Life through a new lens

My new lens arrived today to replace the well-worn Sigma 70-300 that had gone a tad soft to say the least... Well, the Canon prime or 100-400 zoom are firmly out of my budget so I have picked up a second hand Sigma 120-400 instead. Compared to the 70-300 it is a big lens and I daresay it will take some getting used to. Despite the poor weather conditions I was pleased with its performance on a brief outing today. I think that the image stabilisation function is going to be a real boon... it certainly managed to pick up some feather detail on this Blue Tit in the garden. So maybe, if the weather improves again, there might be some decent images on this blog in future?...

Down at Musselburgh, I pointed it out to sea and was pleased that this crop shows it can resolve some detail on these distant Long-tailed Ducks. I normally have more requirement to make record shots of distant birds than compose frame fillers, after all. While more reach would always be nice I think that I would struggle to go birding with a bigger lens - after all I don't want to leave my scope behind!

And its first use in anger... this yellowish-legged 4CY Herring Gull at the Esk mouth was just begging to be photographed.

This male Shoveler, in the sea with the Wigeon and Goldeneye at the Esk mouth was a year tick. I notice that the AF has not picked up the bird, but hopefully I'll improve?

Finally, this nice pair of Red-breasted Mergansers decided to pose for the new lens!