Little Egret and more

A Green Winged Teal and an Iceland gull (centre of photo) both at Spiggie

This week started well with more migrants arriving, although it was still cool for the time of the year. A reasonable number of Swallow and House Martin have been seen so lets hope some stay to breed, last year a pair of swallow nested at Cunningsburgh and i have seen birds around the area this year.

                                                                                                   Twite

On the west side 100's of Long Tailed and Pomerine Skuas passed Watsness. It now seems a long time ago that the male Long Tailed Skua set up a territory on Burra, which it held for 3 years

Down at Grutness a nice flock of Sanderling in various plumage held a ringed bird. This multi- coloured ringed bird created a lot of discussion on facebook as to whether or not its over the top. A close in Gt Northern Diver provided some photo opportunities as did the shags.

                                                This 4 year old Sanderling was ringed in Northern Spain

News of a Little Egret at Spiggie last Sunday morning was good, so a quick trip down saw the distant Egret feeding before being disturbed by a pair of Curlew. After we left it started to rain but this didn't deter more birders, including a bird tour for getting to grips with this rare egret for Shetland. This was the second Little egret we had seen at Spiggie, the last in the 1990's

On Monday i manged to get down to Levenwick after work and easily located the two male Ring Necked Ducks which had arrived the previous day.(These had moved to Hillwell on the Tuesday) They were very, very distant hence the poor quality photos. On the same bit of water, a Red necked Phalarope was busy feeding, no doubt this is one of the birds that will be on Fetlar in the next few days. A Hoopoe also appeared on Unst the same day.

Other birds at Levenwick included:
Gt Skua, Whitethroat, House Martin, mallard, Greylag, Red Throated Diver, Curlew, Lapwing, Snipe, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Wheatear, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, House Sparrow, Starling, Wheatear, Raven, Hoddie, Herring Gull, Rock Dove, Fulmar, Common Gull

 A pair of Shelduck displayed. while another pair protected 9 young in the south mainland, a strong hold for this species.

At Grutness a pair of White Wagtail chased away a Dunlin. Curlews flew over with lapwings and a very nervous mixed  flock of waders included Turnstone,Sanderling, Dunlin and Ringed Plover kept moving from one side of the shore to the other every few minutes.

It looks like Fair Isle is the place to be at present, with far more rare migrants than mainland Shetland, hopefully that will change soon as the period for migration normally finishes by mid June.

This weekend I managed to catch up with the corncrake in the south mainland, it called 13 times in 90 mins but didn't show despite being very close to the front of some very thick grass. Later in the day we went back but this time it didn't call in a 60 min period. Many have seen this very showy bird but this is the third time we have been without success. A party of six swallow was nice to see along with sedge warbler and a few chiff- chaff, but little else yesterday

slow, slow, quick , quick

Last weekend had a mixed bag of weather which has resulted in a slow start to the migration season. Common migrants such as Willow warbler, Chiff chaff, Swallow, Robin and Blackcap seem reasonably plentiful.

Arctic Terns and Skuas are here in small numbers but wide spread, but so far this year has been poor compared to the same time last year.

A number of Gt Northern Divers in both winter and summer plumage was seen in the south mainland together with a small number of Long Tailed Duck in the first week of May. It was cool with rain on a number of days keeping migrants down, that was until the following week.

Week commencing the 10 May came with lots of migrants arriving, Redstarts, Wood Warbler, Long Eared Owl, Common Crane (2) and on the 11 May a Dark eyed Junco down at Toab. I didn't get this news straight away as I was delivering a photography course in Lerwick and then needed to go shopping. When I checked my messages around 2 pm the bird had already been present three hours or more, but it seemed settled and even sang.

Just as we arrived at Toab the heavens opened and it started to rain heavy, so much so we gave up after an hour. Other birders arrived after six and although it was raining it was no where near as hard and they managed some brief views and photos.

The next day the weather looked more promising so again we headed south. On arriving I met up with a birder from Fife who had travelled up on the over night ferry hoping to get a glimpse. We looked in the garden and surrounding area but the bird had gone and we gave up after an hour and a half. The first two House Martin, Swallow, Willow Warbler and a singing Sedge warbler the best of the birds. Two late English birders from London didn't seem pleased with the news and after a bit of swearing jumped into a hired car and shot north to the Crane site at Levenwick where again we all dipped.

A Kestrel at Quarff hovered near the main road, while Henry's Loch held coot and Tufted (4). Stopping at Clickimin two mute swans (both juv's) fed close to the north side of the loch, over 40 Tufted in two flocks were the only duck present. It was good to see over thirty Arctic Terns on the small islands and although nothing special was present at Helendale a House Martin flew over.

