A breezy old day on the reserve today, with winds gusting to F6 at the very least. Still, plenty about to keep the few visitors who braved the conditions happy. On the way down to the hide, a group of brent geese had all 4 of the pale-bellied birds, as well as 7 white-fronts - the first I've seen around the reserve since last weekend. There was also a further 200 or so brents down in their favoured area behind Swale hide. The high tide wader roost was just starting to gather as I was heading back for lunch and there were already at least a thousand dunlin on the islands at Wellmarsh hide. The tide tomorrow will be at about 2pm and if the weather forecast is accurate, the wind ought to push a decent number of waders onto the Flood again. Another good day for raptors too, with at least 2 merlin hunting around the Flood + a peregrine and a ring-tail hen harrier all spooking the large flocks of wigeon and lapwing that are still found across the reserve.