9th-10th January

The best weather of the year so far with no wind and just occasional light showers for a change. There was no sign of the Short-billed Dowitcher at the north end on 9th but it was tracked down to the links the next morning where it was the sole wader roosting among the feeding Wigeon and Teal on sandsheen-slightly odd but perhaps that's where its been hiding out? A pair of Shelducks were also there and the drake Green-winged Teal at Gretchen, with other notable wildfowl counts being 14 Pintails and 13 Goldeneyes in the north on 9th and 41 Long-tailed Ducks off the links on 10th. The calm seas there enabled 10 Red-throated Divers to be logged off the same section of coastline while the Buzzard remains in the Holland area and the first Peregrine of the year flew over.