Shetland Mainland - 2nd October

I was up at 02:00 today, my alarm was set for 03:00 but I just could not sleep. So at 03:00 I set off for Heathrow Airport for my 07:05 flight to Aberdeen and on to Shetland. I had been looking forward to this trip for some time but my constant reviewing of the weather did not bode well with pretty much constant west or north-west winds forecast - Shetland had been very quiet of late. I relaxed in the lounge at Heathrow before my flight and boarded on time but just at departure time it was announced that some numb-nut had decided he/she did'nt want to fly and the baggage staff had to remove his/her bags, this delayed our departure by 30 minutes. My transfer in Aberdeen was incredibly tight and I had fears for my checked in bag so my intuition told me to check with the stewardess and the backage handlers and my fears were confirmed, my bag was not on the plane from Aberdeen to Sumburgh. Now, this had happened to me before and I spent eight days on Fair Isle and Shetland with no luggage and I was not hapy with facing this once again.

The plane landed at Sumburgh pretty much on time at 10:30 and I filed a lost baggage claim and then picked up my car from Bolts Car Hire. The weather was terrible with F7-8 winds and heavy squally showers and so, with no kit, I decided to head to Lerwick to buy a coat, wellies and waterproof trousers. Then, what to do, it was so windy that the birding was going to be difficult so I decided to try and clear up on the few scarce species that were around. First I headed to Boddam for a Scarlet Rosefinch but I was unsuccessful probably mainly due to the atrocious conditions but I did see a pair of rather nice, dark and chunky, North-western (rostrata) type Common Redpoll, presumably from Iceland, Greenland or thereabouts as the wind has been blasting from that direction for sometime. Other than this, it was pretty thin with only 10 Teal and 15 Pink-footed Goose in off the sea of any note.

I then headed to Sumburgh Head and spent the next two hours trying to see a Marsh Warbler in an exposed quarry in a howling gail. After ducking a good number of heavy showers and falling asleep in the car I managed to achieve brief flight views of the bird - the tone of its plumage distinctive but far from adequate looks of this bird. Also here was a single Wheatear sheltering from the gales.

I then headed to Grutness for Snow Bunting and Lapland Bunting but other than a Great Skua, Kittiwake and an adult Arctic Tern I saw nothing and dipped both bunting.

My bag situation was starting to eat me up, with plans of a trip to Tesco to buy a tooth-brush and pants, so I decided to head for the airport and put up a 'fight' for my bag but as I walked in the first thing I saw was my bag. I could at last relax and my plans of buying a tooth-brush and pants changed to heading to Tesco a little later to buy a bottle of red wine!

It was now 16:30 and so I decided to head back to Boddam to try for the Common Rosefinch but had no success. The highlight, while dodging the showers, was a flock of eight Twite and a flock of round 75 Golden Plover. Somewhat annoyed by, once again, dipping the Rosefinch, I headed to Southwick and the beach at Leebitten where another rosefinch was present. I wandered around in the gale photographing an Eider and then eventually bumped into the Common Rosefinch feeding on the Orache and Perennial Sow-thistle along the shoreline. It was somewhat elusive in the strong winds but eventually showed moderately well. A Merlin performed over the settlement and eventually flew south and I decided it was time to head for the Lerwick Hotel, my accomodation for the next couple of nights. I was knackered.

Common (North-western rostrata type) Redpoll - Boddam, Shetland

Common (North-western rostrata type) Redpoll - Boddam, Shetland

Common (Greenland type) Redpoll - Boddam, Shetland

Northern Wheatear - Sumburgh, Shetland

Great Skua - Sumburgh, Shetland

Kittiwake - Sumburgh, Shetland

Common Eider - Leebitten near Southwick, Shetland

Common Rosefinch - Leebitten near Southwick, Shetland

Skomer Island - 14th July

Sarah, Tobias and I last visited Skomer on 6th July 2014 and so after a couple of years with no visit we were looking forward to getting back and Tobias was very excited about seeing Puffin. So after a good drive to Pembrokeshire on Thursday afternoon we had time for a short stop at Laugharne Castle before heading to our hotel, The Grove in Narberth.

