Sitting in the back row.

I spent the second half of this morning's seawatch at Whitburn sitting in the back row after getting a drenching from the stiff south-easterly blowing the heavy rain through the window. The sea was wild, massive and whipped into foam, not making for easy viewing. The full results can be seen on Paul's Blog, but with the awful conditions many birds were only seen by one or two of the six of us. My biggest miss was the year tick Velvet Scoter, but I did pick up Great Crested Grebe, Little Auk, Bonxie, Great Northern Diver and Little Gull. Despite the cold and wet the crack was good, so three hours flew over.

At South Shields pier a few Purple Sandpiper were sheltering on the northern side, but were constantly disturbed by anglers. Just to the south of the pier were 2 Snow Bunting and 2 Ringed Plover, all very windswept.

Another dip of the Green-winged Teal at Boldon Flats. It was there, but is spending most of its time hidden from view. Next time!