Dreary Donna and Beautiful Buteo......

Pye's Hall.

Sleeping Grey Seal pup.

An all day trip out with Dave today,saw us managing a few nice bits and bobs to brighten the wintery gloom.Our first port of call was a very cold and cloudy Donna Nook,were the most notable sighting went to a showy Black Brant along with its Dark-bellied relatives,feeding at fairly close range on the area of saltmarsh just west of Stonebridge car park.This particular bird is well marked with a very distinct collar which almost reaches at the hindneck and a striking white flank patch,a nice bird.Other sightings here consisted of 6 flyover Lapland and a single Snow Bunting.Mammal sightings obviously included the huge numbers of Grey Seals,with quite a good number of pups still present and a single Weasel seen in the dunes.After visiting Donna we made the short journey over to Withern and managed to connect with the Rlb,albeit briefly as i saw it perched on a nearby roadside hedgerow.This is my fourth bird for the year and the 3rd in the autumn/winter period.The only other sighting of note was a Red Kite seen just south of Louth Tip.Not a bad day despite the gloomy conditions.