Rain and gales

Just for a change today we had some more rain! Accompanying this was a ferocious wind (must remember to lay off the baked beans!). It rained for practically the whole morning which nowadays comes as no surprise, but the wind was bad all day. This afternoon this changed to severe heavy showers with very strong winds. Late afternoon saw me champing at the bit wanting to get out birding. So, I drove down to Orcombe Point in order to see if the wind had driven any seabirds into the bay. Answer - No! As I arrived a massive spell of heavy rain came down (what passes I think on the TV weather forecast as a 'shower'! I stayed in the car, doing my best to scan the waters with rain pouring down the windows. Eventually the 'shower' passed and I kitted up and marched swiftly out to the point. There was precious little movement out to sea, just a handful of Gannets touring up and down. I picked out 2 Red-throated Divers sat on the sea. A little later my hopes were rewarded with a fly-past Fulmar, my first for the year, and thus keeping up my quest for at least one year tick a day in January! I scanned to the west and realised there was another huge deluge on the way, so I briskly walked back to the car, spotting a Coal Tit in the hedgerow as I passed. I made it back to the car, packed my kit away and had hardly gone a few hundred yards when the heavens emptied again.........