Mainland Shetland - 9th and 10th October

I awoke to a still, foggy and drizzly morning and after grabbing some supplies I drove south and birded the Leebitten area. News broke of a Snowy Owl on Fetlar and I contemplated the logistics of getting there and whether I should go. I was very tempted but looking at the timetable for the ferries I realised it would be an all day event and so I decided to spend the day birding rather than chasing off in the car. I birded the area around Sand Lodge and the fields to the south. There were five Purple Sandpiper on the rocks adjacent to Sand Lodge and the strange sight of a Knot running around the farmyard here. There were large numbers of wader in the fields with at least 250 Golden Plover, 75 Turnstone, 125 Redshank and 35 Snipe. Scanning one flock of Snipe feeding in the fields a came across a Jack Snipe which was nice to see but a little too distant for photographs. Also here were around 75 Greylag Goose and nine Pink-footed Goose. Passerine migrants remained extremely thin on the ground, so thin in fact that I recorded precisely none! Even the trees and bushes of Sand Lodge were devoid of birds. Offshore, two Common Porpoise swam south and I spent some time scanning hoping for an Orca but with no luck. Back at the car I sheltered from the drizzle which had turned into light rain and I once again contemplated the logistics of getting to Fetlar for the owl. I decided against it and instead drove the short distance south to Sandwick and birded the gardens, fields and bay area here. I saw little but for a couple of Wheatear and I spent some time scanning the Golden Plover flocks for a 'Lesser' Golden Plover but with no luck. News broke of a Red-breasted Flycatcher showing well at North Town, Exnaboe and so I finished birding at Sandwick and headed the 20 minutes down the road. On arrival, the Red-breasted Flycatcher was showing very well feeding along a fence line and making regular sallies after flies. Also here was a male Blackcap, my first of the trip and a Goldcrest, only my third of the trip. I spent just over an hour with the Red-breasted Flycatcher, such smart little birds.

Purple Sandpiper - Leebitten, Mainland Shetland

Common Redshank - Leebitten, Mainland Shetland

Grey Seal - Leebitten, Mainland Shetland

Knot - Leebitten, Mainland Shetland

Common Porpoise - Mousa Sound, Mainland Shetland

Twite - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Twite - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Red-breasted Flycatcher - North Town, Exnaboe, Mainland Shetland

Red-breasted Flycatcher - North Town, Exnaboe, Mainland Shetland

Red-breasted Flycatcher - North Town, Exnaboe, Mainland Shetland

Red-breasted Flycatcher - North Town, Exnaboe, Mainland Shetland

I then headed down to the Sumburgh area and birded Pool of Virkie, Grutness and Grutness Voe. At Virkie there was the usual selection of common wader with 30 Dunlin being the best present and a Lesser Black-backed Gull which was my first of the trip. At Grutness Voe there were half a dozen very smart juvenile Sanderling, Ringed Plover and Turnstone. Out in the bay I picked up a flock of four male and five female Long-tailed Duck. On Grutness the only bird I recorded of any note was a single Wheatear. It was now 15:30 and I decided to head north a little and spend the last hour and a half or so birding Upperton and Netherton, the latter being one of my favourite spots on the island. But I saw little, a single Chiffchaff at Netherton was the highlight - remarkably this was only my second of the trip, a real reflection of how sparse common migrant passerines are on the islands currently. I headed back to the hotel for 18:00 pleased with the Red-breasted Flycatcher but somewhat regretting having not headed for Fetlar and the Snowy Owl.

