Cemex cut new track on Manor Farm next to culvert. 28th October 2017

Cemex have been working busily on Manor Farm around the culvert at the Longwater road entrance.  The big changes include moving the concrete b cubes, clearing the site and cutting a new track along the shore of Finch pond.  It is possible they were working on all the week before, but because I didn't nip over the gate I was oblivious of any changes.  I was feeling a bit apathetic, which I put down to my flu.

The pump is still pumping away, and water levels in all the pond on Manor Farm are noticeably lower; a process hastened by little rainfall in the south.

Cemex appear to have stopped work on Fleet Hill farm for the time being.

On a more boring note. I was a little distracted this week, as I was testing out the capabilities of a camera lens. Having hummed and hawed and agonised and read numerous reviews, I finally bought a second hand zoom lens for my second hand Canon Rebel XTi. It became painfully obvious to me that the Canon was taking far more detailed photos than my Panasonic Bridge Camer. Not surprising, really.

I eventually got a Tamron 16-300mm VC thingy.  It's got too many letters to fash about. The VC means vibration compensation, and it is worth every penny of the extra I spent on the lens. I was going to buy a Sigma 70-300mm DG lens, which at £95 new was a third the price of the second hand Tamron.  However, the Sigma didn't have optical stabilisation, and it (along with the equivalent Tamron) produced soft image at anything over 200mm.  Not good, seeing as I would spend most of my time at 300mm.

I need to learn how to use the beastie with the Canon, but so far (once I realised I needed to increase the EV by one notch) it has exceeded my expectations.  There's a certain crispness about the photos. 

The downside is that the four batteries that came with the Canon were in very poor condition. Only one worked properly, but even that struggles to power the Canon and the Tamron. Halfway around my walk it packed up.  I had to switch to the Panasonic.

I would say, though, that the weight of the camera and lens comes to about 2 lbs or roughly 1 Kg in weight.  No way can I carry that around my neck for one and a half hours.  It went on the monopod, and I carried around.  My bridge camera feels as light as a feather in comparison to the DSLR.