White Winged Gulls

White winged Gulls certainly arrived in good numbers last Monday with Glaucous Gull (42) & Iceland gull (3) . January and February are always the best months to see these gulls in Shetland, most of Monday's Gull occurred on Unst but the North end of Lerwick is also a good place.

                                                                                          Glaucous Gulls in Scalloway

With northerly winds and snow on Thursday and Friday the white winged gulls moved to the South mainland and Glaucous (4) and Iceland (2) gulls appeared at Sandwick, with others at Grutness, Boddam, Scatness and  Quendale.

                                                                                               Iceland gull Sandwick

With ice all over the place on Saturday we stayed local and decided on a walk down to Leebotton. While only one Glaucous was present a flock of Redwing (30) was new in and feeding along the coastal path and in the grounds of Sandlodge.

On the jetty Ringed Plover (36) Turnstone (28) Purple Sandpiper (6) Redshank (6) dodged the waves. Waders in Sandlodge grounds included a further Turnstone (18) Redshank (10) Starling (50) Blackbird (16) Rock Pipit (8) and a couple of wren.

A few Eider, Mallard and Shag could be seen further out in the bay and the odd Gannet and Kittiwake GT BB, Herring and Common Gull passed by.

Elsewhere, the Killdeer is still down in Sandwick, while a flock of 6 Bean geese turned up near Quendale and a pair of Scaup at Scatness

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Mammals & more

Otters are a firm favourite of mine and we are very fortunate in Shetland to have the largest population in Europe

Shetlanders are just as keen to see otters as visitors and to help protect them from mad motorist they have put up signs in key places where otters may be run down.

The highest density of otters can be found in the North and west mainland and on the islands, however with a bit of patience you can also see them in the south mainland. 

 These otter prints were photographed down at St Ninian's isle but could well have been taken on a number of beaches. There are more dogs it seems on the beaches in the south and Otters and Dogs don't mix so they are a bit more wary

There seem to be a good number of Mountain Hares about, these can be seen anywhere in the North & West mainland down to Sandwick area. 

Moorland is the preferred habitat and in sunny weather they can easily be seen in winter sitting out taking in the rays. It helps that they have a white coat during winter so they normally stand out again the dark heath clad hills

Seems strange seeing a hedgehog at this time of year but we met one the other night crossing the road at Tingwall, no doubt encouraged out with this very unseasonable warm weather, it was 11 degrees that night.

We never got to see them but it was good to hear that possibly 4/6 Humpback Whales had spent around 3 weeks off the coast of Yell. I met Hugh Harrop who said it was a good 3 mile walk out over boggy ground and thick heather to get to the point to get close enough for photos.

We would have gone up last weekend but it was wet and wind, a shame but we hope they may come back next year.

As for the birds, last Thursday i saw three Guillemot in Scalloway harbour which i thought was early and Helen Moncrief (RSPB) noted on Monday a number had also come back to the cliffs, the earliest date yet.

On Monday a quick tour of Sandwick revealed that the Killdeer was in the usual field and never moved for 45 mins. 

Also:

Lapwing (38) Turnstone (88) Redshank (46) Snipe (4) Ringed Plover (16) Golden Plover (78) Curlew (8) Purple sandpiper (6) Barnacle Goose, Greylag (136) Redwing (6) Twite (12) Starling (50+) Sparrow (50+) Blackbird (8) Red Throated Diver (3 Sanick) Fulmar, GtBB, Herring Gull, Rock Dove (32), Merlin, Raven (6) Hoddie (8) Shag (8) LT Duck (2) Mallard (8) Teal (4) Common Gull (5)

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Killer move

Having missed out on the Killdeer by a day we spent time around Sandwick on Saturday and managed to record the following:

                                                                                                                        Snipe

                                                                                                                     Redwing

Greylag (166) Golden Plover (56) Ringed Plover (62) Turnstone (47) Redshank (6) Curlew (4) Snipe (12), Jack snipe (1),  Purple Sandpiper (6) Oystercatcher (2) Lapwing (18) Meadow pipit (26) Starling (50) House Sparrow (40+) Blackbird (30+ ) Redwing (20+) Fieldfare (4) Rock Pipit (12) Mallard (6) Robin (2) Long Tailed Duck (6) Shag (18) Eider (20) Rock Dove (16) Herring Gull (12) Gt BB (8) Common Gull (3) Fulmar (30) Black Guillemot (6)  Twite (12) Raven (4) Hoddie (12)

On the Sunday we also managed to see Dolphin (5) although at a distance, we saw them jumping out of the water and moving very fast out of the bay, couldn't identify the species at that range. The usual Porpoise (10) also seen in the bay.

Also the Selkies resting on the jetty. Further north people saw Humpback and Killer Whales

On the Sunday the weather was equally good so we went south to Grutness where Long Tailed Duck (6) Black Guillemot (4) Shag (8) Mallard (6) Teal (4) Sanderling (22) Turnstone (8) Ringed Plover (2) Gt BB, Herring Gull, Fulmar, Rock pipit, Meadow pipit all present but no unusual species.

Its interesting that we are finding more and more Blackbird's with white feathers in Shetland, this one at Sandlodge. Perhaps in Blackbirds the white feather show more against their normally black/ brown colouring.

This condition is known as Albinism and is commoner than first thought, it is usually inherited but the amount of white can vary considerably. It normally the male Blackbird that are affected and only occasionally females.

Other birds such as House Sparrow are also affected,  but a photo appeared on facebook the other day of an almost white Water Rail found in the north mainland, a very striking bird.

I walked round St Ninian's Isle the other day in superb weather, i was photographing Landscapes so no photos but did come across the following:

SE Owl, Snow Bunting, Jack Snipe (2) Common Snipe (12) Gt Northern Diver (3) Long Tailed Duck (8) Rock Pipit (15) Gt BB Gull (49) Fulmar, Kittiwake, Common Gull, Wren, Sanderling, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Starling, Redshank, Whooper Swan (3 Over) Lapwing, Hoodie, Raven, Twite, Blackbird, Herring Gull, Meadow Pipit, Black Guillemot, Shag

Just a few days ago the Killdeer re-appeared in the same field as before so hope to see the bird this weekend.

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