The rescheduled walk at Oare Marshes attracted only four members, attendance being discouraged no doubt by the disruptive roadworks on the route and the biting north wind. The tide was low and few birds were on the mud near the causeway, just a handful of curlews and lapwings plus a ringed plover. The seawall though held a large flock of starling engaged in a feeding frenzy among the seaweed. A solitary wheatear bounced by jauntily and a single great crested grebe fed on the Swale. The creek held two shelducks while a greylag flew over, the only waterfowl seen during the walk. The wrecked boat afforded a roost to perhaps sixty redshanks but that sector otherwise offered little but some goldfinches and meadow pipits and the squeal of a water rail. Almost no birds could be seen on the East Flood until the hide allowed a view of a curlew sandpiper soon joined by two others. Despite hopes of a closer view the sandpipers could not be seen from the road though two dunlins offered opportunities for confusion between the two species. A final scan of the mud back at the causeway was productive only for the two sandwich terns that were feeding alone the Swale. The list of birds identified totalled 37.