Incredible

After the excitement of the past few days things got back to normal  with some local birds around Sandwick.

Many geese have been flying over Sandwick in recent days, reminding us that its autumn The local population of wild Greylags has recently been joined by a flock of Pinkfeet, these are very nervous and at any sign of human presence fly off into a distant field.

They need to feed so a local stubble field provided a good spot to spend some time photographing them from the car. Picking a quiet single track road to park up the geese soon return and started to feed, usually with one or two guard geese who are on the look out for trouble.

With around 70 Pinkfeet and 25 Greylag it was a noisy affair, these were joined by over 100 Rock Dove . A  flock of around 200 Skylark kept flying around while several Herring and GT Black Back gulls caused some disturbance as they flew close to the flock of Geese.

After overnight gales and rain during the day on Thursday , things settled down until the news came in that a Siberian Ruby throat had been found in Levenwick, about 5 mins away. I was soon parking up at the north end of Levenwick and could see a large number of birders already heading to a spot overlooking a garden.

When i got there about 70 birders had binoculars trained on a bush, with no access to the garden a wall of birders surrounded the garden and peered at the bushes. This reminded me of a Red footed Falcon that turned up at Norfolk back in the late 1970's when the bird was surrounded by Twitchers. The Ruby throat was spending a lot of time very low down in dense vegetation, but i was lucky to get two views

The second one the best when it could be seen low down at the edge of the bushes, the it disappeared into deeper cover. No chance of a  photo as it was very mobile, no doubt someone with plenty of time will come away with some photos

Apart from some very poor parking all the birders had behaved well and respected the requests of the house owners to stay outside the garden, no doubt this bird will trigger off an influx of birders from down `sooth'. During Saturday the bird disappeared for a time before being relocated in another garden in Levenwick and it was seen again today but due to heavy rain became very elusive.

On Sunday i managed to find two Yellow Browed Warblers up near the hotel in Hoswick, but viewing was becoming difficult due to strong wind. I therefore decided to photograph a flock of Golden Plover (97) in Sandwick from the car.

Today is a day in with gales and heavy rain, so i pity those out in the field. At least it gives me time for some photo processing

I really cannot believe how good this year has been so far with another mega bird under my belt, the Ruby throat following on from the Yellow Rumped Warbler, Whites Thrush and Red Flanked Blue tail. What next ?

Its all White with me !!!!!

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, Tuesday arrived sunny but still a bit windy, much better than Monday's fog and rain.

We headed south to Grutness arriving to find many cars near the pool and around 50 birders looking into the garden. News had got out that a Yellow Rumped Warbler (also know as a Myrtle Warbler) from America, had been showing well and it wasn't log before the bird performed well much to the delight of the birders.

After the wind picked up the bird became less active spending time deep among the bushes.While these gaps got longer we were also entertained by an obliging Yellow Browed Warbler.

                                                       Yellow Rumped Warbler - what a bird !!

We moved a bit further north to find  a White's Thrush, a superb bird from Siberia. At first deciding not to show, but then it moved out of cover to long grass where it spent sometime before briefly coming into the open and posing for a few photos before flying down to the bottom of the garden and out of view. This is typical of this species, a very shy bird that often stays under cover.

So glad I have my 800 mm lens back,having recently returned from Sigma. They have done a superb repair job. Had to use the lens off the tripod as the wall was too tall.

This is a large Thrush and unmistakable ,  a very rare visitor to the UK and the second Mega of the day.

                                                                                    Normally found in Eastern Europe (Green)

To relax a bit we then went for a walk up Quendale, seeing two groups of birders from Sheffield. Two of the party shared a holiday to Scotland back in 1979.

My first bird was a Yellow Browed Warbler in the bushes near the mill, then a Robin , Song Thrush and Meadow Pipits near the dam. Further up a Kestrel flew chased by a Raven and this drew attention to a small flock of Swallows (5) and passing Redwing's (5) which came down into a weedy area near the dam. To finish off, a Pied Flycatcher flew up onto the old house roof before shooting down to the main farm buildings.

Starling numbers had increased to around the 300 mark, feeding mainly on stubble but also flying back to the farm buildings when disturbed.

Magic days

Sunday started dry and sunny, but still windy. A large skein of around 100 Pinkfeet flew over the house calling, geese are always great to see and these counted as a Garden tick. Following these was a flock of 46  Twite.

We managed to get out in the afternoon and went to Veensgarth where initially no birds could be found  but then a flock of Common Redpoll flew in and landed in a tree close by - the tree may have been rarer. They flew over to the larger group of bushes and trees to join a very white , large Redpoll, this was the Arctic Redpoll which had been present for the past few days and it showed well until a group of birders turned up then it flew round the back to join the common Redpoll flock.

It gave further views to all and was joined by a Red Breasted Flycatcher close by which flew up onto a fence post several times. Raven, Hoddies and flocks of starling past by.

