No luck with two local trips.

Thought I was on a banker Friday morning when I headed to Shustoke Res. to see the Slavonian Grebe that lots of friends had got great shots of earlier in the week.Unfortunately after a walk round the reservoir twice it was reported as "Elusive".This really means it might be still there but no one has seen it for ages.

I wasn't too worried as I'd been lucky enough to see the one in a fishing pond at Grimley a year or two ago.

The visit was not all a waste of time because I learned yet another skill : how to drop your camera without realising it.I use a sling strap over one shoulder to carry my camera and telephoto lens which is very comfortable but when I was walking along the far side of the reservoir and looked down the camera had disappeared and all I was carrying was the lens. Bloody Hell !!!!!!!! Luckily I found it about 20m back on the grass right side up.What a berk !!!!

After the rain had stopped on Saturday morning I drove over to Brandon Marsh my plan being to head over to the west of the reserve to get some shots of the Redwings and Fieldfares that had been seen feeding on the berries there earlier in the week.After over an hour searching the berry trees I never saw one.In fact it was very quiet there and all I saw was a Kestrel which didn't play ball because it kept flying into the sun.

Two hours later having visited all the hides and not seen anything at all except for another Kestrel I headed home.The cafe was too crowded to get a cup of tea so I didn't see the pretty waitress.Poor day!!!