You may have read that yesterday I went out to the River Teign to look for a good place to photograph Dipper. It went well and I found a good spot where not only was there a resident Dipper, but a good place to put a hide to get some photos. I haven't taken good photos of Dippers before, well I haven't really applied myself up until now.  Today was a pretty miserable affair with, if not actual rain, a real threat of it. It seems that in other parts of Devon we must  have had some heavy showers because when I got to the river, areas that were dry yesterday, were now under a raging torrent. I had to seriously re-think my plans but carried on down the river to the place that I had seen a bird yesterday. When I rounded the bend there he was, in exactly the same place as yesterday!  My hopes of success were high.  It was a struggle getting there though  and I tried hard not to fall in the fast flowing water, that would have put an end to the photo session…….. well it would have put an end to me as well, and I didn't want to succumb before I had taken the photos!  I have to say that some things do get more difficult as you get older, like actually getting your legs to work for example. Anyway, I made it to a likely spot to "pitch camp" and I had a good plan. I sat myself down on the wet ground and tucked myself amongst the roots of a massive tree. I covered myself with the camouflage netting and disguised myself even more by wrapping a camouflage face veil around my head as well.  It was quite cosy, I wasn't cold and the noise from the waterfalls was hypnotic. It was about as wild an experience that you could get here in the UK and I was loving it.  All I needed now was a Dipper but that didn't seem to matter really because it was so pretty, tranquil and quiet apart from the water noise of course.  As usual, I wasn't expecting my camouflage to work, I don't know why I have such little faith because even before my backside was numb, there he was just 5 or 6 feet from me as if attracted by some kind of bird magnet!  Of all the rocks on the river Teign he had chosen the ones in front to  me……. how lucky was that?

I had the camera ready but it wasn't easy, it was dull, very dull but there was a brightness from the waterfalls. It was incredibly hard to get a good photo and it was made more difficult because I couldn't really check  the camera's review, that would have disturbed the bird.  Remember I am just lying there under a piece of netting!  I watched him for ages as well as taking pictures. It's the nearest I have been to a Dipper and he was a great bird. They seem to have almost scalloped edges to every feather and they are very attractive.  My dad was a real lover of this species, we used to see them in the Peak District of Derbyshire when I was a boy so they are very special to me.  This Dipper was so content and oblivious to me that at one point he rested for a while on one leg. Eventually my camera fiddling disturbed him and when I looked back through the viewfinder, he had gone! I did laugh to myself, in that kind of smug way that satisfaction brings. When I was a younger man, in fact right up to the age of 49 I had played football and occasional Rugby. When you score a goal you jump around with excitement, you know that in spite of your opponents trying to stop you, you were still good enough to achieve your aim. I got that same kind of feeling this evening. In spite of this wild bird's wary nature, caused by it's self preservation instinct, I was still able to outwit it and get some good photos. It can't get better than this at my stage of life. I  am on a mission to get the very best photographs that I can and it's going well.  Whenever I try to do something I want to do it to the best of my ability.

So back home I sorted through the photos and I was disappointed that only a tiny proportion of what I had taken were actually worth saving. That's how hard the conditions were tonight.