[kennethw]

I find 300mm too short, for birding and wildlife, unless your subject tolerates people such as mute swans or the garden robin, you have to get close to your subject, which in most cases flies off by the time you are close enough to get a decent shot. 400mm at least, pref. 500. I'm looking at spending around £1k, maybe second hand, canon, maybe Sigma, studying others opinions online as while some like the Sigma, one person said the best thing that happened to his Sigma was its theft

For real credit crunch photography, some, like myself are turning to older MF lenses such as Carl Zeiss, with a sutiable adapter to fit modern DSLR bodies. OK, you sacrifice AF and IS and your subject has to be slow moving or predictable, but you can get a lot of glass for little money - Yashica 135mm prime, cleaning marks to rear lens £1.20, Vivitar 135 prime 99p from that online auction site, ps I do more than wildlife photography so realise this focal length is again restricted to obliging subjects