It was a crisp November afternoon, today, on the 25th, at Pickerings Pasture. On the scrape, we saw two Little Egret and two Snipe, along with a Redshank and a couple of dozen Canada Geese. There were Wigeon on the Estuary and  a huge number of Lapwings and Golden Plover, on the field between Pickerings and Halegate Road. It was a lovely afternoon for a walk and some bird watching.

BTCV visited the Decoy, again, on Friday, 19th November, to cut back more vegetation There was a serious flooding problem, caused by a blockage in the one and only, small outlet drain, from the site. Along with some FoPP members they tackled the problem and got the water moving. It'll be several days before we know how successful we've been. We plan to repeat the exercise, next Friday, if necessary.

There has been lots of action and hard work going on at Hale Duck Decoy, in the last couple of weeks. On the 20th October, two members of the FoPP worked with a member of BTCV and 6 volunteers, clearing very over grown vegetation. On the 22nd of October, 7 members of the FoPP finished building a wood shelter, at the gamekeeper's cottage, cleared vegetation, in front of the pond hide, and painted the hide with, preservative, Ducks Back. BTCV returned on the 27th October, along with 15 volunteers and 3 members of the FoPP. More vegetation, along the pipes, was cleared and Gary, from the FoPP, built a table, for the seating area.

Visiting bird watchers, Derek and Majorie Belton, sent us a photograph of two Kingfishers, that they had watched, chasing each other around the scrape, at Pickerings Pasture, between 3 and 4pm, on the 11th October.

They had already contacted us about a Ruddy Shelduck, that they had observed, from the hide, on the marsh, on the 9th October.