Otter

Otters are one of my favourite mammals and are fairly common around Shetland. Once you get your eye in they are reasonably easy to spot.

Shetland has one of the highest density of otters in Europe with around 1500 around the coastline.

Surprisingly the best and easiest place to see them is at the inter island ferry terminals. They don't seem to both about people being as close as 20 feet away providing you don't move suddenly or make a loud noise.

I remember a few years ago while waiting for the ferry, i had just got out of the car when two Otters ran down the pier towards us passing three cars, they stopped about 6 feet away before disappearing over the edge and back in the sea.

The best time to look is two hours either side of high tide when they like to find food, often i have seen them at a distance diving before they eventually swim to shore.

Just another reason to come to Shetland

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Seabird

A few seabirds in  the south mainland , Fulmars seem to be doing ok, but although some Puffins have been bring in sandeels there has been alot of birds just loafing around which is not a good sign of breeding

                                                                                                 Razorbill

Gannet numbers have increased along with Storm Petrels.  Over the years  the Mousa Petrels have increased from 8000 to 15000 birds which is superb.

Not many migrants around with a few Crossbill, Willow warblers and Grey Heron

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Hoddie & others

Hoddie Crows have a bad name in Shetland often stealing eggs in a well organised raid. 

Out of 8 young this is the only mallard young to survive this year in one area of the south mainland with locals saying the Hoddie Crows and herring Gulls are to blame

In the same area only one Ringed Plover chick survived

Shetland doesn't have a large number of corvid Species  with only Rook & Hoddie breeding.
On migration the odd Carrion Crow and Jackdaw may appear but only in small flocks

This young Hoddie was not nervous at all and just sat on a wall with the parent bird watching from a distance.

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Arctic Terns

Arctic Terns breed in Shetland, estimates of 73% of the British population. Yet numbers here have  dramatically decreased with sand eel numbers very low for many years. There may be only around 7,000 birds down from 35,000 back in the late 1980's

For 2015 and 2016 things sort of improved with young birds being fed large sandeels. It was good to watch Arctic Terns catch fish in Lerwick harbour and feed young close by both years.

This year the courtship period where they rebuild bonds saw large sandeels being brought in at the two colonies i watched. However as the breeding season progressed large sandeels seemed to be in short supply.

Terns from the Grutness colony tend to fly over to West Voe to collect food. On the return trip, if they have been successful they are often mugged by Arctic Skuas.

A few days ago i could see four Arctic Skuas working the area causing the whole colony to go up and mob the Skuas.

I was checking birds coming back to the colony and counted about 1 in 6 birds bringing large sandeels back to young. With other birds bringing very small fish , very difficult to see the fish in the beak of some. I couldn't see many young birds due to the nature of the terrain.

Over at Scatness i counted 38 Juvenile birds around the loch, much easier to check. These occasional got fed but only with small fish

At least this colony seem to have raised a reasonable number of young. Lets hope i have under estimated.

With Arctic Terns travelling around 22,000 a year its a small wonder they come all the way to Shetland for a few months, only to find there is very little food

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