14.7.2020 Beast of burden?

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The view of the kit required for digiscoping laid out on the picnic table. All of this has to be carried to the intended site by bicycle or on foot. I still don't feel very relaxed about the process of preparing for a digiscoping outing.

The sheer quantity of items is almost bewildering but vital to success. They may not all be stored in the same place at home. Not if the telescope or camera are used for other purposes between trips to the water. Just losing a single component in the long grass would be an expensive disaster!

Apart from the telescope and camera body there are all the different adapters and lens caps. The tripod and gimbal head travel assembled. They are carried in the Viking Optical bag as a rucksack frame. The extended and [now reinforced] dovetail plate is fixed to the telescope. Though there is no room for the zoom eyepiece when fitted. So I have adopted a tiny, racing cyclist's "saddle bag" for carrying that safely and compactly.

Several other bags and boxes are required to provide separate storage and protection for fragile items. These containers can double up for storage of removed items once their primary storage purpose is completed. For example, the box which contains the wireless shutter release is freed up to hold the camera and telescope lens caps. The binoculars travel in their own Nikon bag to avoid damage in transit in the big, saddle bag. The camera bag fits inside another padded bag for the journey to the lake.

Being able to instantly identify everything at a glance is a large part of efficiency at the water side. Wasting time or arriving without something vital is just foolish. Particularly when the presence of possibly interesting subjects is often temporary.

Standing about while assembling all the kit may well drive a rare visitor away. I always sit to set up the equipment behind the tripod and its carrier bag. Anything to avoid attracting attention out on the lake.

Birds are absolute masters at monitoring for danger. They have had countless millennia of attacks from humans and other predators to go by. A whole series of birds is responsible for providing warnings. Blackbirds are only the most obvious and loudest alarm systems. Many other birds have alarm calls which can pass unnoticed by the average person.

The picnic table is sloping but it is not my place to move it. Even if I could lift its considerable weight without injury. The lake owner described how some visitors drop litter. Which is not only appalling, antisocial behaviour but could easily hurt the wildlife. They might easily starve to death if they have a plastic bag, jar or bottle stuck over their heads! Or stuck down their throats! So take your litter home!

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