On a warm but overcast morning, 24 of us turned up for a very interesting walk at Pilning Wetlands. As soon as we got to the sea wall all the ‘scopes came out to view 80 Oystercatchers, 42 Curlew, 50 Redshank, Canada Geese, Shelduck, 60 Starling and 100’s of Black-headed Gulls amongst which one moulting Mediterranean Gull was spotted by a local patch watcher. Then excitement erupted when a Grey Heron flew up out of the water with a huge rat, and after a few minutes of struggle swallowed it whole. After 40 minutes or so at New Passage we made our way along the Pill where a few House and Sand Martins and at least 20 Swallows were feeding low over the water, and on to the ponds where again we saw a Cormorant, this time with what looked like an eel in its mouth, again swallowing it whole. Although the pools are very low with some sections completely dry, four Little Ringed Plovers including juveniles were identified along with a single Greenshank, Redshank, Common Sandpipers and three Dunlin. Ten distant Lapwings were picked out around the sheep fields and three Avocets flew over to the north, with four Swifts heading the other way. Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler were all feeding in the reeds by the last pool, and to top off our day a Marsh Harrier was seen flying towards the Severn Bridge. Thank you, Jane, for your ID knowledge and the walk, and thank you Alan for keeping the bird list with a total of 51 species. Caron Thornton-Trippit