Due to the wet start to the day I decided to head to Loch Spiggie RSPB to add a few waterbirds to my trip list. Starting at the southern end a scan from the roadside layby produced a Short-eared Owl and some common waterbirds. I then headed to the north end of the Loch and spent a little while in the hide here.
It had started to brighten a little and so I headed to Sumburgh, a walk to the quarries and the garden at the start of the entrance road produced little and so I decided to head to Toab for an Arctic Redpoll but soon after my arrival news broke of a Yellow-rumped Warbler at Ellister near to Maywick and so I jumped in the car and sped the 15 minutes or so northwards. I ditched the car on a rather soft verge and headed to the small Sycamore stand in which the bird had been found. There were only around 20 birders present and it was not long before I had reasonable views of the bird as it fed in the Sycamores. Numbers of birders began to build and the farmer from the farmyard opposite became increasingly irate, the road was blocked by a crowd of birders meaning drivers could not pass and the situation was becoming ugly and so I decided I would leave the scene.
I headed north to Scalloway where the eclipse drake King Eider, which I had previously tried for at Wester Quarff, was now in the harbour here and I soon found the bird with a small flock of Common Eider. I birded a few areas around Scalloway before heading to Asta to the north where at last I found a Yellow-browed Warbler, a species thin on the ground this year. I then headed back south and birded the Leebitten and Sandwick areas until the light began to fade but saw little. I then headed back to Lerwick and was back to the hotel for around 18:00.
