It's been wet today. It was raining (heavily) when I got up this morning, and it continued in more or less the same vein until early evening. The ground is sodden, and there is some localized flooding in lower lying land. Falmer pond is at the highest I've ever seen it. 
The light was inevitably on the dark side of poor. I'd taken my 200m f/2.8 lens with me today, specifically to take advantage of its better low light capabilities. Even so, I was shooting at ISO 3200 for most of the time (the final shot in the following sequence is at an only slightly more respectable ISO 2500). It was worth the effort, even though I remained sheltered in the car for the whole time, avoiding close to torrential rain. These cormorants didn't mind it though. There's three in this shot, but a fourth was swimming lazily at the far end of the pond.
Here's one that came in a bit closer.
And one surveying the scene from a handy rock.
Astonishingly, the forecast for Friday is good, very good. The rain returns on Saturday and after that it is a bit of a mixed bag. Little chance of a white Christmas though.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM.
gdare
21 Dec 2012ISO 3200 :faint: Were the photos too grainy in a full size?
SittingFox
21 Dec 2012If it was -10c, the snow would be over the tops of the houses by now!
Nice series. Cormorants will have a lot more habitat if this continues.
Wulpen
21 Dec 2012Nice and a view how It must be In the coming years….
Words
22 Dec 2012Adele, I presume this year really will go down as the wettest on record (though I suspect Autumn 2000 had a higher average rainfall). The cormorants are certainly not complaining.
Words
22 Dec 2012Darko, they're grainy but not too bad to be honest. I was careful not to underexpose (which makes the grain worse), and was reasonably pleased with the results. Good light is always better, but it is surprising how tolerant the technology is these days. The main impact is the need to take a bit more are with the shot.
Words
22 Dec 2012Erwin, we do seem to have had heavier rainfall in the past few years, but I do suspect it is cyclical. A big part of the problem is that so much land has been built over in flood plains. There's simply nowhere for the water to go.