The North Westerly gales made for a very poor weekend birding wise, there was no up channel passage on the sea and not much in the way of incoming migrants. On and around the reserve there was no change as the drake Smew, Black-necked Grebe, 4 Cattle Egrets, at least 3 Great White Egrets and the 2 Whooper Swans were all still present.

 Ruff from Makepiece at dusk

What time I did spend in the field was in the hides on the reserve scrutinising the Gulls and failing miserably to find any interesting birds, apart from at least 8 Great Black-backed Gulls sporting Darvic rings, of which 4 were Norwegian, 3 from Normandy and Portland harbour bird, also 3 NTRG Herring Gulls.