Shetland Ring- Necked Duck

 A male Ring- Necked Duck has been present on Tingwall loch since 26 October 2021. I have been several times and it has always been with a group of Tufted duck over the far side of the lock

I then went over on Tuesday afternoon, but the weather was bad, very dark and frequent rain showers but the Ring- Necked duck came quite close.

I too a lot of photos at a massive ISO20000 but at this setting came out very noisy, it was more or less dark as well being 3.50pm

Today i went again in better weather, although it was a strong wind and snow showers. The bird again drifted out towards the other side of the loch before slowly making it way to the middle of the loch. At least the light was a lot better

Ring Necked Ducks are all the way from North America.

Although they look like a Tufted duck at a distance they are easily identified as having a grey flank and a white wedge near the shoulder, its grey beak has a black tip and a white band. 

They always seem to associate with other diving duck such as Scaup, Tufted and even Scoter

More migrants

We have had a good run of rare migrants in Shetland the last few days and the number of birder visiting has increased substantially.

It is also good to see common migrants, we are starved of small birds for most of the year so any little jobs are worth looking at.

Flocks of Twite, Meadow Pipit and Skylark are now regular in the south Mainland and these are attracting Merlin and Sparrowhawks (The Latter a rare breeder in Shetland).

Lots of brightly coloured Greenland Wheatears seem to be everywhere. The other day i must have flushed at least 20 along the road to Quendale

Willow Warbler

A few Willow Warblers, Pied Flycatcher and Spotted Flycatcher have become regulars and in the recent fall lots of Chaffinch are also showing

Common Redstart

Spotted Flycatcher one of three at Geosetter

Ringed Plover

Ringed Plover , or as they are known in Shetland a Saandiloo, which is a common wader

This territorial dispute happened down at Grutness and was over in a matter of a few minutes

No bird was injured in filming this sequence

Once it had finished they went to different ends of the pool and settled down

 Then they came back together for another scrap

Sanderling