A Ferry Wet Day

Having got soaked on Saturday morning following my trip to Yarwell, I dried out on the NVR train down to Ferry Meadows Country Park to continue with my photography.  Ferry Meadows is an ideal place to practise taking pictures; there is plenty of wildlife that can be observed close up, some fantastic landscapes, boats on the River Nene and watersports on Gunwade Lake, plus trains running through the park on the NVR to add to the variety of subjects.  What more could you possibly ask for?  Well, five minutes of dry weather would be nice, but you can’t have everything.

I left the train and strolled down to Overton Lake, where the local wildfowl was, as usual, hanging around outside the café waiting for visitors to throw some enticing titbits to them.  Swans, Canada Geese, ducks and moorhens are the most popular birds around these parts, all vying to get their beaks into scraps of bread or left over caramel slices.  This presented a number of photo opportunities for some close up portrait work and action shots as various birds landed in the water of the lake.

With a train due on the Nene Valley, I moved to Lynch Bridge for a different style of action photography, as D306 Atlantic Conveyor trundled by with a Peterborough – Wansford service.  Trains slow down to cross the bridge, affording good opportunities to line up a nice shot.

Then I was off to have a go at using zoom and filters on Gunwade Lake, where a flotilla of sailing dinghies were out.  At least these people didn’t seem to mind getting caught in the frequent showers, particularly one man who spent more time in the water beside his capsized craft than actually sailing it.

Further walking took me to the pretty stone arched Milton Ferry Bridge across the Nene at the north end of the park, where I turned to make my way along the river to Yacht Club level crossing, arriving just in time to get caught by yet another downpour.  I stayed put as the train could be heard leaving Ferry Meadows station, and managed to get a decent picture of sorts as it accelerated past me and headed for Orton Mere.  That was my day pretty much done, so I walked down to Orton myself in order to catch the return train to Wansford.  There was time for a chat with Old Arkwright and Nathan at Orton Station, before taking the train back to Wansford and heading for home.

Overall it was an interesting day, and the unpredictable and ever changing weather conditions presented a good range of conditions to try out the camera and see what it could do.  I’m due back at Ferry next week for another shoot, so here’s hoping for a day without having to resort to the plastic mac again!