Holy Island gave us Red-throated Divers, Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes, Long-tailed Ducks, pale and dark-bellied Brent Geese, a Merlin and a Rock Pipit right under our noses. A sunny Sunday brought fine views of Purple Sandpipers, a posing male Red-breasted Merganser, rafts of Common Scoter close in and a wader fest in Budle Bay including thousands of Golden Plovers, shining in the bright sunshine.