With slightly warmer weather, though still a rather chilly easterly wind, a few migrants have started to appear. The first sand martins were seen last Saturday and a few chiffchaffs have started to sing around the reserve. A pipistrelle bat was seen this lunch-time near the new boardwalk and butterflies seen today include brimstone, peacock and small tortoiseshell. Winter visitors have mainly departed but the Greenland white-fronted geese will be with us for a few weeks yet and are now feeding mainly on the salt-marsh to the west of the Breakwater hide. A few pintail and wigeon are still feeding on the estuary and birds of prey are still causing the occasional panic amongst the wader flocks. Hen harrier, merlin, peregrine, red kite, buzzard and sparrowhawk are seen daily with an occasional glimpse of a goshawk over the woods surrounding the reserve.