A morning at Brandon and an afternoon at Marsh Lane.

As fine weather was forecast for Saturday I thought I'd make a day of it out with the camera.

I headed first of all to Brandon Marsh getting there at 8.00AM and I was soon engaged in a titanic battle with a Cetti's Warbler trying to get some shots.This took place along the main path near the Baldwin hide and went on for nearly half an hour with it taking the p*** out of yours truly the whole time.

It kept hiding deep in bushes most of the time and then darting out for a split second into the open calling out "Oy You.You can't get a shot of me".In the end I told it what I thought of it and stormed off.Here are the only shots I could manage but on the plus side I now have an excellent collection of twig shots.

I had a quick look in the East Marsh hide and was surprised to see only a couple of Crake watchers there.Our little friend was in the channel again but the scrub has grown so much now it's even harder to see.I soon left and decided to have a good walk round.

A couple of hours later having had a pleasant walk round I had had difficulty in pointing the camera at anything new.I did find an Egyptian Goose and a Sparrowhawk but that was about it.

I left Brandon after lunch and went across to Marsh Lane getting there at just after 2.00PM.I had received a text from Nic Barlow in the morning saying that a pair of Garganeys had been seen on the car park pool so I was hoping that they were still there.

The car park hide was empty when I entered it which was not a good sign but after a long search I located them a long way off right against the far bank.After an hours wait the miserable so and so's had not moved and as I was giving them a piece of my mind a Coot had a go at them and they flew towards me.

Unfortunately they landed at the back of one of the islands in front of the hide and even worse they stayed out of site and would not come out.What a miserable pair.After another hour I walked all the way to the river hide hoping that you could see the back of the island and see them but you couldn't.There was however a bit of luck by walking to this hide because I was a little nearer to the Pintail and for once it had the sun on it not behind it so I was able to get some decent shots for once.

Half an hour later the Garganeys came out the back of the island but instead of cruising around they took flight.They flew past the the front of the hide to land to the right near the causeway screens.I then dashed out the hide and ran the 150 metres to the causeway.Well I say ran for me these days it's more of an ungainly trot but when I got there I was gasping for breath,an unseen person was hitting my chest with a hammer and a fine red mist was in front of my eyes.Luckily when I recovered the Garganeys were still there and I managed to rattle of a few shots before they flew off again.