I am not really sure if this works or not. The colour in the water comes from reflections from a nearby stone wall with lichen on it. I always find the exposure very hard to get right.
Canon 5D Mk 111.
Canon 500mm
Hide and tripod.
1/250 sec
iso 1600
f/ 6.3
-1 full stop down exp comp. Cropped slightly in Lightroom and a few bright water spots removed.
It certainly works for me! I think your exposure is spot-on (you might lower the highlights a tad to get a litlle more definition from the white breast). Normally I'm not too fond of man-made elements in a nature shot, but in this case the rusty color of the steel clamp matches that of the bird perfectly so I absolutely love it! I'd take away a little space on the bottom & left so the bird is less centred.
It's a lovely shot, and the colours work well for me. I've no problem with the perch either - very rustic! There is something not quite right with the dipper though, have you possibly oversharpened a bit?
That shouldn't detract from the overall shot though - deifintely one of the better dipper shots I've seen recently
It looks pretty good to me! I would consider losing some reflection in a 3:2 composition just to see what it looks like s I think there is quite a bit of empty space on the right - but a good shot!