Over the last few months birds have been in song, but one bird has not been heard very often and that's the wren. It doesn't seem to have been a very bad winter so i don't know why they should be in such small numbers - Do you have many Wrens in your part of Shetland, please let me know !

Skylark singing

Spring is my favourite season, although i have enjoyed winter, its now time for some new birds to arrive in Shetland after a long journey from Africa. It will be interesting to see if any new species are added to the breeding list normally around 70 species in any one year.

From our door we can hear Skylarks singing, something that would have been impossible from our Sheffield home.This species has been declining in England for many years and the farmland bird survey (lowland farms) that I ran in Sheffield indicated that they could only be found in areas where spring crops had been planted. Many farms had turned to autumn crops and as soon as this happened the skylarks disappeared the same can be said for Lapwing.

In Shetland the habitat is less affected by crops and is mostly moorland or rough grass with damp areas which is attractive to Skylarks and Lapwing. I have just started a breeding bird survey so it will be interesting to see how many pairs will be found on what is mainly rough grassland with some sheep.

Shetland holds 1%  of the UK Lapwing and Skylarks population, but both are in decline. Lapwing by 48.6% in Shetland and Skylarks possible by 25% in Scotland between 2010 - 2011, Scotland has been a UK strong hold for Skylark for many years.

Since we have been visiting Shetland there has been an increase in the number of cattle which is more beneficial for wildlife as they graze grass less than sheep.

Regarding the Viking wind farm a survey

Survey's 2003- 2010 revealed that possibly 12% of Lapwing population ( 1740) , 10% of the skylark population ( 28,000 approx) and 10% of the Meadow Pipit (10,000 approx) will be affected by the development.

The weather this last few days has been more like winter with strong gale force winds, rain and hail, with some fog. Despite this there has been a fall of Redstart, Robin, Ring Ousel, Hawfinch, Willow Warbler and even a Waxwing in Lerwick

Migration has started

With the excellent weather this week it was good to get out down the south end of Shetland. the variety in the landscape always seems to attract good birds. As we left our house we could hear Skylarks singing something we could leave expect to hear around Sheffield. A pair of noisy Oystercatchers flew over put up a pair of Herring gulls which have taken over ruling our field.

More Lesser Black Backed Gulls have arrived back on their breeding grounds, far behind the Fulmars which have been on ledges for some months. Down at Sumburgh many Puffins crowd the ledges, while many more people are coming down for a visit.

Many Wheatears are showing, Chiff chaffs early migrants can also be seen around any large vegetation. It was good to see our first swallow catching insects over a quite Sumburgh airport. On the sea winter visitors are still with us and an increasing number of Gt Northern Divers are in the bays, some in winter plumage others moulting into breeding plumage.

Long Tailed ducks are still in small parties, the largest 18 birds looking superb on the still blue sea. Small numbers of eider are still in display mode, a lot of chasing and calling going on. All the Black Guillemots seen over the past week are in breeding plumage, the same cannot be said of the waders.

Turnstone are just about showing signs of their Rufus breeding plumage but are still in large flocks. Oystercatchers are mostly in pairs, but we did see three large flocks of over 50 birds, perhaps these are on the move further north. A few Bar tailed Godwit have arrived with most on the coast. Lapwings, now in smaller numbers are displaying over a number of sites while the bubbling Curlew calls come down from the hillside.

A few rare migrants are now cropping up and we had excellent views of a Sandwick Tern fishing just in front of us, catching one small fish in 5 attempts. A wary Green Winged Teal is still at Spiggie, giving some brief views while on the west side a male American wigeon comes and goes. A few Long Eared owls have been roosting close to us

A lingering Iceland gull is still visiting the same field at Quarff as it has done since December and also another one joined a flock of gull while we watched the  Green Winged Teal down at Spiggie. The odd snow bunting can also be found together with small numbers of Brambling and Redwing.

During an evening visit to St Ninian's isle it was great to see another five Gt Northern Diver close to the Tombolo and a  large flock of  58 Long Tailed Duck. A roost on the far side of the bay, produced a flock of 89 Oystercatcher

                                                    A sad sight, this dead Gannet at St Ninians Isle

This weekend we came across a Whimbrel back from Africa and a fly over Black Kite just north of Sumburgh Airport

Down on the beach

I really enjoy getting onto the beach, its not something we could do very often living 70 miles away before moving to Shetland.

Over bank holiday weekend we visited Meal beach at Burra.  Before the gate a large amount of plastic had been stored , taken off the sands, this didn't seem to make any difference as the high tide line was littered with lots of other plastic items. Being a west facing beach the waves bring many items, such as car seats bottles, boxes, cartons, rope, buoys and many other things.

