Osprey

I decided to go down to Spiggie late yesterday afternoon as a Honey Buzzard had been seen in the area earlier in the day and it was a good a place as any to start

The weather didn't look too promising as i journeyed south, thick fog moving in and the wind picking up.

As i arrived at Spiggie, i found the area completely clear of fog but the wind had picked up from virtually nil earlier in the day

I searched the north side of the RSPB reserved first noting a pair of Mute swan and several Tufted, Mallard and Teal.

Moving slowly down the west side it was easy to see a number of waders close up with Curlew, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Snipe,Dunlin,  & Redshank. Plenty of Greylag as  well with large number of Starling feeding in the fields.

At the southern end marsh i checked to look through a large flock of Tufted, over 95 present North - South. A female Goldeneye was a nice find and two Grey Heron resting up near one of the pools

Checking the fence posts a large raptor caught my eye, first i thought female Marsh Harrier but as it turned its head it revealed its self to be an Osprey. It had caught a fish and had virtually finished it 5 mins later.

Harassed but several Oystercatcher it decided to take off flying low south over the loch and finally ended up on the small beach which separated Spiggie from Brow marsh

It sat in the water for a while before flying back up the loch, by this time the wind had strengthened and it had become quite cold so i left after reporting it. This year has been very good for Osprey sightings in Shetland and this one a late bird, my first Shetland Osprey

This is more likely to be  a Scandinavian bird rather then one form the increasing Scottish population

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