More migrants

When the Siberian Accentor turned up at Mossy Hill last week it was a first for Britain and when i went the second day around 30 people viewed the bird. Yesterday around 1000 birders turned up at a car park in Easington, East Yorkshire to view possibly the same bird. Many arrived well before daylight then had to queue to see the Accentor through a fence, each person getting 10 mins.

Although this week has seen a lot of rare migrants arriving in Shetland its good to see common ones as well. Redwing started to appear last weekend in small numbers but by the end of the week small flocks had started to gather with 20- 30 in a couple of south mainland locations

This year has seen a massive number of Yellow Browed Warblers arrive in the UK and Shetland has had it fair share with multiple numbers at Hoswick, Quendale, Sumburgh and many other locations. This was once a very rare warbler but in recent years it has increased dramatically.

                                                                                    Yellow Browed Warbler

 This is one of my favourite warblers and this Autumn alone i have already seen more than 30 birds

 For the last few weeks a good number of Blackcap have arrived in the south mainland, both male and female present. Along with these a few Brambling,Robin, Blue Tit and many Goldcrest

Still in Quendale bay at least 15 Porpoise with a few people seeing pods of Humpback, Killer and Minke Whales

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Warblers

It was good to see a Garden Warbler out in the open when we discovered one in Sumburgh quarry. Back in Sheffield it would be a question of hearing the warbler not necessarily seeing it.

                                                                                                          Garden Warbler

Here it was about 25 feet away feeding among rocks and deep vegetation but also along the quarry face.

A couple of female and a male Blackcap fed along side of it

Also in the quarry was a Goldcrest, the first seen in a good few months, several Blackbird and a flock of over 30 Twite, as well as the regular Fulmars.

Down at Grutness a Yellow Browed Warbler showed for a short time before flying down into the field beyond as did Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler

                                                                                                           Yellow Browed

Not much else so headed across to Sumburgh gardens where a couple of Yellow Browed Warblers showed very well, while a Lesser Whitethroat kept well under cover.

Lots of Birders flocked to the south mainland with a Lanceolated and Blyth's Reed Warbler and even took time off to see a small pod of 4 Killer Whales which headed up the west side. We didn't see the Whales but had good views of a pod of more than 18 Porpoise

Scatness had a large flock of Skylark and Meadow Pipit, One Lapland Bunting and a number of waders including Redshank, Turnstone, Sanderling, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover and a flock of 30 Greylag flying south.

                                                                                                            Wigeon

                                                                                                   Meadow Pipit
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Lanceolated and other warblers in Shetland

The weather yesterday was superb, short sleeve birding for a change. Friday had brought a number of rarer migrants such as Little Bunting, Red Breasted Flycatcher , Rosefinch and Red backed Shrike along with a number of common migrants.

                                     Wood Warbler earlier in the week

With the fog clearing many birds left Shetland leaving just a few but replaced by others. At Sumburgh quarry no Little Bunting only a Willow Warbler and a few Blackbirds but on the way out I saw a Hobby moving fast chasing Swallows, it briefly settle on a pole before leaving south. This was also spotted by a couple of birders coming down the road. This is a rare visitor to Shetland and the third Hobby i have seen in the isles.

                                                              Lesser Whitethroat

At Grutness garden two birds showed, a Garden Warbler briefly before it disappeared over the wall, returning before flying west. The other was one of my favourite warblers, a Yellow Browed, which fluttered through the bushes in search of insects- it seemed fairly settled.

                                                                                          Yellow Browed Warbler

News came in of a Lanceolated Warbler at Sumburgh between the gardens and the farm, as i was only 5 mins away I made my way over to the spot where 4 other birder searched for this small brownish bird. This species is well known for its sulking nature, keeping low in vegetation and this was no exception seen first in a ditch then beside a wall.

It briefly popped up onto the wall and posed for a few photos before heading back into the iris bed.  It was my first Lancy and by all accounts this was a very showy bird. Later a group of ringers caught the bird, why they have to do this I cannot hazard a guess.

                                                                                                  Lanceolated warbler

What benefit would there be ? It seems that every rare bird must be ringed with a Booted Warbler a few weeks early getting caught in nearly the same place as this Lancy. Seems as though a lot of people are not happy with the amount of trapping that is going on in Shetland, especially when it is pointless with a number of people tweeting about it.

                                                                                                         Willow Warbler

Not long ago the Green Warbler on Unst was caught and DNA taken just to be on the safe side, despite several birders confirming the ID from field observations.

We are now in the grip of Autumn migration where we see a large number of birders descend on Shetland. The number of observations increase with more eyes searching out birds so hopefully more interesting birds detected. A few birders came across a Pallid Harrier over at Hillwell which moved off west.

                                                             Kestrel at Sumburgh Head

Other birds such as Pied Wagtail, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Wheatear, Twite, Wren, Mallard, Shag, GTBB, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Gannet, Curlew, Redshank, Lapwing, Gt Skua, Fulmar, Rock Dove and Eider all seen on the day

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