Some more unusual visitors to the reserve this week were a couple of Whooper Swans which stayed for the afternoon of the 31st. We also had the first sightings of some more autumnal species for the reserve, with volunteers spotting a Reed Bunting and 3 Redpolls. In other sightings near to the feeders there were 3 Greenfinch, 1 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 8 Goldfinch, 2 Chaffinch, 2 Great Tit,4 Blue Tit and 15 Long-tailed Tit. There have also been fantastic sightings of a Sparrowhawk hunting, and it has been spotted taking at least 3 Goldfinches recently. The Little Grebe is also still around, along with 3 Cormorant, 8 Grey Heron, 10 Mute Swans and 44 Greylag Geese. Wildfowl sightings have included 81 Shelduck, 100 Wigeon, 231 Teal, 24 Mallard and 105 Shoveler. Around the water’s edge there have also been 6 Moorhen, 3 Coot, 2 Grey Wagtail and 12 Snipe. The tide was low during opening hours this week, but despite that there were still some wading birds around on the mud, including 25 Oystercatcher, 167 Lapwing, 1 Dunlin, 10 Black-tailed Godwit, 3 Bar-tailed Godwit, 23 Curlew and 18 Redshank. Finally, there were also sightings of 18 Black-headed Gull, 2 Common Gull, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1 Greater Black-backed Gull and 28 Herring Gull.