Golden Plover #61

It proved to be a case of wrong place, wrong time today. 
As many of you will know, I am a fair-weather birder, so when we woke up and it was still raining again, we took our time with breakfast and decided against going to Lindisfarne as it was also the weekend and we thought it would be busier than normal. Bad mistake - there were over a dozen rare/unusual birds seen on the island during the day and by the time we realised this, the tide was right in and we could not cross. 
So, we went in the drizzle to Budle Bay and did some birding from the comfort of the car instead. The tide was going out quickly uncovering the mud for the waders and soon there was plenty to see - lots of ducks and gulls, plenty of redshanks, curlew, the odd dunlin and this solitary golden plover that was probably the only bird within range of my camera. 
We then moved on to Stag Rock near Bamburgh and watched gannets, eider ducks, more gulls, oystercatchers, turnstones and stonechats. As we walked up to the lighthouse in the drizzle, it started to rain more heavily so we came back home for some lunch. 

We watched the gymnastics with the intention of going out to see if there was any chance of a sunset at Bamburgh, but decided against it as it was still raining and the sky was just grey. 

Tomorrow's plan is to go to Lindisfarne for the day. Hopefully this time it won't rain and if it does, the castle will be open for us to shelter in. We still haven't managed to be there when it has been opened in the past few years.