A Lesser Grey Day

I set off up the A1 this morning with clear blue sky, I was just south of Alnwick when day turned to night and then everything turned white.  The snow was so heavy that I nearly turned around and headed back south to get back to the clear blue sky.  However, I decided against it and the shower passed, although it did leave the country roads a bit treacherous.  It was well worth the journey to watch the Lesser Grey Shrike in the Snow.

After watching the Shrike for a bit, I began to lose the feeling in my extremities, so I decided to drive up to Stag Rock.  The sea was very rough and difficult to watch birds on.  There were still a couple of Velvet Scoter mixed in with the various flocks of Common Scoter, one of the flocks also held 5 or 6 Mergansers and I also counted 25 Long-Tailed Ducks.  The only Divers I could find were 2 Red-Throated Divers.  No Grebes or other Divers were seen, but not surprising as the sea was very rough.