This one was a proper lastminute.com mission. The film I was working on for the week fell apart, so on a grim, misty Friday morning I decided to go and see what all the fuss was about with a very rare bird sighting just five or six miles from my house here in Montgomeryshire, Mid Wales. I’m not really into chasing rarities—mainly because it usually turns into rugby scrums—but with the initial rush dying down, I thought I’d chance it. Turns out, I’m so glad I did… the bird was still there, out in a cattle field, and I managed to get some belting images despite the weather. I took the Nikon setup I trust for this sort of job (the big 500mm prime and a 1.4 extender), plus the iFootage TC9 and a proper video head to grab some footage. The location was absolutely horrendous—wedged in a noisy roadside ditch, soaked through, trying to stay low and discreet—but the stork kept feeding in the mud among the cattle and gave me exactly the kind of behaviour shots I love: worms flicked up and caught mid-air, plus some cracking compositions with the black-and-white cattle. I also chat through a pair of Nature Ray Scenic Pro ED 8x42 binoculars that have seriously impressed me for the money, and I share my usual reminder: use your car as a hide whenever you can.