The weather was quite good for late October. It was deceptively warm in the car park but people soon reached for their gloves once we got on the sea wall and felt the chilly wind - but a gentle walk in the morning sunshine soon warmed us up! There were plenty of waders about in quite large numbers - Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Golden Plover, Lapwing and Dunlin in abundance, and some Ringed Plover, Curlew, Ruff and Avocet. We also found a Little Stint scurrying about between the feet of the bigger waders. Other birds in or around the water included Shelduck, Shoveller, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Heron, Little Egret and Cormorant. Amongst the reeds we heard a few Cetti's Warblers, some of us saw Bearded Tits, and there were plenty of Stonechats about - we also spotted a few Fieldfare. We thought we had a Buzzard but it was a long way off and not confirmed, but we did see Marsh Harrier and Kestrel.

Other animal "spots" were some Seals in the distance, a Marsh Frog hopped across our path, and one or two people caught a glimse of a Water Vole.

After lunch, some of us decided to go to Reculver where there had been reports of a Great Grey Shrike and a Dusky Warbler. When we got there, the Shrike had long gone, but the Dusky Warbler was still there. After quite a bit of waiting and watching along an overgrown footpath, one or two of us caught brief sightings of it, but it was very elusive - some hardened "twitchers" had been there for several hours and had still not seen it!

Photograph is of the group scanning the estuary for some VERY distant Brent Geese.