Female Long tailed duck

The number of Long Tailed Ducks are now starting to build up in several bays and it will be interesting to see what numbers are present before they finally move off to their breeding grounds further north.

Female Long Tailed Duck

The Killdeer is still present at Sandwick but little else, just hope for a better Spring migration this year.

Male Long Tailed Ducks

Long Tailed Ducks are one of my favourite birds especially when seen in winter plumage. They look so dapper yet coming into breeding plumage they have more or less a dark brown colour, pink beak and white spectacles.

These are small sea ducks and in Shetland they have a good distribution in the south mainland. Usually found in small flocks they start to gather in late March, especially in West Voe when around 200 birds can be seen.

They tend to move north into Bluemull sound where around 1000 birds can sometime be found. Back in the 1980's you could usually find a few birds summering around the isles but they now seem to be a lot rarer June - August

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Gt Northern Diver

Gt Northern Divers are present in Shetland all year round, with larger numbers in winter. As spring draws near numbers build up, especially in Quendale bay with over 40 birds present most years

In the south mainland Quendale, Grutness, Sandwick are all good places to find these divers

Red Throated diver disappear during the height of the winter months returning in March. These first appear on the sea before dispersing to breeding lochs around Shetland in spring

Only the occasional White Billed and Black Throated diver appear in winter and on one occasion a Pacific Diver showed in Grutness bay one spring.

The Killdeer is still present in Sandwick while a good number of Iceland Gull and a few Glaucous Gulls are still around the islands

                                                                                      Shag
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Grutness

Down at Grutness the other day and although it was overcast and cold there was quiet a lot of birds around

On the beach Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Sanderling, Redshank Purple Sandpiper and Oystercatcher, with a large flock of mostly Dunlin with a few Ringed Plover coming onto the beach from the east.

Its always nice to see Long Tailed Duck and on this occasion the males displayed, calling and throwing their heads back with females close by.

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White Winged Gulls

White winged Gulls certainly arrived in good numbers last Monday with Glaucous Gull (42) & Iceland gull (3) . January and February are always the best months to see these gulls in Shetland, most of Monday's Gull occurred on Unst but the North end of Lerwick is also a good place.

                                                                                          Glaucous Gulls in Scalloway

With northerly winds and snow on Thursday and Friday the white winged gulls moved to the South mainland and Glaucous (4) and Iceland (2) gulls appeared at Sandwick, with others at Grutness, Boddam, Scatness and  Quendale.

                                                                                               Iceland gull Sandwick

With ice all over the place on Saturday we stayed local and decided on a walk down to Leebotton. While only one Glaucous was present a flock of Redwing (30) was new in and feeding along the coastal path and in the grounds of Sandlodge.

On the jetty Ringed Plover (36) Turnstone (28) Purple Sandpiper (6) Redshank (6) dodged the waves. Waders in Sandlodge grounds included a further Turnstone (18) Redshank (10) Starling (50) Blackbird (16) Rock Pipit (8) and a couple of wren.

A few Eider, Mallard and Shag could be seen further out in the bay and the odd Gannet and Kittiwake GT BB, Herring and Common Gull passed by.

Elsewhere, the Killdeer is still down in Sandwick, while a flock of 6 Bean geese turned up near Quendale and a pair of Scaup at Scatness

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