The usually quiet month of July was spiced up by a female Merlin yesterday - the first of the ornithological autumn! Today, there were 75 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Avocets (2 adults and 1 juvenile), 8 Oystercatchers (including 2 broods of young, 1 & 2), 4 Teal, 3 Wigeon, 11 Tufted Ducks, 260 Black-headed Gulls & 1 Common Gull visible around Rainford's Lagoon, the most extensive sheet of water around in these times of drought.