After the run of South Africa posts so far this year, I am going to briefly break the series and share some images from my favourite local spot. Lake Okareka is only a few minutes up the road and within 15 minutes of leaving home I can be comfortably settled in the reeds at the lake margin enjoying the peace, birds and light. Autumn is my favourite time in New Zealand with lovely settled weather and warm light. The dramatic autumn foliage colours make it a great time for landscape photos too.

Due to recent marathon training taking up big chunks of free time I hadn’t been up to Okareka for a while so really enjoyed my trip last weekend. Big flocks of Canada Geese were floating serenely on the smooth water with occasional pairs of Grey Teal coming in, a White-faced Heron hunting the margins and a Starling who came to bathe just in front of me was a bonus. The light is nice for about an hour but stunning for 5-10minutes so it is always a hope that someone will do something interesting in the right place at the right time. As the sun sets behind you the light on the hills is reflected in the smooth water creating lovely backgrounds. The water loses the light first so you can often get shots of birds in the last light or shade while there is still bright reflected light from behind which creates an interesting appearance as seen in the last 2 heron photos.

More from the Vulture Hide next week.