wow thanks for all that. i've looked in stellarium and tried some of the summer months, but most of the nebula you mention will be too low for me entirely i think, but i will carry on in hope
I'd ruled out whale galaxy as too small, but might have another look in stellarium and my gear's fov. m101 and m51 i've taken some time on but not enough. i guess i can fall back on those to add more exposure time. i've gotten about 2 hours on trio in leo and will add more. unlike m101 and m51 it seems a bit trickier to post process.
I had assumed narrowband targets to be a waste of time with my stock dslr, but i had an ok result after 40mins on rosette nebula some timeback. the NA nebula is top of my list but it also seems too low. will keep checking it though. also, i tried iris nebula test a while back but could also give that ago.
Don't like clusters I'd really like to get rho ophiuchus but again that seems too low.
definitely enough to keep me occupied until m31 gets a bit higher
3.5 hours on bodes & cigar over 2 sessions and im reasonably happy with what i got. at least considering my gear.