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 - 12th October

I awoke at 06:15 after a good nights sleep and after breakfast I decided to head to the west coast of Shetland for an American Golden Plover and Bluethroat as well as some general birding. I started at Aith and birded the area just north of the village at North Gardie. There was a large flock of c.250 Golden Plover and it was not long before I located the American Golden Plover in the flock. The flock gave me the run around but eventually I had good views of the bird feeding alongside the road that runs north from Aith. The bird was in partial summer plumage and this, along with the grey plumage and large pale supercilium, made the bird fairly conspicuous amongst its commoner cousins. I then birded the village area seeing four Blackcap and two Brambling but little else.

Brambling (male) - Aith, Mainland Shetland

Brambling (female) - Aith, Mainland Shetland

American Golden Plover - Aith, Mainland Shetland

American Golden Plover - Aith, Mainland Shetland

Aith, Mainland Shetland

News broke of a Lesser Grey Shrike on Unst and having only seen one fairly poorly in the UK (a female at Corfe River Meadows, Middlebere, 14th August 2008) I decided to go for it. The bird had been found yesterday morning but had vanished for the rest of the day resulting in many birders missing it, but today the news services suggested it was settled and showing well and so the game was on.

I headed for the ferry terminal at Toft and arrived at around 11:45, I was standing around chatting when a stunning dark morph Honey Buzzard flew over head being mobbed by Gulls. The bird was almost black and its yellow cere and legs were prominent against such a dark plumage, the flight feathers were a little paler but essentially the entire bird was black; a stunning bird. I crossed to Yell and raced across the island. At the Gutcher ferry terminal on Yell I scanned across to the small island of Linga and picked up an Otter on the grass, it was playing on the clifftop before sliding into the water. After a short wait I was on the ferry and landed on Unst at around 12:45. After a 15 minute drive across the island I arrived at Burnside at Halligarth on the east coast of the island with six other birders. The Lesser Grey Shrike showed almost immediately and over the next hour I enjoyed fantastic views, as the bird fed from walls, posts and pylons often sallying to some height in pursuit of White-tailed Bumblebees. This was a fantastic adult bird with full black forehead and a lovely apricot wash to the underparts. At the end of my stay I was alone and had the bird down to around 15m as it fed along a fence line - this was a stunning bird and well worth the trip.

Dark Phase Honey Buzzard - Toft, Mainland Shetland

Ferry crossing to Yell, Shetland

Lesser Grey Shrike (adult) - Burnside, Halligarth, Unst, Shetland

Lesser Grey Shrike (adult) - Burnside, Halligarth, Unst, Shetland

Lesser Grey Shrike (adult) - Burnside, Halligarth, Unst, Shetland

Lesser Grey Shrike (adult) - Burnside, Halligarth, Unst, Shetland

Lesser Grey Shrike (adult) - Burnside, Halligarth, Unst, Shetland

Lesser Grey Shrike (adult) - Burnside, Halligarth, Unst, Shetland

Lesser Grey Shrike (adult) - Burnside, Halligarth, Unst, Shetland

Lesser Grey Shrike (adult) - Burnside, Halligarth, Unst, Shetland

I headed off from Unst at 14:30 and was back on the mainland at around 15:30. I contemplated heading to Ronas Hill for the Snowy Owl but thought better of it as I doubted that I would get back to the car with any daylight. Instead I stopped at Loch of Voe for a Red-breasted Flycatcher which showed well in the fading light. Heading to Lerwick I stopped at the docks where I had my first Wheatear of the trip and enjoyed good views of Black Guillemot. I retired to the Lerwick Hotel at 18:00. Maybe I will try for the Snowy Owl tomorrow afternoon if its a little slow elsewhere.

Rainbow over Loch of Voe, Mainland Shetland 

Red-breasted Flycatcher - Loch of Voe, Mainland Shetland

Red-breasted Flycatcher - Loch of Voe, Mainland Shetland

Black Guillemot - Lerwick, Mainland Shetland

Shetland Mainland and Bressay - 7th October

Christ, it was a foul day to day. It started off windy and got more windy and wet as the day progressed. It was not a day for searching bushes for rare warblers and so I decided to head out for bigger stuff that could be seen from the car and from relative shelter. So I decided to start the day heading inland, partly to see what the weather held in store, and partly for an island tick, Red Grouse. So heading for I site I had been given I drove west along the A971 past Tingwall Airport and then north-east at Haggersta towards Stromfirth. Just before Stromfirth there is a heather covered peak where the heather 'spills' down slope and across the road to Loch of Strom. This was the spot for the grouse. I drove back and forth between a couple of lay-bys and was just about to give up when a female Red Grouse appeared in the heather just above the road. She showed well for at least 15 minutes in the blasting wind and rain feeding on heather buds before disappearing. On the Loch of Strom there was little but for two Mute Swan and eight Red-breasted Merganser.

