Changes

The week started well with excellent weather so we headed into Scalloway. Just outside Sandwick a Merlin was chasing a Raven, usually its the other way round, this was the third Merlin in a week. The Western Bonelli Warbler was still present but now further up the road and very active. I got several good views but it was impossible to photograph being high up and often in among the branches.

Plenty of common migrants still around with my first Shetland Blue and Gt Tits, also Chaffinch (4), Blackcap, Chiff Chaff (5), Robin (6) Goldcrest (2) Siskin (12) Collard Dove (5), Blackbird (12) Redwing (1) attracted to the wooded gardens.

On Monday we managed to get out in the sun, it was a superb day , still warm and just great for photography. At Sumburgh head only one other person present as i made my way up to the top. Song thrush, Robin and Blackbird found by a wall and then the sound of a whooper swan heading south drew my attention to a large flock of Geese heading my way, these Greylag past overhead calling and continue to head south.

At first only a flock of Twite (18) present around Lighthouse but on rough grass a Snow bunting  and a flock of 12 Brambling put up a good show and provided photo opportunities. A few Robin, Song Thrush and a Redwing kept appearing from the rose bushes.

Later in the week i caught up with the Long eared Owl at Virkie, not the best view but it  had just been flushed by two birdwatcher,  so it was a bit nervous. At Exnaboe a Sparrowhawk was chased off by a Raven and a walk along the road produced the following:

Blackcap (2) Goldcrest (2) Robin (3) Yellow Browed warbler (1) Song Thrush (1) Blackbird (12) Curlew (86)

A short distance away was Spiggie where many birds could be seen using the water, with a flock of 164 wigeon mixed in with Pinkfeet and Greylag at the southern end. At the northern end Whooper (14) and Slavonian Grebes (3) gathered close to the marsh where Teal, Curlew, Redshank and Tufted had settled in for a sleep. At least 8 Goldeneye followed the Whooper swans waiting for any food to be brought to the surface,

A Flock of 86 Lapwing headed south , closely followed by a Golden Plover flock 46 (birds). The last stop was Geosetter where a flock of Blackcap (5M 2F) flew up from a weedy area opposite the willows. Also seen here was a Yellow Browed warbler,  Goldcrest (2) , Robin (3) Wren (2) & Blackbird (2)

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Little birds still hurt

Little birds still dominate the scene here in Shetland. The Ruby-throat and Whites Thrush have gone but if you are after some more rare birds then a Bonelli Warbler in Scalloway , several Olive backed Pipits, Lancolated Warbler, Arctic Redpoll or Bluethroats may help ease the pain of missing the first two. On Friday I met one birder who had flown into Shetland hoping that the Rubythroat might turn up again.!!!

                                                                                                   Black Redstart

One of the best ways not to get caught out is to find your own birds, which is what i concentrated on this week. No major rarities but i was happy with what i found and photographed. Few birders around the places i went to but i did talk to one who said there was nothing around. When he said nothing, there was nothing he found interesting !

What a shame because i came away this week with the following birds. Totals for week in South Mainland

Merlin, Short Eared Owl. Whooper swan (6) Reed Bunting, Sanderling (33) Wheatear (70+) Robin (100+) Song Thrush (100+) Redwing (35) Blackbird (50+) Twite (200+) Eider (12) Shag (77) Cormorant (4) Starling (300+) House sparrow (100+) Swallow, Black Redstart (3) Yellow Browed Warbler (2) Chiff Chaff (3) Goldcrest (8) Hoddie (20) Raven (70+) Oystercatcher (100+) Ringed Plover (6) , Brambling (6) Chaffinch (3) Barnacle Goose (30+) Pinkfeet (100+) Greylag (100) Mute Swan (17) Tufted (12) Wren (8) Gt Skua (1) Blackcap (5) Fulmar, Kittiwake, Herring Gull, Gt BB, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Black Tailed Godwit (5) Curlew (70) Golden Plover (106  ),Lapwing (50) Meadow Pipit (60) Skylark (60) Turnstone (66) Purple Sandpiper (6) Rock Dove (150) grey Heron, White Wagtail (20), Siskin (12), Snipe (6) Mallard (30) Black Guillemot

I did spend alot of time photographing the birds so I am sure many other birders would have seen more.

Its good to see any birds, Shetland is very fortunate in having good numbers of common ones, such as Starling, Sparrow and Blackbird for we should not take this for granted.Coming in from Sheffield we were too far from the coast to experience migrants so it was great to see so many robins dropping in after the gales earlier in the week.

As for Song Thrush, i recon i saw more in one hour at Sumburgh than in 3 years in Sheffield, even the local birders said numbers of this species have been unusual.

Siskin came over the sea wall exhausted and started to feed immediately. It seems this finch is on the up with good numbers in most areas. All these birds inevitably attracted birds of prey, with Merlin the only regular breeder in Shetland it was great to see one close up.

I came round a wall to see it sat on a fence post looking the other way, I knew that it would spot me straight away when it turned its head so I rattled a few  shots of, but it turned and stayed for a few seconds before taking off and flying very low after a flock of Twite.

The Short Eared Owl was great to see, it appeared to be flushed from a stubble field and flew over a wall and landed on the airstrip. It soon took off and flew north chased by a couple of raven. I remembered earlier in the year that i had good fortune to watch 12 SE Owls in the air at once at a North Lincolnshire hot-spot, sadly this area has been ploughed up.

I did see another SE Owl a couple of days later but it was not as close.

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.