Water levels have not gone down very much yet and there are still some seals in the old cow pasture.   Parts are still inaccessible, some fencing is down and all the orchid and toad breeding areas are under saltwater.   At least the march of buckthorn will have been checked for some time.   Birds today were 700 Brent Geese, 70 Teal, 17 Mallard, 2 Goldeneyes, 3 Common Scoters, 4 Wigeon, 9 Cormorants, 5 Red-throated Divers, 55 Dunlin, 230 Sanderlings, 14 Oystercatchers, 30 Curlews, 6 Redshanks, 48 Golden Plovers, 45 Lapwings, Common Snipe, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, 3 Lapland Buntings, Song Thrush, 20 Goldfinches and a Little Egret.

5th

A seawatch following high tide this morning produced 9 Red-throated Divers, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 22 Cormorants, a Little Auk, an auk sp., 45 Common Scoters and a Scaup.   Onshore were 140 Sanderlings, 3 Dunlin, 23 Oystercatchers, 104 Curlews, 86 Bar-tailed Godwits, 12 Knot and 2 Grey Plovers.   On the landward side were 2 tundra Bean Geese, 5 Pink-footed Geese, 9 Teal, 25 Twite and 100 Lapwings