Lesser Black-backed Gull - Pool of Virkie, Mainland Shetland

Long-tailed Duck - Grutness Voe, Mainland Shetland

Long-tailed Duck - Grutness Voe, Mainland Shetland

Ringed Plover - Grutness Voe, Mainland Shetland

Turnstone - Grutness Voe, Mainland Shetland

Sanderling - Grutness Voe, Mainland Shetland

Sanderling - Grutness Voe, Mainland Shetland

Sanderling - Grutness Voe, Mainland Shetland

The 10th October was my return home, my flight was at 09:25 from Sumburgh to Edinburgh and then onto London Heathrow and so I needed to check in at 08:25. Leaving the hotel at 07:30 I drove through thick fog until I reached the Levenwick area when remarkably I emerged from the fog into sunshine. I birded a little around the Pool of Virkie and Gutness Voe picking up the same Long-tailed Duck flock from yesterday and 12 Sanderling. I headed to the airport, dropped off my hire car and headed for my flight to London Heathrow via Edinburgh. All flights departed more or less on time and I landed at Heathrow at 13:35. I drove straight to Lymington to collect Tobias from school and had 45 minutes of spare time to have a wander out to Fishtail Lagoon where a handful of Teal, Wigeon and Dunlin plus an adult Mediterranean Gull and a Spotted Redshank were the only birds present.

View of the fog-bank over Shetland from main road just before Levenwick

Trip List (British ticks in bold)
Willow Grouse
Mute Swan
Whooper Swan
Greylag Goose
Pink-footed Goose
Long-tailed Duck
Common Eider
Red-breasted Merganser
Tufted Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
Mallard
Common Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Rock Dove
Common Woodpigeon
European Turtle-dove
Eurasian Collared-dove
Common Moorhen
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Northern Fulmar
Grey Heron
Northern Gannet
European Shag
Great Cormorant
Eurasian Oystercatcher
Eurasian Golden Plover
American Golden Plover
Common Ringed Plover
Northern Lapwing
Eurasian Curlew
Bar-tailed Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Ruff
Sanderling
Dunlin
Purple Sandpiper
Common Snipe
Common Redshank
Black-legged Kittiwake
Black-headed Gull
Mew Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
European Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Arctic Tern
Great Skua
Black Guillemot
Razorbill
Merlin
Common Raven
Carrion Crow
Eurasian Skylark
Melodious Warbler
Blyth’s Reed-warbler
Marsh Warbler
Barn Swallow
Yellow-browed Warbler
Willow Warbler
Common Chiffchaff
Eurasian Blackcap
Barred Warbler
Northern Wren
Common Starling
Redwing
Eurasian Blackbird
European Robin
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Whinchat
Goldcrest
House Sparrow
Pechora Pipit
Meadow Pipit
Rock Pipit
Grey Wagtail
Citrine Wagtail
White Wagtail
Brambling
Common Rosefinch
Twite
Redpoll
Eurasian Siskin
Reed Bunting

Shetland Mainland - 3rd October

The morning dawned still and fairly sunny, such a change to yesterday, I headed south from Lerwick and spent much of the morning birding the Leebitten and Sandwick area. It was great to be out birding on Shetland but there was not a lot about. From Leebitten I walked out along the eastern coastline to Pund and then west to Sandwick where I spent some time birding the harbour and then back via Park Lee to Leebitten. In this time my highlights were six Snipe, two Ruff, 45 Golden Plover, 50+ Black Guillemot in Sandwick Bay, 65 Sky Lark, one Grey Wagtail, five Wheatear, one Whinchat, one Willow Warbler and 35 Twite. Not a lot to show for 3.5 hours birding.

Common Starling of subspecies zetlandicus - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Common Starling of subspecies zetlandicus - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Snipe (two birds) - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Twite - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Hooded Crow - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Golden Plover - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Willow Warbler - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Northern Wren of subspecies zetlandicus - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Northern Wren of subspecies zetlandicus - Sandwick, Mainland Shetland

Grey Seal - Leebitten, Mainland Shetland

Grey Seal - Leebitten, Mainland Shetland

Grey Seal - Leebitten, Mainland Shetland

Back at the car at 11:00 I was wondering what to do, so scanning Birdguides, I saw there was a report of a Barred Warbler at Hoswick Burn, just a short way from Leebitten so I headed off to look for this and to bird the Burn. The rain started to fall and it was very quiet, a Willow Warbler and a Chiffchaff but little else. I then glimpsed an Acrocephalus warbler near to the top end of the Burn which I knew immediately was either a Marsh or Blyth's Reed. The bird was feeding in Rose bushes and was fairly elusive but over a period of an hour or so I saw enough to convince myself that it was a Blyth's Reed Warbler, the face pattern, short primaries and its frequent calling were enough to identify the bird.