Red Grouse - Stromfirth, Mainland Shetland

I then decided to head back to Lerwick and to board the ferry for the short crossing to Bressay. I had 45 minutes to spare before the 10:45 ferry and so headed out onto the pier at Lerwick where there were many Black Guillemot. This is a common bird in Shetland but being a southerner I don't see many and so the novelty of seeing good numbers so close persists. I spent some time watching them and taking, once again, far too many pictures in the poor light. Also here were around 30 Eider and many Kittiwake and Gannet offshore.

Black Guillemot - Lerwick, Mainland Shetland

Black Guillemot - Lerwick, Mainland Shetland

Arriving on Brassay at just before 11:00 my main goal was to find an adult American Golden Plover that had been present since 2nd October. I first drove north from the ferry terminal and saw a flock of around 30 Golden Plover in flight heading south but they didn't stop plus 15 Knot and two Bar-tailed Godwit. I reached the end of the road at Heogan and headed south once more, I drove the road east from Maryfield and then south towards the school and village shop but nothing but for a couple of Snipe. I then headed east from the store to Midgarth where I quickly come across a flock of around 75 Golden Plover, scanning through the flock I quickly came across a greyer bird with dark underparts and a distinctive flared white supercilium, this was the American Golden Plover. So I parked up, snuck along various walls, through ditches, got hammered by the rain and wind and was eventually moderately close to the bird. After taking a few snaps I watched the bird for ten minutes or so before the rain got the better of me and I retreated to the car, my camera and I were soaked.

Greylag Goose - Heogan, Brassay, Shetland

American Golden Plover - Midgarth, Brassay, Shetland

American Golden Plover - Midgarth, Brassay, Shetland

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon bimbling around Bressay but staying in the car with the heater on. I headed to the car park for the island of Noss and scanning across the straits and watching the hundreds of Gannet plunging into a raging sea and watching a brave Northern Wheatear battling in the elements. I explored virtually all the islands roads to their termination, there was little to be seen, two Razorbill near the light house, a few bedraggled Twite, a further 125 Golden Plover, around 150 Greylag Goose but not a lot else. I even headed back to the Citrine Wagtail but I could see around ten birders in the grounds of Gardie House who were clearly not watching the bird and in the weather conditions I thought better of it having see the bird a couple of days ago. I got the 14:00 ferry off the island and headed north on mainland for the next element of the plan for the day.

Gannet - Noss Sound, Bressay

View across to the island of Noss from Bressay

Adult Common Gull - Bressay, Shetland

First-winter Common Gull - Bressay, Shetland

Knot - Bressay, Shetland

Golden Plover - Bressay, Shetland

I drove north along the A970, the car buffeted by the wind and turned west along the B9076 to Sullom Voe. What contrast to Bressay, a landscape dominated by the oil terminal and its associated infrastruture, the skyline dominated by flaring stacks, this is not a particularly attractive part of Shetland. I scanned the sweeping bay to the south of the oil terminal, stopping at various laybys and gaining shelter from the car. To the south of the terminal the road follows the bay around the head of Garths Voe and here is a wide grassy lay-by which affords a good view of the seaweed covered shoreline I parked up and began scanning. After five minutes or so I saw a movement in the water not far from the car, and there was my target a dog Otter. He had clearly seen me and was keeping a close eye on me but he fed unconcerned in the shallows catching a multitude of small fish, mainly Butterfish and the occasional crab and goby. It was great to watch this animal at close quarters. It was 16:30 and the wind was increasing, the rain getting heavier and so I decided to head back to the hotel. On Scatsta Airfield there were 75 Greylag Goose, 25 Golden Plover and 75 Lapwing but further stops as I followed the coastline to Brae produced little. After a brief stop at Tesco to stock up on supplies for tomorrow I was back at the hotel by 17:45.

Otter - Sullom Voe, Mainland Shetland

Otter - Sullom Voe, Mainland Shetland

Otter - Sullom Voe, Mainland Shetland