Easter Weekend migrants in Shetland

With the winds coming from the east for the last few days things were always looking good for weekend migrants. The wind though has been strong for the past 10 days so has an effect on using a long lens.

We headed down to West Voe first, the tide was in allowing a couple of Gt Northern Divers to come in closer to the shore than normal. Just a bit further out a nice flock of 55 Long Tailed duck and several Shag.

A small flock of Gulls, Herring, Common, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Gt BB and a single Iceland gull in adult plumage kept flying further into the bay. A Couple of new arrived Gt Skua passed over making the gull rise .

From my vantage point, close to a small garden , three Chiffchaff flittered about in the bushes along with a couple of Robin, a wren and several House Sparrow.

Gt Northern Diver which appeared to have a hook in its beak

Nearer the sandy beach, a Wheatear was feeding along with a couple of Rock Pipit. A flock of Turnstone (26) blended in with the seaweed washed up on the shoreline. Just leaving the area when a Sand Martin and a couple of Swallow came in from the sea.

Feeding along with the cattle, a Song Thrush and Redwing, Pied wagtail, Starlings, House Sparrow, several Skylark and Meadow Pipit.

At Sumburgh Hotel gardens which is in the process of being renovated, a couple of Willow warbler and Three Robin, and later in the afternoon a Black Redstart put in a flighty performance.

Lapwings displayed with at least two on nests and Curlew, Snipe, Redshank, Oystercatcher and Mallard found around the pool.

At Grutness, the bay held little except for a couple of LT Duck and Black Guillemot but beside the pool Turnstone(9) Ringed Plover (2) ,Oystercatcher (12) and lots of common Gull rested and bathed.

The garden produce  Robin(3) Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff (2) Wren and further along the road, at the first quarry Chiffchaff(2) Robin and Pied Wagtail

The larger second quarry has little vegetation at the moment as sheep have been allowed in over the winter and some digging has taken place at the backend near the cliff face. Here Robin(3), Blackbird (3) Wren and Twite stayed mainly at the back of the quarry.

Willow warbler

At Quendale it was good to see the Black Throated Diver as it joined 4 Gt Northern Divers. Around the Mill and Dam it was all about Chiffchaffs with 5 birds including 2 singing. A Robin , several Blackbirds and Twite (12) joined in and Swallows flew around the dam. A flock of Oystercatcher (28), Rock Dove (16) Raven (12) and a few Curlew and Redshank found food on a plough field

Elsewhere, a Black Kite appeared in Unst having left Fair Isle the day before along with a Gt Grey Shrike and a White Tailed Eagle was seen again at Tingwall. A few Yellowhammer , Pintail and Garganey and Long Eared Owls further north in the mainland

Fulmar

#Shetland, #Shetland migrants, #Shetland birds, #Black Redstart, #Iceland gull

A Black & White Shetland Christmas

There has not been that many good birds of note recently, except a White Tailed Eagle which has been seen a few times up on the hill at Sandwick.  My local patch, Sandsayre at Sandwick, has turned up three good birds in the past two weeks

Iceland Gull

The Iceland gull was present three days and only in the morning. It was always seen in a flock of gulls just off shore

Black Redstart

This very nice male Black Redstart stayed four days and spent all the time down on the beach or around the rocky outcrop to the north. It easily found enough insects to survive and was present after Storm Deirdre .

Today a Little Gull was present but too far away to take any photos

Purple Sandpiper

Around 30 Purple Sandpiper, 15 Turnstone, 2 Oystercatcher, 4 snipe and a couple of Curlew at Sandsayre

Mountain Hares in the North Mainland

Its always good to find Mountain Hares and during winter they are easily found on the moors , sitting out in their white coats. When we lived in Sheffield we had the only English colony near Ladybower in Derbyshire.

This individual allowed a close approach, first photographed from the car then approached on foot to within 30 feet

Not always in full view, three more sat further up the hill with only their heads showing

To everyone that reads this blog have a happy Christmas and I look forward to posting another blog very soon

Black Redstart

It was nice to find a Black Redstart just down the road at Sanick.in Sandwick.  This male was probably the best marked individual I have seen

I didn't manage to see it on the first visit but I saw it within 5 mins on the second visit inside the cemetery

It jumped on the wall and down into the carpark but by the time I had moved round it had gone

I moved the car round and sat a while in the carpark and it didn't take long before it was seen on the wall, this time for a bit longer. It then moved onto the ground and quickly moved over it to longer vegetation before getting chased off by a migrant Robin.

As most birds do a circuit I found it to the west hopping around on some piles of earth , then back into the cemetery

I quickly re located the bird working its way down a fence line, flying up onto the wire fence every now and again. It seem to find plenty of food on the ground.

It was certainly a good looking male, its mostly female/ juv birds that I have seen in Shetland. Although a male turned Black redstart did turn up to the north side of Sandwick a year or so ago

Black Redstarts tend to be late migrants to Shetland and birds sometimes stop into the long winter months. This one stopped 6 days and I saw it on its last day. The first few days of its stay it was also joined by a second bird

Other Black Redstarts turned up in Lerwick, Hoswick, Sumburgh & Boddam as well as several birds in the north isles. The same day I also saw the Siberian Stonechat down at Swinister but it was very mobile so no photos

The fields  in Sandwick are full of Greylag geese and feeding with these are Golden Plover (350) along with numerous Redwing, Fieldfare and Blackbird.

Other waders in these flocks include Turnstone, Redshank, Curlew, Snipe and Lapwing. A couple of days later, again in the Sandwick area I missed out on the Dusky Warbler at Hoswick, also Blue tit here which is just as rare.