After a drab morning at Chew Valley Lake where the best I saw was a great crested grebe, several snipe, a jack snipe and a pair of distant marsh harriers I moved on to the nature reserve on the disused airfield at Weston-super-Mare.

I was hoping to see the penduline tits which I have never seen and which had been reported here recently. There was a fresh breeze and it was very cold but I was encouraged by the excellent light. However, for the first hour I only saw reed buntings and stonechats. My patience was well rewarded , however, when two penduline tits appeared and stayed around feeding on the bull rushes until I felt I could take no more photos.

I was quite excited by this addition to my life list but my exaltation was rather tempered by the fact that I tore my achilles tendon (which had been sore for some time) slopping around on the muddy path and limped back to my car in some pain.