Shetland - 14th October

My plan today was to bird the west coast of mainland Shetland tin the hope of finding a mega yank warbler, I was aiming for Tresta and then around the coast via Walls and then to Sandness.

I was on the road at 07:30 and stopping at a view point on the A971 as it swings around the Hill of Sound I scanned into Weisdale Voe hoping for an Orca fin. Looking at the village of Cott below I noticed a great deal of scrub and woodland and so I back tracked and spent the first few hours birding the gardens and the small graveyard which has a number of mature sycamore. It was a great area but there was not a lot to be seen, I recorded three Blackcap, four Goldcrest, 35 Redwing and 10 Fieldfare, still it was a great area and definitely worth a visit.

I then headed to Tresta and birded the area around the Methodist Chapel recording two Goldcrest and a Yellow-browed Warbler. News then broke of a Brown Shrike at Grutness, I considered my options, continue with my plan or dash down for the shrike. The shrike option won and off I went on the 50-minute high speed drive to the south of the island.

I arrived at Grutness at around 12:00 just as the shrike had flown over the brow of the cabbage field it had been frequenting. I drove around the field and up the road to Sumburgh, parked and went climbed the fence to cross the field to where the bird was, but as I grabbed the fence to climb over I received a bolt of electricity that knocked me backwards and off my feet – I had grabbed the electric fence encircling the field, there was no warning placed on the fence. I picked myself up, dusted myself down and then climbed the gate into the field now with a very numb right arm. I got to the group of birders and was soon on the Brown Shrike, relieved to have the bird but my fingers were so numb from the shock that I could hardly focus my binoculars. I spent the next couple of hours with the shrike as it ranged between Grutness Beach, the lighthouse road out beyond Sumburgh Farm and down to Sumburgh Hotel. It was covering some ground as it ranged the fields. On a number of occasions, it was seen to catch White-tailed Bumblebee and impale them on the barbed wire fence. Eventually I left the bird as it went down to Grutness Beach and travelled along the beach towards the airport.

To the end of 2018 there have been 25 UK records of Brown Shrike in Great Britain with the first being from 1985 from Sumburgh. There has been a single spring record with the remainder occurring in September to November, the peak month being September. Shetland has the largest number of records with eight to the end of 2018. This was my second in the UK after seeing the bird that wintered on Staines Moor, Surrey from 11th October 2009 to 2nd January 2010.

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike with White-tailed Bumblebee - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

Adult female Brown Shrike - Grutness, Mainland Shetland

After grabbing a coffee, I headed north up the island and spent the last couple of hours of daylight birding Stonybrake, Upperton and Netherton recording three Mealy Redpoll, one Lesser Redpoll, Blackcap, Red-throated Diver and a greyish Chiffchaff probably of the subspecies abietinus. News then broke of a Black-throated Thrush on Ward of Scousburgh and so I made a dash for this in the fading light but unsurprisingly was unsuccessful. I headed to the hotel for a much-needed shower and a cold beer.

Starling - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Starling - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Starling - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Goldcrest - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Goldcrest - Cott, Mainland Shetland

Cott, Mainland Shetland

Lesser Redpoll - Upperton, Mainland Shetland

Red-throated Diver - Netherton, Mainland Shetland

A rather cold and greyish Chiffchaff, possibly of the subspecies abeitinus, it gave a mournful bisyllabic call with a downward inflected second part to the call - Netherton, Mainland Shetland

Chiffchaff (same bird as above) - Netherton, Mainland Shetland

Normandy Marsh, Lymington - 7th October

Having spent the weekend in Lymington I found a spare hour to have a wander around Normandy Lagoon at Lymington, part of the Keyhaven/Pennington/Lymington Marshes complex. I wandered from the Yacht Haven Marina along the seawall around Normandy Lagoon and back up to Normandy Lane. The tide was on the fall from a very high level and there were good numbers of common waders including a few Knot, 14 Greenshank, three Spotted Redshank, c.75 Dunlin, c.30 Ringed Plover, and six Bar-tailed Godwit. Wildfowl numbers are beginning to increase and I recorded 65 Teal, 45 Wigeon and 16 Brent Goose. Passerines were in short supply and I only recorded two Wheatear, two Stonechat, a single Chiffchaff and small numbers of Swallow passing over to the west. There was a distinct autumnal feel to the environment with an abundance of Hawthorn and Bramble fruit in the hedgerows and the leaves beginning to yellow, the Salicornia on the saltmarsh was flushed a rich vinous red making a lovely back drop to marshes inhabitants.

