23 April 2022 - Hollingworth Lake/Ashworth Moor Reservoir

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Swallows, Lesser Black-backed Gull

Had a good walk around the lake this morning but there was a strong cold NE wind, and very little was showing.  I met Simon who'd photographed Grasshopper Warbler near Syke Farm, so I decided to try for that, but again, nothing was showing.  There'd been a Yellow Wagtail at Ashworth Moor Reservoir so as a last resort chose to try for that.  I did see several Pied and one Grey Wagtail, but no definite Yellow Wagtail, although a possible bird flew across the water away from me.  There were quite a few Swallows and Sand Martins hawking over the water in the strong wind, so I spent a little time trying to photograph them in flight. They were very hard to keep in the viewfinder, dipping and banking in the wind, but I managed a few that ended up reasonably sharp, though these are quite heavy crops.

In the afternoon, a party of 9 Little Gulls were seen at Elton Resr, so I had a quick check of the lake just in case.  Again, nothing to report.  An adult Lesser Black-back was on the slipway but partially obscured from my viewpoint by Canada Geese.

Swallow, 1/2000 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 2000

Swallow , 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 2000 (view full size image)

Swallow , 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 2000 (view full size image)

Swallow , 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 1600 (view full size image)

Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 100 (view full size image)