With some gripping photographs emerging on social media of the recent Tengmalm's Owl at Bixter on Mainland Shetland from 19th to 23rd February and then moving a short distance to Tresta from 24th and showing exceptionally well on 2nd March, I just had to go. So, with agreement from Sarah and with the bird showing well still on Saturday 2nd I hatched a plan to head to Shetland on Monday 4th. Booking my flights by mid-morning on 2nd I watched with some envy as mega images and video flooded from Lea Gardens the owls chosen patch of trees at Tresta. Sunday 3rd was a horrendous day with strong winds and torrential rain and so I was not too surprised that there were no reports of the bird - although I was somewhat nervous given the lack of any sightings. On the 4th I was up at 02:00 and at Heathrow by 04:00 ready for my 06:15 flight to Glasgow and on to Sumburgh. Landing at 11:35 I switched my phone on hoping to see news of the bird but nothing, just a message from Birdguides with a sad-faced emoji symbol. I collected my car and headed north-west in the hope that positive news would appear but it was not to be. On arrival at the site I met with Max Hellicar who had been at the site for a couple of hours looking for the bird. I had communicated with Max before arriving on the island and had arranged to bird with him for a couple of days as he was car-less for his time on the island. Max and I spent the next couple of hours scouring all the bushes we could, no accessible cluster of branches or leaves, no evergreen shrub and no conifer went unchecked but to no-avail.
After we had tired of peering into bushes we decided to take a break and head south for a tick for Max, the long staying
Pied-billed Grebe at Loch Spiggie, a bird that I had last seen on
5th October 2018. From the southern end of the Loch we scanned vut could not located the grebe but did record good numbers of
Goldeneye,
Wigeon,
Teal,
Tufted Duck, a total of 23
Whooper Swan and four summer plumaged
Red-throated Diver. We then headed to the north-west corner of the loch where Max's friends had seen the bird a few days ago. Pulling up in a lay-by close to the loch, Max was quick to locate the bird close to the shoreline. We hopped over the style and wandered to the waters edge but the grebe was very wary and swam to the centre of the loch, often partly submerged to avoid detection.
We then headed north pausing at Setter to scan the
Greylag Goose flocks for two Bean Goose that had been present but we both felt a little half hearted, keen to get back to Lea Garden to look for the Tengmalm's Owl. We briefly paused at Cunningsburgh where a wintering juvenile
Common Rosefinch, which has been present since 6th January, showed quickly amongst its adopted flock of
House Sparrow in the local gardens. After getting our fill of this rather drab bird with a simple-looking expression we continued north to our main target.
We stopped in the tall pine trees in the vicinity of the Methodist Church at Tresta peering into the tall pines here and working the bushes along the Burn of Tresta. A
Woodcock was flushed as was a flock of 23
Collared Dove but little else was seen and certainly no owl. We then headed back to the garden and began peering into bushes until dark hoping to see the owl as it emerged from roost, but there was nothing, all was quiet and pretty down-heartening but tomorrow was to be another day.
Pied-billed Grebe (adult summer) - Loch of Spiggie
Pied-billed Grebe (adult summer using evasion tactics) - Loch of Spiggie, Mainland Shetland
Common Rosefinch (juvenile) - Cunningsburgh, Mainland Shetland
Common Frog - Lea Gardens, Tresta, Mainland Shetland
Day 2 dawned bright and early and having checked out of the Lerwick Hotel I collected Max from the Islesburgh House Hostel just up the road from my hotel at 06:15. We headed directly to Lea Gardens full of optimism - a new day, a new dawn. We began peering into the bushes, starting in the central garden area where the bird had favoured the previous days but nothing. And then an owl flew over my shoulder and in the very brief glimpse I had I thought that it was probably a Short-eared. Calling Max he said he had just flushed a Long-eared Owl and so this was very likely his bird. I flushed the bird a couple more times as I searched through various trees and bushes and that was all the excitement there was. Time passed by and our spirits began to wain, more birders turned up, we now numbered seven. We hatched a plan to head to Bixter, and to the garden where the Tengmalm's Owl had originally been seen. Loading the car with a couple more birders we headed off on the five minute drive to the garden. I knocked on the door but the daughter of the owner of the property declined us access to the garden and so we searched the pines from the boundary of the garden. Max and I saw a Sparrowhawk fly off from the garden, it was carrying prey and both Max and I thought that it was most likely a Water Rail. Searching the perimeter pine trees my levels of despondency increased and suddenly the realisation of the dip tipped me over the edge, I had had enough and wanted to go and do something else. Max took a bit more convincing but eventually we headed back to Tresta, dropped the other birders off and headed north-east to Bretabister and Nesting where a White-billed Diver had been present.
We scanned the sea and had some nice views of
Great-northern Diver as well as distant views of
Red-throated Diver,
Slavonian Grebe,
Red-breasted Merganser and
Guillemot and a school of five Common Porpoise but no White-billed. Time was pushing on and I had in mind my flight back south, so we headed down to Lerwick and spent some time around Gremista. Max had purchased three loaves of bread to draw the gulls in but they didn't seem interested and it was comical watching Max throw the bread towards the sea just for the wind to send the bread back overhead and into the car park. Eventually, he generated some interest amongst the gull community and
a 2nd winter Iceland Gull appeared and showed very well. Also offshore here were small numbers of
Fulmar, Kittiwake and around four
Long-tailed Duck and 12
Black Guillemot, some of the latter now in summer plumage. It was now 12:15 and time for me to head off south to Sumburgh for my 14:00 flight home, I said my goodbyes to Max who was on the boat to Aberdeen that evening. As I drove south I reflected on what had been a good couple of days birding but a major dip. This dip was probably second in stature to my missing a Wallcreeper in-off the sea at St. Catherines Point in the 80's (see
here), that dip still haunts me even though I have now seen Wallcreeper. The Wallcreeper dip eclipses the Tengmalm's Owl by a long way but the owl still hurt, and will hurt in the future, such are the highs and lows of birding - thats why I love it and live for it.
Oystercatcher - South Nesting, Mainland Shetland
Long-tailed Duck (adult male, winter plumage) - Gremista, Lerwick, Mainland Shetland
Iceland Gull - Gremista, Lerwick, Mainland Shetland
Iceland Gull - Gremista, Lerwick, Mainland Shetland
Iceland Gull - Gremista, Lerwick, Mainland Shetland
