Shetland Waders & Seabirds

On Sunday Two Barred Crossbills still arrived in Shetland with further birds at Veensgarth, Yell, Hillwell, Bressay and Stromfirth around 17 in total with 25+ Common Crossbill.

It was interesting to read that a dead Arctic Tern was recovered a few weeks ago near Aberdeen and it was found that it was 32 years old, beating the previous record by two years. It was estimated that it may have covered at least 1.5 Million miles in its lifetime.

I ventured south and arrived in a very foggy Sumburgh. At the tern colony young terns could be seen, six in total with adults feeding them. Several first year birds flew around the pool and adults brought in some Sandeels.

Lots of Oystercatcher still fed in the paddocks and a small party fed and drank from the loch. What was unusual was one taking green weed out of the loch, not once but five times and this was draped over its beak.

A small flock of Dunlin arrived, one bearing rings. This bird was ringed at  Ynyslas Nature reserve near Aberystwyth, Wales in 12 August 2017

Several Ringed Plover including young also mixed in.

Not a lot on the beach excepts around 50 Common Gull.

At a voe in the South mainland I came across two otters, good to see in this area as two adults had been killed by cars two years ago so it looks like they have recolonised. There are plenty to go round with an estimated 1500 animals, the highest density in Europe

They both fed in the middle of the voe having a lot of success then the split up with one coming up to preen and eventually going to sleep.

Up at Sumburgh Head there was a lot of Puffins, People and Gt Skuas. The smell and sound is nothing like it was 25 years ago but still a great place to visit.

The Guillemot young, jumplings are at a stage they are ready to jump off the cliffs and onto the sea to be quickly followed by the adults and then they swim out into the north sea for a life that is full of hazards.

Never seen so many Skuas around the head, at least 25 with a few Arctic Skuas all looking for prey.

I did see one lift a young bird from a nest, possibly a herring gull. News of an Otter at the lighthouse is now become a regular feature, unfortunately its taking young Puffins.

Rare Bearded Seal in Shetland

A Bearded seal turned up out the blue a week last Friday and rested most of the day on the Bressay Jetty in Lerwick.

It seemed unconcerned with the steady flow of people visiting to see this rare Arctic visitor. This is the second Bearded seals in UK waters in the past two months with another in the Hebrides which arrived on the 18 April 2018, only the 23rd sighting.

So the Shetland seal, being the 24 Sighting was another surprise especially as it was in the busy harbour in Lerwick Shetland. In fact 14 of the 24 Bearded seals have been seen in Shetland.

Normally Bearded seals are found floating on ice packs around the Arctic circle, but it is easily recognised from the usual Grey and Common seals by its large bushy whiskers, not really a beard.

                                                                               This photo appeared in the Shetland Times

They can grow up to 3 metres long and large females can weigh up to 450kg, this one is a young female and only just over one metre long.

After the first day it went missing and some people thought it may have had a close encounter with a Killer Whale as when it turned up on Sunday it was carrying an injury

Jan and Pete Bevington, specialists in Seal and Otter rehabilitation looked closely and said the injuries were minor and may have caught its self when coming out of the water.

It spent several minutes on the seabed and may have been hunting for food, using its long whiskers to sense food which include, shellfish, fish and squid.

When a Herring gull flew round it dived for long periods and seem to be very wary.

Bearded seals tend to be solitary animals, often spending time in shallower water, hence its time in Lerwick. Its a pity it didn't sing, apparently it can be heard up to 20km away

On Monday morning it was still present for a short time disappearing around 8.40am much to the disappointment of several visitors. It reappeared later in the day and even early on Wednesday morning

But on Wednesday morning a women decided to climb over a barrier and scared the seal off, just before the council decided to erect a longer barrier at the edge of the sea to deter the seal from coming onto the slipway.

What a shame, I am sure it would have stayed a lot longer but expensive boats seem to be a better option for the council at least. 

It reappeared on Thursday on the jetty opposite and drew a lot of attention from the cruise liner visitors. Unfortunately two separate incidents happened according to reports.

The first when someone went down to stroke the seal - good job it didn't bite her, but the second was a Japanese tourist who jumped over the barrier and went and kicked the seal.

We will have to mount an armed guard in future. Anyway its still present even as we blog.

                                                                                                   Smile Please