"You don't look like the photo on your passport sir" said the female immigration official at Shanghai airport as I arrived blury eyed and tired from the overnight flight. So after about 15 minutes of questioning I was allowed to pass and enter Shnghai, China. I was met by Zhang Lin from Shanghai Birds who was joining me for a part of the Wader surveys I was taking part in which was the sole purpose of this visit. As we drove through Shanghai I was pretty amazed at how built up it is and the above photo shows you a typical skyline throughout the city.
Why is it that nearly every where you go in the world the big yellow M is ever present and the photo below shows you the indicator board at Shanghai Train Station, "now which train was it ?"
After a few hours we stopped for lunch but I really didnt fancy the fish, see photo below.
After a few hours we reached our destination of the town of Yangkou. This is quite a busy fishing port and is nestled just in from the Yangkou estuary. On first impressions it reminded me of an oriental version Killybegs but maybe more full on with fishing boats coming in from all over China and North Korea. Also fish stalls selling a wide range of catch and local women making new and repairing old fishing nets streetside, see photos below. 
Photo above shows a local woman chasing me down the road trying to sell me this fish and the photo below was my first view of the Yangkou estuary where I am to be based.
We walked out on to the mud and I was told that Zhang Lin would only be present for this and the next tide as he would be returning back to Shanghai and so I had to learn this part of the estuary and how it works with the incoming tides and how not to get caught out by the deep channels that fill up fast behind me whilst I would be out on the tideline.
Photo above and below shows Red necked Stints that were present on the falling tide, whilst Zhang Lin and myself split and searched different area's I managed to pick up a Nordmans Greenshank and called Zhang over and he was also able to see this bird but there were not many birds present as the tide had retreated quite away when we arrived and was going out at a fast rate whilst we were present.
Photo below shows a colour ringed Dunlin and this bird was originally trapped and ringed at Chong Ming Island, National nature reserve, China. After this I was pretty tired and after checking in at the hotel, taking a shower and grabbing some food it was time for some sleep as I had to be up at 4 the following morning to be on site for a 05:30hrs tide.