We were up early on 14th and headed to the ferry to Skomer at Martin's Haven hoping to get the first boat which leaves at 10:00. We arrived at 08:15 but it was clearly busy and we were too late for the 10:00 and instead were on the 11:00 so, before our departure, we had a short wander around the nearby headland seeing a few auks offshore but little else. After ice creams we boarded the Dale Princess for the 15 minutes crossing to Skomer. As we arrived on the island there were large numbers of Puffin in the water and more birds swirling around the cliffs. Puffin numbers on the island have climbed from 22,539 individuals in 2016 to 25,227 in 2017 which is fantastic news for a species so often heard to be in decline. We walked from North Haven to The Wick along the south coast of the island and spent around an hour or so at The Wick enjoying the to-ing and fro-ing of Puffin's but noticed that the numbers of Guillemot and Razorbill were low, apparently breeding is around one week ahead of the normal season and most of the birds have now left. A picnic on Skomer Head produced a female Wheatear and four Common Dolphin and three Common Porpoise offshore. We then cut back across the island via the farm and back for the 16:00 ferry.

On 15th we awoke to a strong wind, fog and heavy drizzle but we were not deterred and headed down to the National Trust Stackpole Estate where we spent the middle of the day rock pooling, building sand castles and exploring the adjacent cliff top grasslands for plants. There were good numbers of Manx Shearwater offshore and two Chough fed on the cliff top grasslands. We returned home on 16th after a very enjoyable weekend.

The cliffs were relatively bare with decreased numbers of Guillemot and Razorbill. 

These Kittiwake had well grown young not far off fledging.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Cornwall - 14th June

I was up early this AM, covered the trap and then headed to Kenidjack. I sorted the trap later but here are some of the species caught in the garden (all the moth pics were taken on my iPhone):

The star, a Striped Hawk-moth the first I have ever caught

Striped Hawk-moth

Elephant Hawk-moth - Always a stunning species to see

Cream-spot Tiger - Three in the trap

Broad-barred White

Middle-barred Minor

Silver-ground Carpet

Buff Ermine

Brown Silver-lines

At Kenidjack it was very quiet and I saw little of real note. There were five Chough at the bottom of the valley and while I didn't get great views it appeared that they were two adults with three recently fledged young. Both Whitethroat and Swallow also had fledged young, a pair of Whitethroat had three fledged young and the male was in full song presumably hoping for a second brood despite his rather worn looking plumage while another male lower down the valley was nest building.

Kenidjack

Recently fledged Swallow

Whitethroat - Male in full song while his mate tended three recently fledged chicks

Whitethroat - Kendijack

I then headed to Pendeen and birded for a short while around the lighthouse and the scrub just inland but again it was pretty slow going. A flock of 15 Kittiwake fed in the bay below, stunning with their crisp plumage against the blue sea but a little distant for any more than a record shot. The grassland sward was vibrant with Common Blue amongst the Common Bird's-foot-trefoil and Dyer's Greenweed. A brood of very recently fledged Stonechat flicked around the lighthouse grounds and adjacent garden and a pair of Chough fed along the roadside. Out to sea a large flock of 2,000-3,000 Manx Shearwater was feeding but they were just too far out for anything more than a record shot. I returned back to the cottage and headed out for an afternoon on the beach in the glorious conditions.

Kittiwake - Pendeen

Common Blue Pendeen

Common Bird's-foot-trefoil - Pendeen

Juvenile Stonechat - Pendeen

Chough - Note the heavy wing moult - Pendeen

Chough - Pendeen

Raven - Pendeen

Linnet in breeding plumage - Pendeen

Manx Shearwater - Part of flock of 2,000-3,000 birds feeding off Pendeen