Blyth's Reed Warbler - Hoswick Burn, Mainland Shetland

Blyth's Reed Warbler - Hoswick Burn, Mainland Shetland

I then headed down to Southpunds at Levenwick where another Barred Warbler had been reported but on arrival I had to deal with various work stuff on the phone so lost the first hour or so. I wandered in to the hamlet and fairly quickly but briefly picked up the Barred Warbler in Sycamores but no sooner had I seen it it vanished again. There were some great looking gardens here full of rariety potential but I saw little else and further work stuff prevented me from exploring further.

I then decided to head north to Lunna where a Melodius Warbler had been present for a few days but I hadn't appreciated that it was almost an hours drive so by the time I arrived at was just gone 16:30. I wandered around this beautiful area seeing little but for a stunning summer plumaged Great-northern Diver just offshore and a few Black Guillemot that showed well, there was a single Wheatear in the fields. I birded the area until 17:45, dipping the Melodius Warbler but enjoying my time in this beautiful and remote feeling part of Mainland Shetland. A few brief stops on the way back to Lerwick produced 45 Wigeon, seven Red-breasted Merganser, three Tufted Duck, 12 Gadwall and two Grey Heron all of which were new for the trip. I was back at the Lerwick Hotel for 18:30 for much needed dinner as I had skipped lunch. Tomorrow I try to reach Fair Isle but the weather forecast looks less than ideal for the flight so it could be mainland again.

Great-northern Diver - Lunna, Mainland Shetland

Black Guillemot - Lunna, Mainland Shetland

Black Guillemot - Lunna, Mainland Shetland

Black Guillemot - Lunna, Mainland Shetland

North Norfolk - 16th - 19th November

On the 16th Sarah and I headed up to Norfolk for a few days staying in a cottage in Great Bircham with our friends Julie and Trevor Codlin. It was Julie's birthday and the wives had wifey things planned for the 17th while the boys went birding and Tobias was with his cousins in Cheltenham - perfect.

On the morning of 17th we headed north from Great Bircham towards Titchwell pausing to scan the fields  around Choseley where we saw around six Corn Bunting and 12 Yellowhammer and picking up a few distant flocks of Pink-footed Goose, a distant Harrier was probably a Hen Harrier but the bird disappeared before we were able to get a scope onto it. A call from the wives then interrupted our birding as we had to head back to Great Bircham as Sarah had no keys to the car and so she needed to borrow mine, while there they then convinced us to drive them to Burnham Market where they were to spend the day shopping - and drinking Champagne! From Burnham Market we headed to Titchwell after a somewhat delayed start. In the carpark at Titchwell two Chiffchaff were showing well on the north edge of the car park and we spent a little while photographing these but they were a little high in a Sycamore. Walking through the Birch trees and out to the reedbeds we added Bearded Tit (heard only), Marsh Harrier (2), Water Rail and Redpoll to the day list. The various lagoons were remarkably empty and there was little of note with only small numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Dunlin (15), Black-tailed Godwit (60) and three Knot. We spend some time at the shore scanning to sea where a dispersed flock of several hundred Common Scoter was very distant, single Slavonian Grebe and Eider, c.20 Red-breasted Merganser and Great-crested Grebe were recorded. On the shore there were large numbers of Common Gull, Herring Gull and Black-headed Gull and waders included Bar-tailed Godwit and Sanderling. Walking back from the shore past the lagoons the numbers of birds had increased with 34 Ruff, 35 Dunlin and approximately 175 Golden Plover plus an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Chiffchaff - Titchwell RSPB

Pink-footed Goose - Titchwell RSPB

Little Grebe - Titchwell RSPB

Golden Plover - Titchwell RSPB

Yellow-legged Gull - Titchwell RSPB

We then headed a short way west along the coast to Thornham where we fairly quickly located the flock of around 20 Twite that winter at the site. There was little else here and so we soon headed for our next destination which was to try to locate the main feeding gathering of Pink-footed Goose which forms one of the greatest wildlife spectacles in the UK.

