My mate Lynzwee  (Lindsay to his Aussie mates) from Singapore. (see his Flickr site for great images),  dropped me a note and said, be down your way, and how about going to the WTP.  Now, its probably common knowledge that we don’t need much of an invite, so we fixed a day in his travel plans and waited.

But the weather turned particularly nasty.   Lots of squalls, and incessant rain. Overcast as.  And not so great for photography. But give Linds his dues,  the text Message arrived, “On train to Werribee, see you soon”. So we grabbed all the wet weather gear.   Drizabone, we love you.

Great to see him again, and chat about things, and to my surprise he’d packed a “Black Rapid” camera strap. These are the Rolls Royce of camera straps, and I was very pleased indeed to attach it to the 300mm and get use out of it right away.

Try however as we might with the rain pitching down in what can only be described  as “Biblical Proportions”,  we sloshed along the road to see what was findable. Needless to say not much.  Catch of the day goes to EE (again!) for a very dejected looking Spotted Harrier hiding behind a bush from the wind.  Not the rain, as it was going through everything.   So, See bird. Stop car- without hitting anything, (cryptic joke for those who follow along), and by the time I was able to find the bird in the viewfinder, Lindsay already had 15 shots off and EE was not far behind.  I just got the lens poked past both their heads, and Spotty took to the air.

Further on, we found a couple of Black-shouldered Kites, in a state of drenchedness.  “drookit” I am reliably informed is the Scottish word that best describes the condition.  At first it was thought they were a pair, but on closer inspection one had decidedly ginger brown colours on head and chest, and would almost certainly be a juvenile.

Onwards, the intrepid party sloshed.  Most waders were way out on the edge of the tide, and not seeming to notice the rain. Given off course, we had to get out of nice warm car and walk out 100m or more, we moved on.  Then it was a Swamp Harrier on a post.  I lay claim to  having spotted it first, but really in the rain, no one cared.  It was on my side of the car, so I got a couple of frames off before it too headed into the downpour.
We also located about 8 or more Ruddy Turnstones on  the road up to The Borrow Pits. And then to make Lindsay happy a pair of Whistling Kites meandered past in between showers.

With skies ‘Lowering” by the minute it was obvious, well, it seemed that way, that those dark clouds portended more biblical rain, and we took an early mark and off to the Highway Lounge to dry out, grab a bite to eat, and do what photographers do best in this situation. Talk.

Lindsay was soon on the train and we were soon home to look at the images of the day.