[MUSIC]
I am so excited for today's vlog because I am back in one of my favourite places, the
RSPB's Lochwinnoch reserve. I haven't been here since the beginning of the year,
y'know the Before Times. And I'm just so happy to be back. Every time I come here I always
come away with pictures that I'm pretty happy with, I always see lots of wildlife here.
So I'm really, really excited to see what sort of day I'm going to have here. If you
are just joining us then my name is Meg, I'm an amateur wildlife photographer from Scotland,
and I make videos all about my journey to become a better wildlife photographer. So
if you want to join us then make sure to hit that subscribe button. I will just quickly
introduce you to my Canon EOS 80D and my Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary lens, which is the
equipment that I use for all my wildlife photography. And if you're just new to this channel then
you will get to know this little guy pretty well. And yeah, I am just going to hang out,
wander around the reserve, see what I can see and see what sorts of shots I can get,
so, stay tuned!
[MUSIC]
So it's currently only just past 10am, it's kind of a grey day,
there's rain forecast for later. But, it's kind of the perfect recipe for the reserve
being quite quiet today. Also, kids in Scotland went back to school last week so I'm not anticipating
it to be busy which is perfect for me. Y'know at the moment... I just have these trails
pretty much to my myself which is just *mwah* chef's kiss.
There was just a nuthatch up
in this tree here, I could hear it for ages and I just could not find it and eventually
I looked up and it was just making its way across one of these branches. My picture,
I don't think is that good but it was nice to, nice to see. They're not that common up
here, I know down with our neighbours down in England, they see them quite a lot but
up here, they're a bit less common. So, it's always nice to catch one.
There is, like,
leaves really starting to fall from the trees and already starting to see more and more
funghi every time I come out - it feels like we're going to be getting into autumn very
soon. Which is crazy because last time I was here, I was so excited because there were
signs of spring. Like, spring and summer have just been like a void of time, like a black
hole into which time has disappeared. Winter there, felt like it lasted forever. And then,
y'know a springer - a springer?! - a spring and summer, y'know, in lockdown went by like that.
Like, it's almost winter aGAIN.
I've come to have a little nosy at the bird feeders
just to see what sort of garden birds are chilling out here. And, y'know, there's an
abundance of great tits, coal tits, blue tits, chaffinches.
They're all very nice to see and photograph.
I've left the feeders behind because I hung out there for quite a while
and it was just kind of, y'know, the usual characters. And as much fun as it is to watch
them and photograph them, after a while I was kind of like "OK, is there going to be
something else?" I think I will drop back in just before I leave in the off chance there might
be something else there. But I'm going to head over to the loch that's up here, it's
still on the reserve but I'm just gonna go and walk towards that, and if you couldn't
tell the path towards it is right next to the main road.
I've shoved my mask on because
I'm on a bit of a narrow trail which you can't always maintain social distancing on so...
I thought I would shove this on, and also its really cute 'cause it has bees on it.
I just came up to this viewpoint that looks over the meadow and there was a man sitting
here, and he said to me "you've just missed a kingfisher by 5 minutes."
It's like, not
meant to be. 5 minutes! If I hadn't hung around at those stupid garden birds for so long [laughs]
There's no one here now so it's fine. [sighs] 5 minutes... One day! One day I will see and
photograph a kingfisher. So, I'm kind of like, do I hang around here and wait for a little
while to see if it comes back or just keep heading up to the other loch? Because knowing
my luck, whatever I choose is the wrong answer.
I don't know if anybody else who uses binos
but is also a photographer does this where they're using their binoculars for ages that
they forget that everything they're looking at is actually really far away. So when they
go to take a picture they're like, "why is that so far away?!" Then you remember, oh
yeah, that's not what my actual eyesight looks like. I do it all the time.
So there was rain
forecast but this just came out of no where, and it's pouring! I should've stayed at the
viewpoint, 'cause there was shelter there. If I can find a tree that would be good. AH!
[laughs] There we go. I have a bit of tree cover. Feels like it might just be a shower.
So, I'm just gonna hold out and hope it goes off because I really just don't want to get
soaked. There's about 26 mute swans out on the loch. It's cool to see so many.
Back under shelter! I took the path back at a gentle jog. This is a better situation to be in.
I should've just stayed here and waited to see if the kingfisher reappeared. If not,
just for, y'know, so I would've been a little bit drier.
So, I don't think I've got any
pictures of anything too exciting. Although, I think the shots I got of the little garden
birds might be quite cute, I'll see what they look like. I have a full list of all the birds
I've seen today. Not all of them will have appeared in the video, because I didn't get
a picture of them or I got a picture of them and it was terrible. This is just the full
list of everything that I seen today. So it was nice to see all of that. And that very
near miss of the kingfisher will haunt me. I will see one one day, I will see one. But
apparently it's not today, it's not this vlog. I will put a full list of all the wildlife
that was actually in the video down in the description, like I normally do. If you're
on Twitter and/or Instagram, you can follow me there, the links to that are in the description.
And that's all really, thank you so much for watching, I hope you enjoyed, stay safe and
I'll maybe see you next time. Bye.