Twite - Thornham

Twite - Thornham

Twite - Thornham

Curlew - Thornham

Redshank - Thornham

With a general tip-off that the main Pink-footed Goose flock was feeding regularly on the road between Docking and Brancaster we headed in that general direction and it wasn't long before we located a distant flock of geese dropping into the fields to the east of the road. After navigating the lanes towards the flock we soon came across the main flock feeding in fields off Docking Road to the north of Cradle Hall Farm. It was impossible to estimate the numbers present but there must have been in the region of 15,000 birds in the Sugar Beet and stubble fields. The images and recordings below give an impression of the site that confronted us, an amazing sea of geese and a deafening cacophony of sound. This is a sight that has to be seen and heard to appreciate is full impact.

And here are a couple of sound recordings, the first of a smaller flock flying over where the individual calls of the geese can be heard and the second of a huge flock taking flight and flying into the distance.

Sonogram of three calls of an individual Pink-footed Goose

After enjoying the geese and around 25 Grey Partridge in the same field, at 15:30 we had to head to Burnham Market to collect the wives and transfer them to Creake for hair appoinments while Trev and I headed to Lady Anne's Drive for dusk. We didn't see a great deal here although enjoyed views of flocks of Starling and Pink-footed Goose heading to roost and four Marsh Harrier dropping into their reedbed roosts for the night. After collecting the wives we headed for the cottage seeing a fly-over Barn Owl in the lights of the car.

Sunset at Lady Anne's Drive, Holkham

On the 18th we were up at 06:30 and by 08:15 were at Weybourne scanning a stubble field for three Lapland Bunting that had been present for the last couple of days. The stubble field was large and there was nothing for it but to walk across it to find the birds. Fairly quickly a flock of around 25 Sky Lark went up and within the flock Trev and I could here the calls of Lapland Bunting and soon located them as the Sky Lark flock circled us. After tracking the flock down once they had landed we soon obtained views of at least two Lapland Bunting but the views were fairly poor as the birds were rather distant and often hidden by stubble. Also in this field were four Golden Plover and a couple of Yellowhammer.

Heading west along the coast we stopped at Salthouse for an Iceland Gull that had been reported but with no luck. At Cley a 'Black Brant' was quickly found in a flock of round 200 Brent Goose, the North American subspecies being quickly apparent by its more black and white appearance, extensive white flanks and well defined white necklace, however, a wide range of intergrades occur. We then stopped at the beach carpark at Cley and walked for around one kilometre east of the car park along the shingle bank looking for a reported flock of Snow Bunting but we saw little, although around 10 Grey Seal offshore entertained us for a while as they played in the breakers. We then headed to Holkham to try and find our own Snow Bunting or Shore Lark but with no luck, in fact we saw little here but for 35 Egyptian Goose, many Pink-footed Goose and Greylag Goose, two Stonechat, 15 Sky Lark, Treecreeper, three Coal Tit and ten Goldcrest. We met with the wives at midday and after a short walk on the beach we retired to the Victoria for lunch and drinks.

'Black Brant' - Cley

Grey Seal - Cley

Shingle bar and Norfolk Wildlife Trust Reserve at Cley

The 19th was largely a driving day back to Hampshire (via Cheltenham to collect Tobias) and we reflected on a fantastic couple of days birding in Norfolk even through we had not seen any stand out bird species the Pink-footed Goose spectacle was a fantastic highlight of the weekend.