The autumn theme of weather-affected walks continued with a vengeance for the ten members who assembled at East Head. The threatened showers largely failed to materialised and the morning was bright but gales were howling in from the south-west. The initial route took advantage of the shelter afforded by the dunes. On the salt marsh small groups of Brent Geese were assembled with Lapwings dotted among them. Among them were also the odd Curlew and Redshank. Small birds were few and far between but eventually a small flock of Meadow Pipits was seen foraging among the grass, a Reed Bunting perched and a pair of Stonechats landed ahead on the path. At the inner harbour birds appeared in much greater numbers, the most obvious species being Oystercatchers scattered on every part of the shore. A flock of Dunlin flew to new feeding grounds and a Little Egret followed them. A few more Grey Plovers appeared and among them a single Golden Plover was identified. Out on the water a Great Crested Grebe and a Cormorant were diving while on the shore two Sanderlings shone beautifully in the sun. A distant Sandwich Tern was also spotted patrolling distantly. To avoid walking head on into the wind along the beach the decision was taken to retrace steps to the car park; for the most part the shelter of the dunes held up but at points unpleasant sandblasting could not be avoided. After lunch the walk continued along the path on the east side of the marsh towards the wetlands. Early sightings included two Ravens, some Rooks, two Shelducks, a Little Grebe and, as the channels filled on the rising tide, some Black-tailed Godwits and a Turnstone. A large flock of over one hundred Golden Plovers settled on the sand for a while before departing. The more distant ponds held a substantial number of Wigeon accompanied by several dozen Teal and a few Mallards plus some Common Gulls and one Mediterranean Gull but the star attractions were twenty Avocets sweeping the water. On a testing day species seen totalled a satisfactory 38.