Waders

Waders are now returning in good number and local birds are starting to flock together. The last couple of days i have visited Grutness, Virkie and Scatness and all produced a good variety of wader.

A Little stint was the first bird seen at Grutness but flew off before I could get my camera ready. Young Dunlin could be seen beside the freshwater pool along with Redshank and Oystercatcher.

Down on the beach only 6 Sanderling scurried along the beach, now cleared of seaweed.

At Virkie the tide was out leaving a large amount of mud, this tidal bay is excellent but its a pity that the sun always appears in the wrong place. Down at the western side Knot (12) fed frantically along with Dunlin. Closer to the northern shore and along a patch of seaweed a dozen Turnstone fed, very well camouflaged with their superb mottled plumage.

A large flock of Sanderling kept moving along , occasionally flying up when a car went past and these mixed in well with the Ringed Plover. Further out Three Black tailed Godwit fed close to a large flock of Redshank and a few Curlew.

A day later Scatness revealed  six Ruff on the far bank well hidden at first before a Gt Skua flew over which put these and 9 Sanderling into a loose flock flying around the loch before landing in the same place. A Grey Heron was mobbed by gulls and skuas and then was joined by a second bird , at first hidden behind a wall.

Several Swallow showed well, not a common bird here although they have appeared to have bred in a few places this year. One was still collecting mud, which seems very late

Out on the short cropped grassland 89 Oystercatcher, 2 Bar Tailed Godwit and 18 Ringed plover joined forces to form a protective perimeter. Up at the top of the hill 89 Gt Black Back Gulls inc young stood about preening unconcerned by a flock of sheep that wandered very close by.

The odd Gt Skua and Arctic Skua passed over looking for any Terns with sand eels while out in West Voe bay several Gannet and Shag searched for food. Walking along the southern bank produced over 12 Wheatear and a similar number of Rock Pipit

A flock of Rock Doves also fed down beside the loch but gave up feeding when a Gt Black Back landed close. They always seem very nervous birds

Although there has been a lot of talk about the proposed wind farm in the central mainland nobody I have talked to had any knowledge that a turbine was to be erected just to the north of Lerwick  at Luggie's Knowe. They kept this one very quiet, i wonder why ? It is now the largest one in Shetland standing at 145 m to the blade tip

This might be the way they get these up, no one will be able to do anything when they are erected- a very clever ploy.

One migrant I manged to see yesterday, was a female Sparrowhawk coming in off the sea and headed low over the power station heading west.

Good old Albert

The report and photos coming out of Minsmere the other week of a Black Browed Albatross are quiet incredible. Bear in mind though that one had been seen across the coast in Germany so when one was found on the freshwater pool at Minsmere it was more like one of the wish list, only a handful of birders that saw the bird before it flew off never to return again.

It was back in June 1991 that we saw Albert Ross, the Shetland Black Browed Albatross which was present at Saito Hermaness between early 1970s and 1995  This bird built a nest each year hoping to attract a mate that never turned up as Albatrosses are birds of the southern hemisphere, extremely rare in these parts.

Bird watching is like that you never know what is going to turn up, as long as you are in, a so call hotspot - Shetland included then you have an excellent chance of seeing something unusual. These are normally islands or coastal locations, lucky we have both on the doorstep.

It been like summer these past weeks, except for the odd day of cloud and rain. On a great sunny, still day last weekend we travelled up to Sumburgh head . The car park was full indicating that Puffins could be seen on the cliffs.

looking over the wall near the lighthouse many Puffins stood close by, in fact hundreds stood around in groups or flying around. Some still collected nesting material, one decided to cause a fight but none could be seen carrying sandeels- a bad sign. we talked to an RSPB warden who said after a good start to the breeding season the second half was proving difficult, with few bring back eels.

                                                                                                               Fight

It seemed strange as the week before and after our visit to Sumburgh Head we watched a good number of Arctic Terns bring back large sandeels for young birds. How could these find food and the Puffins struggle?

Razorbills and Guillemots had left the cliffs a few weeks before and young birds had been seen, so these may not have been affected by the reduction of eels in the latter periods. Kittiwakes another species that relies on sandeels could be seen in very small numbers.

Curlew, Oystercatcher and Lapwing are beginning to flock in reasonable numbers, joining larger flocks of Starling. The Paddyfield Warbler is still present on Noss, but we still have not had time to visit the island even though we had two short trips to Bressay, the first island you must cross to get to Noss.

Autumn is with us now and it will only be a short time until some rarer birds start to turn up, this year though i will be more tied down with work.

Out West

On a visit out on the west side this last weekend it was good to be out in good weather. Lots of good birds to keep the interest including some young Ringed Plover, which seem late to me.

The young are very well camouflaged blending in with the landscape and difficult to see if they are not moving around. With any gulls and skuas around they need every bit of help.

We did see an otter, not very close but it did stay around for 20 mins feeding off shore.

It was interesting to see the otter swimming past Red throated divers which didn't seem too concerned

Although migrants may have been thin on the ground, Shetland always has something to offer with some great breeding birds. A couple of interesting breeding birds this year are Grey Wagtail, linnet, Chiff Chaff and Sedge warbler.

