Shetland - 4th and 5th October

It was my final full day on Shetland and I awoke to a dreary day with rain and a north-east wind. After a brief scan too sea at Scord I headed to Sumburgh Head and birded the farm area. Numbers of migrants had dropped off considerably from yesterday with a substantial fall in Blackcap, Goldcrest and Robin numbers. Barnacle Goose flocks were heading south and a large flock of around 175 birds roamed the Fitfull Head and Sumburgh area, a single albino amongst their ranks. The Little Bunting from yesterday was still around the farm but was rather flighty. The Great Grey Shrike was still in the boulder field at Grutness and showed a little better than yesterday's rather fleeting view. My eBird lists can be viewed here and here.

Barnacle Goose flock over Fitfull Head - Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

Great Grey Shrike - Grutness, Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

I then headed a short way north to Toab where a 1st winter Bluethroat showed occasionally but a little distantly in a potato field near to the post office. Also in this field were four Brambling and a Siskin. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Bluethroat - Toab, Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

I then headed a short way north again to North Town close to Exnaboe. Here a lovely Red-breasted Flycatcher showed well in a garden, calling frequently and occasionally being chased by Robin's. My eBird checklist can be videwed here.

Red-backed Shrike - North Town, Exnaboe, Mainland Shetland

With little else being in the south of the mainland I headed up to Asta, just to the west of Lerwick for an Olive-backed Pipit that had been showing well in the Sycamore's around the village. This is a superb area that I had not visited before but am sure to head back to. After a little searching I located the pipit feeding in the leaf litter below the Sycamore's and spent a ten minutes with the bird before it flew, seemingly a short way south, and could not be relocated. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Olive-backed Pipit - Asta, Mainland Shetland

Olive-backed Pipit - Asta, Mainland Shetland

Olive-backed Pipit - Asta, Mainland Shetland

I then headed back south with the intention of doing some general birding but decided to call in on the Red-backed Shrike at Boddam which eventually showed fairly well as the rain began to fall. I wandered to the derelict cottage at the summit of the hill north of Boddam and in the garden here were a Blue Tit (scarce on Shetland), Yellow-browed Warbler and an Olive-backed Pipit. My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Red-backed Shrike - Boddam, Mainland Shetland

I then birded Leebitten and Sandwick but saw relatively little, the highlights being two Red-throated Diver and six Swallow at Sandwick. My eBird checklists can be viewed here and here.

On my final day I only had an hour or so before needing to get my 10:10 flight back to London. I birded Grutness and saw relatively little, the Great Grey Shrike was still present and I had good views of a lovely male Siskin. And that was it, time to head back to Hampshire after a fantastic trip to Shetland. My final eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Siskin- Grutness, Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

Pennington Marsh - 5th and 9th March

I visited Pennington Marsh on 5th and 9th March and on both days saw much the same. Its a pretty static time of year with winter birds steadily but barely noticeably declining and very few migrants appearing. The Lapwing are now in regular display and are busy making nesting scrapes on the marsh while Black-tailed Godwit are coming into plumage and are at varying stages of turning rusty. Up to eight Ruff were present on the marshes off Lower Pennington Lane and there remain good numbers of Wigeon, Pintail, Teal and Brent Goose as well as the usual waders. There were around 400 Golden Plover on Pennington Marsh on both days, an increase in previous numbers perhaps as a result of the recent cold weather movement. On 5th I counted 34 Bar-tailed Godwit off Butts Lagoon, a higher number than usual, all were still in winter plumage. On 5th a single Spoonbill flew high to the east.

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck, wing coverts, tertials and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on tertials - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with summer plumage beginning to appear on head, neck and scapulars - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit with very little sign of moult to summer plumage - Pennington Marsh

Ruff - Pennington Marsh

Golden Plover - Pennington Marsh

Rock Pipit - Pennington Marsh

The Mute Swan were very feisty at the marsh today with marsh territorial aggression - Pennington Marsh

I added a number of sound recordings to this post linked to uploads at the Internet Bird Collection (IBC). With the subsequent transfer of data from IBC to the Macaulay Library the links to these became broken. I have therefore subsequently uploaded these sound files to eBird and the recordings can be viewed here and here.