Shetland - 15th August

This was my final day on Shetland and having received more detailed information on the Black-throated Thrush at Ward of Scousburgh I decided to give it a bash at first light. I went up the road that leads west off the A970 opposite the northern most turning for the Loch of Clumie and birded the moorland here. There were around 50 Redwing and 30 Fieldfare but no sign of the Black-throated Thrush and so after a couple of hours I abandoned my quest and drove west over the top of the hill and birded the quarries and fields on the west side of the Ward of Scousburgh but saw little but for more Redwing. A scan of Loch of Spiggie from the hill produced 44 Whooper Swan. I then headed north and birded Geosetter where I recorded Chiffchaff, a couple of Goldcrest and more Redwing. I then headed to Hoswick and spent some time birding the Burn of Hoswick where the highlights were two Chiffchaff, Blackcap, a fly over Redpoll and a lovely bright Willow Warbler.

It was pushing on towards my flight time and so I spent the last 1.5 hours at Grutness and Sumburgh walking out onto the Grutness headland where there was a single Wheatear and two rather flighty Snow Bunting. I walked up the road towards the lighthouse scanning the fields and birding the two quarries. There were many Redwing and smaller numbers of Blackbird, Song Thrush and Robin – there definitely appears to have been an influx of these species overnight. In the second quarry I quickly found the long staying Siberian Chiffchaff which was feeding low down in the dead Creeping Thistle.

Willow Warbler - Burn of Hoswick, Mainland Shetland

Willow Warbler - Burn of Hoswick, Mainland Shetland

Willow Warbler - Burn of Hoswick, Mainland Shetland

View south from Ward of Scousburgh, Mainland Shetland

View west from Scousborough over the Bay of Scousborough and the islet of Colsay, 

Mainland Shetland

Geosetter, Mainland Shetland

Black Guillemot with Butterfish Pholis gunnellus - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Goldcrest - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Goldcrest - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Twite - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Twite - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Song Thrush - Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

Siberian Chiffchaff - Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

Siberian Chiffchaff - Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

Fulmar - Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

Fulmar - Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

Fulmar - Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

View north from Sumburgh, Mainland Shetland

It was 14:30 and time to head to the airport. On arrival I was informed that my flight was delayed by 50 minutes due to a technical fault with the plane and that rather than flying direct to Inverness we were being routed via Kirkwall on Orkney – I have never been to Orkney! I landed in Inverness only 10 minutes before my connecting flight. I eventually got home at 21:45.

As I was at the airport I checked the weather forecast for the coming night - easterlies for Shetland coming from Eastern Europe and Western Russia - I am fearing a big dip!

Weather system for night of 15th October, looks moderately rare.

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

Portland - 7th September

Arriving at Portland at 06:15, it was still pretty much dark and I enjoyed a coffee while standing in the chilly air listening for calling birds but in the north-west wind it seemed very quiet with just small numbers of Meadow Pipit and the occasional Yellow Wagtail passing over. As the sun rose I walked up the West Cliff scanning the Brambles and hoping for a Booted Warbler to pop up but of course it was not to be, a single Wheatear and Chiffchaff is all that I saw. I wandered back to the car needing another coffee. The sun was now up and it was a beautiful warm morning and with sufficient caffeine I headed out across Portland.

It was pretty slow going though, at the Pulpit there were three Willow Warbler and two Chiffchaff and I spent some time hear watching the birds as they fed actively along the sun drenched bank of Elm.  A scan to sea produced a flock of six Balearic Shearwater passing west fairly close to shore. I spent some time staring into the Observatory Quarry, here there were two Lesser Whitethroat and at least seven Common Whitethroat. I then headed down through the Beach Huts and through the paddocks to the east of the observatory, here there was very little but for eight Wheatear and four Blackcap. Reaching Culverwell I spent some time wandering around the newly cleared net rides, there were good numbers of bird here and I recorded two Spotted Flycatcher, four Chiffchaff and three Blackcap. The Top Fields were very quiet with small numbers of Swallow passing over and very small numbers of Meadow Pipit and Linnet. Back at the observatory I spent some time chatting on the patio, the seawatching this morning had produced a high count of 131 Balearic Shearwater which was somewhat surprising in a north-west wind. It was 10:00 and as I needed to collect Tobias from school so I decided to head slowly back to the car via the Observatory Quarry, here I encountered the hoverfly Chrysotoxum cautum which showed well on a sunlit Bramble, this appears to be only the second record for Portland. These are my morning totals:

Swallow – Very small numbers, with only 35 counted moving east early on.
Yellow Wagtail – 12
Whinchat – 1
Wheatear – 9
Blackcap – 4 Culverwell
Lesser Whitethroat – 2 Observatory Quarry
Whitethroat – 9
Chiffchaff – 8
Willow Warbler – 3 Pulpit bushes
Spotted Flycatcher – 2 Culverwell

Sunrise over Portland Observatory

Willow Warbler - Pulpit Inn, Portland

Raven - Pulpit Inn, Portland

Spotted Flycatcher - Culverwell, Portland

Chrysotoxum cautum - Pulpit Inn, Portland

There is an abundance of Brown-tail Moth caterpillar at Portland

Pennington Marsh - 6th August

It was a beautiful sunny morning for a change, August has been a very unsettled month to date with long spells of often heavy rain and low temperatures. I was up early and decided on a walk around Pennington Marshes for a few hours. Arriving at 06:30 I first walked along the Ancient Highway for a few hundred metres and then to the coast via Shoveler Pools, Jetty Lagoon, Butts Lagoon then to Keyhaven Lagoon and back to the car. It was high tide at 08:55 and I expected good numbers of waders on the pools but due to the high water levels these were rather devoid of bird activity. There were many warblers in the bushes and much of my time was spent with these. Totals for the morning were as follows:

Sedge Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Sedge Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Sedge Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Sedge Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Sedge Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Sedge Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Reed Bunting (female) - Pennington Marsh

Reed Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Reed Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Whitethroat (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Wheatear (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Wheatear (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Black-tailed Godwit - Pennington Marsh

Reed Bunting, a worn adult male - Pennington Marsh

Red-breasted Merganser - Pennington Marsh

Red-breasted Merganser - Pennington Marsh

Avocet (adult) - Pennington Marsh

Avocet (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Avocet - Pennington Marsh

Willow Warbler (juvenile) - Pennington Marsh

Little Egret - Pennington Marsh

The Mornings Totals

Teal - 2
Red-breasted Merganser - 1
Water Rail - 2
Avocet - 3
Black-tailed Godwit - 12
Whimbrel - 1
Greenshank - 2
Turnstone - 66
Dunlin - 260
Common Sandpiper - 2
Grey Plover - 72
Snipe - 7
Common Tern - 51
Sandwich Tern - 4
Sand Martin - 15
Swift - 4
Bearded Reedling - 4
Wheatear - 5
Whitethroat - 9
Sedge Warbler - 7
Reed Warbler - 8
Chiffchaff - 4
Willow Warbler - 6