[John]

I have made a decision not to chase around Britain so much this year (the cost hit my pocket a bit last year). Since the start of the year I have stayed relatively local and was looking forward to doing a bit of photography at some of my local sites this weekend.

What a horrible weekend it's been. Most depressive. Dark as dusk, raining and at times hail, sleet and snow as well as being very misty all day long.

Yesterday I gave up after 3 hours, today I managed just over 4 before realising I was getting virtually nowhere.

Over the two days I have managed some half decent shots. A couple of Great Spotted Woddpecker and a Water Rail photo are in the gallery and today I managed some shots of a Brambling a Smew, Goldeneye and a Tufted Duck. None of them are much better than record shots but the pleasing aspect of one of the Brambling shots is that a feeder table at the Cannock Chase visitor centre in Marquis Drive was full of them At any given time there must have been over 40 of them on and around this table. Unfortunately this table is at the far end of the garden and is about 100-150 yards away. In these dark and dingy conditions getting anything more than a record shot was going to be impossible. Still I will show you some I managed.

The Smew and Goldeneye were about 300 yards away and I am surprised that I even managed to get a shot at all. There was a cracking male Scaup on this pool but it was even further away and I didn't even bother trying for it. Shame as I haven't even got a record shot of one of these ducks but this one was almost lost in the mist.