Mon 6th May 19

Pete Loud started today on the track from the humpback bridge and again had 2 Wheatears and a Fieldfare on the set-aside, 2 pairs of Tufted Duck on the brook and 2 Cuckoo's.

Ian Minton, Matt Lonsdale and myself worked our way through the site but things were very quiet, lots of birds carrying food so it looks like they may be busy. Quite a few Blackcaps and Less. Whitethroats singing + a couple of Chiffchaff's. A single summer plumage Dunlin was on the scrape below the raised platform. The mounds area held the male Stonechat along with several Whitethroats and a Cetti's Warbler, 4 Swallow, 3 House Martin were along the brook.

From the hide :- 2 Canada Geese, 16 Shelduck, 10 Teal, 2 Gadwall, 1 Shoveler, 6 Avocet, 6 Lapwing, 5 Dunlin (dropped in mid morning) 4 BlkWit's, 4 Redshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron, 6 House Martins, 1 Sand Martin, 2 Whimbrel, Blk-headed, Herring Gulls (2 colour ringed), 3 LBB, 2 GBB, 1 Med Gull, Sedge & Reed Warblers. PRD/PL/IM/TS/JH/ML/MR

A walk to the Frinton end of the site gave brilliant news, when sightings at the reed bed by Golf Course confirmed Bearded Tits breeding there when a male flew in carrying food, closely followed by the female exiting. PRD/PL/ML. Fingers crossed on that one, we will have to keep a close eye on that area for a little while.
On the walk back 2 Common Sandpipers were on the seawall rocks