Gold amongst the jewels.

Another day of poor weather meant mixing things up again but no lack of sightings. I started the day with a nice Common Snipe at the side of the road...

...and a Redshank in the same location about an hour later when I was heading off to get the guests.

A young Eider had caught a crab...

...while it's mother looked on.

The WT Eagle was almost impossible to see so we left that for later in the day. The Golden Plover were still by the road and they looked like gold amongst the jewels in the wet conditions.

Most people try to avoid the poor weather but it's always an exciting day. We were driving along with the window open and I heard the squeaking calls of an Otter so we stopped for a look and we got good views of two Otters on the shore! We headed off for Mountain Hare (four were seen) but the waders stole the show. A couple of young Redeshank were wandering about...

...and the Lapwing young are looking splendid.

The flowers are finally starting to come through in numbers - plenty of Water Avens...

...Fragrant Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid and Northern Marsh Orchid were seen.

Some of the Whinchat are feeding young now...

...while others appear to have not bothered yet.

A WT Eagle, Golden Eagle and a female Hen Harrier were seen at lunch and another three Otters were seen. A Ringed Plover was nice to see.

We had a good view of a Black Guillemot and cracking views of a WT Eagle right at the end of the day as it flew overhead before it circled around a bit further away.

On a post.

The weather was going to deteriorate through the day so we decided to mix things up a bit to get the best out of the day. We started off with the Adder while the first band of rain came through and managed to hit lucky and just as we were about to leave a Golden Eagle put in an appearance - result.

As we drove along we got a brief view of Spotted Flycatcher on a post, Wheatear on a post, a Snipe on a post and two Golden Plover that were not on a post.

We had  a round up of flowers along the way but while we were viewing some Pale Butterwort I picked up a couple of Otters that were fishing. We watched them head to land with a meal and managed to get decent views of them in the rain.

A view of the WT Eagle was nice and when we headed back down the road we found the two Otters a bit closer.

A Black Guillemot was well watched as it struggled to get it's catch down the hatch.

Despite the weather we still managed to get a view of the Wood Warbler and we finished the day with nice views of Twite.

The show must go on.

The ankle is well strapped and it will take some time to heal but the show must go on. Setting off on the tour we immediately put up a male Hen Harrier from the side of the road. It was carrying prey so it wasn't long before it dropped down again far enough from the road to not be disturbed again.

A furry heap of three otters were found at our next stop and they were not going to wake up while we watched!

Four Teal had been seen and a couple of RB Merg before we came across one of the many Common Sandpipers - the only time I could keep the camera still enough for a decent photo.

The WT Eagles were seen at the nest and Golden Eagle not long afterwards. One of the Oystercatchers has hatched it's eggs but the second pair are still sitting on three eggs.

I made the effort to take the camera into the wood to see if I could get another Wood Warbler shot - I managed a few shots but they are not the best.

The usual stuff was seen in the afternoon with the highlights being Whinchat, Raven and 3 more Golden Eagle.