essex (England) it has been pretty cold recently, cold for the south east anyway. Last night, about 7pm it began snowing quite heavily. It’s a very fine snow, the type that drifts easily, and is rather compact under foot.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love the snow; in fact I prefer any weather than most people deem to be “horrible”. If the sky is grey, or the wind is blowing hard with a touch of Jack Frost nipping the air, then that’s my type of weather. I prefer that to a hot summer’s day on just about any occasion.
I decided to try and get a few snowy scene shots with my camera, but I really don’t have the correct lens at the moment, so instead I opened the upstairs windows so that I could try to capture a robin Erithacus rubecula in the snow, for use on some Christmas cards I plan to have printed this year.
I spent an hour or two waiting around, windows wide open with a 600mm lens poking over the window ledge – god knows what the neighbours thought! I had some great opportunities, but each time there was something in the way, a stray branch or poor background. Due to being constricted to the width of a small window I was very limited with movement, so I had to be patient and wait for an opportunity to arise, which it did on two occasions. A blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus decided to feed in a patch of snow resting on a conifer tree, but as soon as it did someone decided to shout out loud, and that was the end of that!
So, I waited a bit longer, until I had the chance of getting a robin shot, which did eventually come, but sods law, it was perched up too high for there to be any snow in the shot!
I didn’t managed to get anything great, as, by this time the light was poor, and I decided to pack up for the day. I won’t be able to use any of the images I did capture, but I’ve included a few here for you to have a look at anyway.
Catch you on the trail
Kris