Fabulous seawatch at Cley!

It's been a while since Brian and I have had a morning out together, but he's back from Germany, so a 7.30 meet-up was in order! With nothing special reported, we headed for Cley: first stop was Bishop's Hide, which gave distant views of a few Godwits and a Greenshank. We decided to give the centre hides a bash, but apart from a closer Greenshank there was little to see.

Now I'm a huge fan of seawatching (Brian less so!) but with a north-westerly blowing, my companion didn't need any encouragement. We were soon perched on the shingle, conveniently close to the very engaging Robin Chittenden, who kindly called out some interesting birds. Chief among these were a couple of Purple Sandpipers and - bizarrely - a drake Mandarin! Lots of Auks, Red-throated Divers, Common Scoters and Gannets giving close views. It was pretty chilly, so we adjourned for coffee and cheese scones. After a largely unproductive walk along the East Bank, we returned to the Coastguards for more of the same: this time I managed to catch a Grey Phalarope as it tazzed westwards!