Moving down to Cunningsburgh we again locked onto another Red Breasted Flycatcher, this one giving very close views, and our 5th RBF since moving to Shetland. These flycatcher have arrived in the UK in good numbers recently It was good to see it catching flies, and coming back to the fence before digesting the insects. A Blackcap joined  the flycatcher in the garden.

Round the corner a very active Yellow Browed Warbler and a Pied Flycatcher put on a good show . O the way back to the car a couple of Swallow flew over, apparently they have nested in the area this year. Further  swallows put in an appearance as we made our way back to Sandwick. As we made our way past Mail a quick glance at the sea produced a couple of dorsal fins which instantly reminded me of Porpoise. Stopped in the lay-by at the top of the hill we looked back over the bay to see more than 20 Porpoise moving south, a great way to end the day.

Good news

I was so glad to receive a phone call from the camera centre in Lerwick on Thursday informing me that my 800 mm lens was back and fully operational. I wasn't able to get up to collect it until the following day as I gave an illustrated talk on `Close encounters with Nature ' to the social group at the Carnegie Hall in Sandwick.

Starlings gather

Heading down to the `Da Ness' is always a pleasure with so many good places to look for birds. Grutness beach was busy with birds with a reasonable size flock of Knot, three Turnstone and a couple of Redshank. Flocks of Starlings are all over the place and come the evening gather around Sumburgh Farm before finally heading over the cliffs and then down to a large cave to roost under Compass Hill.

After gales and rain Thursday night / Friday it was good to get out and on Saturday I completed my Beach survey and found no dead birds which is good, in three visits only one Fulmar found dead. On the beach Turnstones (54) gathered along with a few Redshanks, Starlings and a dozen Rock Pipits. A few wrens fluttered around the seaweed avoiding the oncoming waves.

A skein of Pinkfeet flew over but only four landed and joined a large flock of Greylag in a field. Around Sandwick on the short grassy fields a flock of Golden plover (98) joined Turnstone, Lapwing, Redshank and Ringed Plover. Golden Plover are always nice to see. It was still quite windy so sorry no photos from the day.

                                                                    Summer plumage Golden Plover

Quieter

On Sunday although the light was poor we headed down to Hillwell/ Quendale. The wigeon population had increased to 234 birds with the larger part of the flock feed on grassland close to the loch. A few Tufted, Teal and Mallard could also be seen but numbers were down from last week.

The stubble fields continued to attracted a lot of birds with large flocks of waders, mostly Golden Plover, Curlew and a few snipe and Lapwing.  Flocks of starling and sparrows which are always nice to see moved to and fro from the fields to the farm buildings while Wheatears used the Hay bails as a look out post. The continued presence of a Sparrowhawk made life difficult for all the birds as the constantly flew up creating a spectacular sight.

While only a Robin showed around the farm buildings, Ravens continued to provide some great entertainment as they chased each other and were very vocal.

I decided to head up the road past the farm to look over Quendale bay and i quickly located four Porpoise just out from the beach. Gannets passed over looking for shoals of fish and the ever present Fulmars skimmed the sea. Flocks of Shag also gathered in the bay while some gulls, mainly Herring congregated where a stream entered the sea, also a few Oystercatcher fed here.

On the way home we passed Spiggie where Whooper swans had increased to nine and Mute to eight, small numbers of Tufted and Teal were also present. Gt Skuas (35) could been seen out in the middle of the loch bathing. Around the edge of the loch, white wagtails ,Wheatear, Meadow Pipit and skylarks flocked together to feed on grassland

Monday started still, bright and still mild - news coming in that two Sub-alpine warblers had been found in Unst showed that even though the wind had turned to a westerly direction good birds could still be found.

We headed down to Sumburgh area for the day on Monday but it was quiet. At Sumburgh Head i was the only person present and after two hours only a Barred Warbler, Redstart a willow warbler showed and three Wrens moved round the cliffs on the south side. It was a beautiful day though and down at Grutness, two willow warbler and a female Blackcap moved through some bushes while down at the pool six white wagtails flitted about.

Nothing down at Sumburgh gardens so I made my way to the farm where a Red Breasted Flycatcher perched on a fence before moving into the garden. Starlings were very vocal and a flock of around 50 or so flew up from a stubble field which also held 28 Skylark and some snipe.

At Boddam I was just in time to see 4 grey Heron taking off from the shoreline attacked by a couple of GT Black Backed Gulls. A Small flock of Turnstone , a few Curlew and Ringed Plover joined a couple of Dunlin in the channel.

Yesterday we called in at Wester Quarry which was very quiet although a large flock of Raven and Rock Dove fed beside the road. Only a Chaffinch and Wood Pigeon (migrant) could be found in the gardens. In Lerwick at least 20 Black Guillemot fed in the harbour giving close views, now in their smart grey and black plumage. A few Grey seals came close as well.