The other day there was an article about McDonald's fast food company, when 4 Happy meal balloons were washed up on South mainland beaches. McDonalds have been contacted but all the reply said is that they are not really concerned and that the balloons are biodegradable something that most people will disagree with.  You would have expected a balloon dated 2014 and having travelled in the ocean some distance to have started to decay if that was the case.

Bear in mind that the closest McDonalds in 160 km away. Balloons seem to attract a number of animals and birds who think its food. Its an alarming fact that in the last 15 years the amount of marine litter washed up on UK beaches has more than doubled. The majority of this litter is plastic which never really breaks down. A lot of plastic absorbs toxic chemicals which are very harmful to our wildlife.

It has been suggested that 100,000 marine mammals and one million birds die every year as a result of digesting it. A plastic bottle may take 450 years to break down !! micro plastic can hold concentrates of organic pollutants such as PCB's which can enter the food chain and accumulate (Thompson et all 2004)

On average there is 46,000 pieces of plastic floating in every square mile of sea. A lot of fishermen have joined the Fishing for litter  campaign, 200 Shetland and Scottish fishing boats have landed over 600 tons of  marine waste   (2013) and in eight years an amazing number of 35 million empty drink cans.

                                                                                       Fulmar eating wood

A recent study found that 95%  of dead Fulmars had a substantial amount of plastic in their stomach.In one case where a Sperm whale was washed up on a beach in Spain it was found to have 17 Kg of plastic in its stomach

                                                                           Fulmar eating a piece of cloth

Meanwhile the 28th year of Da Roar Redd Up will take place later this month on the 25 & 26 April this is where around 20% of the Shetland population turns out to collect rubbish from beaches and ditches around the island, last year over 65 tons of waste was collected. This is an incredible amount and just goes to show how much people values the environment in Shetland.

First signs

Its surprising how quickly Spring arrives, for a few weeks we have been seeing Fulmar back on the cliffs, noisy Oystercatcher back in the fields and a few migrants such as Goldcrest and Chiff Chaff. Daisy have now been joined by bright yellow primroses and the days are getting longer.

                                                                                 Only one Puffin present so far

After a few days of sunny mild calm weather April 1st brought an April fool in the form of snow. For a few hours blizzard conditions prevailed, giving a good covering of snow, but by morning it had all disappeared as early morning rain had erased all traces of white.

Spring watch was on Friday night showing, at least down in England lots of Spring activity was happening. Chris Packham et all asked for 5 signs of spring to be recorded and sent in.

1. First oak leaves
2. First 7 spot ladybird
3.First Hawthorn flowers
4. First Swallow
5. First Orange Tip butterfly

That's going to be a problem to all of us in Shetland as basically we will only be able to submit the swallow records and possibly the 7 spot ladybird.

The other day i was contacted by Paul Harvey who asked whether i would like to take part in the Shetland Breeding bird survey. This requires two visits to a given location, the first between April 20th and May 10th. The second between May 20th and June 10th, following set transect routes and recording breeding activity.

                                   The Shetland Wren, numbers fluctuate depending on how bad the winter has been

I have been allocated two squares in the Sandwick area and will use the BTO codes to record species. Both these squares have been covered in the past but the observers have now left Shetland. I have been involved with similar surveys in Sheffield, these have included Farmland birds, hedgerow birds, Woodland Birds and wildfowl, each very interesting and it is good to compare year to year results.

                                              Blackbirds are with us all year, but just how many breed in Sandwick?

Without surveys such as this, its down to guess work on whether bird species are either decreasing or increasing. I am still continuing the beach survey in Sandwick which takes place throughout the year on a monthly basis. Also last year I also recorded both Bee and Butterfly records, which both had a good year as the weather was mostly dry and sunny throughout the Spring and Summer.

                                            White Tailed bumblebee

Today we had our first visit of the year to Sumburgh Head, despite the showers about 20 people could be seen looking over the cliffs. with everyone wanting to see the first Puffin back on the cliffs. We only manage to locate one Puffin on the north side which only stayed a few minutes before flying down to the sea. 

Despite scanning through several large flocks of auks on the sea we couldn't locate any more. Impressive numbers of Guillemots and fewer Razorbills joined Fulmar and Shags on the ledges. A few Rock Dove flew over and over 30 Twite fluttered between the cliffs and the look out post in front of the lighthouse.

Few birds could be found around the lighthouse, with only Robin (2) Blackbird (3) and a Wren showing, no sign of any Snow Bunting that had been seen earlier in the week.