DUNES

I headed for the dunes this afternoon. There they are in the background. Two years ago, or less, they extended about another 30 yards beyond those crests before falling away onto the beach beyond and would be full of skylark and pipit nests and rabbit warrens, but now they've been eroded back to just below the other side of the crests. Another 30 yards and those crests will be gone and so will the shelter for this wetland and lots of pockets of great butterfly and insect habitat along the leeward side of the dunes.

That big flooded area was full of hundreds of birds today, making up for the frozen week they've just endured. There was real warmth in the sun there, out of any wind.