The Smew is still spending most of its time hanging around the railway bridge that splits Holes Bay north and south often in the company of a few Goldeneye and Red-breasted Merganser. Also in Holes Bay today were 278 Avocet, 2 Spoonbill, 1 Common Sandpiper and good numbers of common waders. A Red-necked Grebe was off South/Middle Beach yesterday afternoon.

Thanks Ian Ballam for this photo of a colour-ringed Avocet from Holes Bay recently. The information has come back from the original scheme stating this bird was ringed as a chick in Suffolk in 2011, and this is actually its second appearance in Holes Bay in consecutive winters.