yes, £500 wont buy you an entry DSLR and a good lens. for long lens photography, if you are lucky you could just scrape a used sigma or like for £500ish, but that's without counting the body.
i can vouch for bridge cameras, they give you a fair focal range, usually around 300-400mm at the top end, and down to good wide angle.
i use my fujifilm S9600 for macro mostly, sometimes with a raynox DCR 250 to increase it to 1:1 and closer, but i have had a few good shots with it bare. (first 2 taken with just camera, second 2 with raynox)