Stonechat - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Redshank - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

The Teal are in heavy moult and this individual was particularly scruffy - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Starling - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Renged Plover - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Greenshank - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Curlew - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Little Egret, this ringed bird is, I believe, from a Dutch ringing scheme- Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Little Egret - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Little Egret - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

Little Egret - Normandy Marsh, Hampshire

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

Pennington Marsh and Woodchat Shrike at Chipping Sodbury - 15th September

Another beautiful sunny morning at Pennington Marsh and I decided to walk my normal circuit in reverse, first out past Fishtail and to Keyhaven and back past Butts and Jetty Lagoon and finally past Pennington Lagoon and Shoveler Pools. I had much of the morning to spare after dropping Tobias off so my birding was very leisurely. There were very large numbers of hirundine passing west overhead with many hundreds of birds, I estimated 750 House Martin, 150 Swallow and 75 Sand Martin but this was a fraction of the birds and numbers may have been 2-3x this easily. Two Swift were with the hirundines early on and no doubt these will be the last of the year. I was disapointed at how few waders there were on Fishtail but three Spoonbill showed very well as they fished actively in the lagoon. After the recent numbers of Baird's Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper that have been in the country I spent some time grilling the waders and searching the shallows at Keyhaven Lagoon but other than 25 Grey Plover, one Spotted Redshank, one Knot and 12 Dunlin there was little to be seen. There were increased numbers of wildfowl with 12 Wigeon and 25 Teal on the lagoon. In the dead gorse at the back of the lagoon I was pleased to see three juvenile Whinchat. On past Butts Lagoon three Bearded Reedling showed well, a male, female and a juvenile bird. The spit off Butts Lagoon had a good gathering of waders with 75 Grey Plover, 150 Dunlin and four Knot while 17 Sandwich Tern loafed on the mud nearby. Walking out to Jetty Lagoon the female Red-breasted Merganser was still present but an unfamiliar wader call grabbed my attention and as I got onto the bird I was convinced I had something decent but then I realised I had heard the call before but just in a slightly different habitat and I soon realised the bird was a Purple Sandpiper - still, a patch tick so not to be sniffed at.

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon

There are large numbers of Starling around the marshes at the moment, this 

flock numbered around 350

Greenshank - Jetty Lagoon

The Mornings Totals

Teal - 121

Pintail - 2

Wigeon - 17

Shoveler - 8

Tufted Duck - 32 on Efford Lagoon

Eider - 15

Red-breasted Merganser - 1

Swift - 2 

Grey Plover - 100

Ringed Plover - 30

Knot - 3

Lapwing - 45

Black-tailed Godwit - 53

Bar-tailed Godwit - 6

Dunlin - 150

Snipe - 5

Common Sandpiper - 2

Purple Sandpiper - 1

Greenshank - 1

Spotted Redshank - 3

Spoonbill - 3

Sandwich Tern - 17

Bearded Reedling - 3

Swallow - 150+

Sand Martin - 75+

House Martin 750+

Chiffchaff - 2

Goldcrest - 1

Whitethroat - 1

Dartford Warbler - 3

Wheatear - 6

Stonechat - 6

Whinchat - 2

Meadow Pipit - 

Yellow Wagtail - 2

After picking Tobias up from school I had to drop him at Brockworth near to Cheltenham for a sleep-over with his cousins for the weekend. I then headed to Chipping Sodbury Common where a juvenile Woodchat Shrike has been present since 9th September. I have only seen one juvenile Woodchat previously and this was in the 1980's on the Isle of Wight so I was keen to catch up with this bird. Parking on the edge of the common and walking to the area of bramble scrub that the bird frequents it was not long before I located the bird and over the next 1.5 hours I had some great views as the bird fed on cranefly and on one occasion took a Sericomyia silentis (hoverfly) which it swallowed whole - it barely touched the sides. Also here were six Whinchat, three Wheatear and four Yellow Wagtail. At 17:15 it was time to head for home.

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire

Whinchat (juvenile) - Chipping Sodbury Common, Gloucestershire