Sometimes there appear to be saltires in the sky which would be appropriate for St Andrew’s Day today.  The only “St Andrew’s flag” that I found was a very feint one in the sky which is just discernible in the distance.  There were several people with dogs enjoying the mild day around the boating pond at Levenhall.  Nearby are old ash Musselburgh Lagoons which had been converted into scrapes for birds.  Recently the lagoon nearest to the river has recently been made into a large reserve for roosting waders with pools, islands and a moat and five new bird hides.  Today there were dozens of noisy wigeon and oyster catchers, lapwings, at least 19 swans and many other birds and apparently 41 different birds were seen in the area yesterday.