Just recently a Paddyfield warbler has turned up on Noss and a Turtle Dove at Brae, just a foretaste of a good autumn ?

Fields and roadside verges are a mass of colour at the moment, grass cutting has started and green channels have appeared. It seems that possibly a pair of Corncrake may have bred - to be confirmed, so i hope that the cutting has not affected this.

Skylarks have only just finished singing but Curlews and Oystercatcher are still noisy, passing over our house in small flocks on a regular basis

Returning waders

With the weather being so good we went to the south mainland passing verges full of colorful wildflowers including any Northern Marsh orchids. The grass has been cut in a number of fields and these are attracting waders , gulls and flocks of starlings. The most Oystercatcher in one field has been 87 along with 7 curlew.

Down at Grutness sparrows are still taking food and nest material showing that they will be having a second brood. A pair of White wagtail flew up from the pool then were lost in a large flock of noisy Arctic terns which flew across the road.

Many young common gull seem to have formed little clubs, but also a few were found dead. Its a fierce world they are born into with the larger Herring and Gt Black Back gulls are always on patrol looking for weak birds to prey on.

Down on the beach a large flock of Sanderling (123) scurried around the shoreline, often taking off and flying around before coming back to the same spot. Although they are just moulting out of breeding plumage they don't look as good as they do in spring. A few Turnstone joined them still looking dapper, this cannot be said of the young Wheatear, which looked tatty. Their plumage blending in with the seaweed.

                                                                                                          Sanderling

A few swallow can be seen, in Sandwick, Sumburgh airport, Fladdabister and Lerwick which also includes a Red Rumped Swallow. I have been down 5 times without seeing it, when it comes back has it has done for 5 days now, it stays around a couple of hours but always when we are busy.

Four Whooper swans landed on Clickimin briefly before heading west, they have successfully bred on Spiggie and Tingwall and no doubt other western lochs.

News from Fair Isle this week highlighted the problems seabirds have had over the past 30 years with Puffin numbers dropping from 20,000 to 10,000 in that time. This year they seem to be doing reasonably well as they are at sites on Shetland mainland. During the same time Bonxies have risen by 300% to over 400 pairs

If you get chance please look at my other two blogs

shetlanddream.blogspot.co.uk
shetlandsky.blogspot.co.uk

Orchids saved, then bad news

During my last blog I mentioned that we are very fortunate in Shetland as the council and many individuals look after the orchids- mainly Northern Marsh. They cut round each orchid along the verges in Lerwick and even bowling green cut grass gardens have an orchid oasis.

Other places outside Shetland don't seem to be lucky unless someone takes the time to make a stand. Our friends Ron and Mavis on a regular visit to Rother valley Country Park, nr Sheffield saw something that made them take action. An industrial lawn mower was just about to cut down a large area of grass, buttercup and yes many Southern Marsh Orchid.

They stopped the lawn mower and pointed this out to the operator who told them he was under instruction to cut the area in preparation for next week's Race for Life, as this would area be a feeding station.

As they could do no more they walked on and met a friend who seem to know most of the staff in the park, as luck would have it one of the main bosses was just driving by and they managed to stop him and inform him about the orchids. As this was about 1/2 hour after the mower had been originally stopped they didn't give the orchid patch much hope of survival.

A couple of days later they walked past the orchid area to find that the cutting had stopped exactly where they told the operator about the mass of orchids. All credit to the operator and the rest of the staff for halting the operation.

It just goes to show you can make a difference , so well done Ron and Mavis.

Whether its about conservation matters or taking part in surveys to establish whether a species or area needs conserving get involved.

So far since moving to Shetland I have been involved in beach surveys counting dead birds, luckily only a couple found since May 2014.

                                                                    Herring Gull Lerwick town centre

Also i send in records of all the birds i see whether its common or rare, many only send in rarities when in fact the valuable records are in fact the common ones. Who would have thought that Sparrow and Starling or even Herring Gulls would be in a big decline. Collecting records from sensitive areas is also important just look at the threat from the proposed wind farms.

In addition to these, this year i have taken part in two breeding bird surveys both km squares being in Sandwick. You do get a lot of satisfaction from looking at an area over a long period of time, especially when you compare data.

It seems that not all people appreciate nature:

Pilot whales are the primary targets of the infamous drive hunt in the Faroe Islands, known as the grindadráp. However, they are not the only species that is targeted.

Under the provisions of the Faroese Parliamentary Act No. 56 (the Pilot Whaling Act), whalers are permitted to catch or drive pilot whales and the following small whales (cetaceans):

1. Long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melas
2. Northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus
3. Atlantic white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus acutus
4. White-beaked dolphin, Lagenorhynchus albirostris
5. Common bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus
6. Harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena

On August 13 2013, in one of the largest single slaughters in recent years, a staggering 430 Atlantic white-sided dolphins were slaughtered in Hvalba, on the southern island of Suduroy.

Sea Shepherd

Very little migration at the moment, although a Red Rumped Swallow has been seen three times at the same spot in Lerwick over the past few days. Today 4 whooper swans arrived at clickimin loch but only stayed a few minutes before heading west. I did see three Swallow and a house Martin over the weekend so you can understand why several people have turned their attention to flowers and insects