A couple of weeks ago I posted about all the Ibis nesting at Tomato Lake and how it heralded the start of the breeding season for them. Well this week the Black Swans at lake Claremont were building nests and pairing off and spring is just round the corner. It was an uninspiring morning, the rain was bucketing down and the usually frenetic Welcome Swallows looked unimpressed.

 

A bit further on amongst the reeds the swans were busy in spite of the inclement weather.

Elsewhere on the lake things were much more advanced  with the Shelducks as there were several mothers escorting very young ducklings out on the water.

I was a bit apprehensive about walking in the rain. My usual camera – an Olympus OMD EM1 mk ii and its Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f4-6.3 – are incredibly resistant to rain fall, but this time I was out with my Sony A7r2 and the Sigma 150-600mm whose weather sealing leaves a bit to be desired. Thankfully the combination worked flawlessly and lived to tell the tale. It was, however, its last outing. I’ve developed quite bad arthritis in my right hand, elbow, and shoulder and find the larger full frame cameras too much to handle so I’m going to put it all up for sale. Getting older really sucks sometimes.