signs of a Shetland spring

 The weather on Saturday was very spring like with lots of Sun, blue seas but cool. There was more bird activity as well, with several Skylark singing and some mating Common gulls. 

Daises are out in good numbers and daffodils are just coming into flower. 

At Grutness a couple of Ringed Plovers and 3 Mallards stayed over at the far side of the pool while several Lapwings displayed overhead 

Out in the voe a Gt Northern Diver gave good views but an Iceland Gull stayed distant in a mix flock of gulls. A few Black Guillemot and Shag came into the bay at high tide.

Over at West Voe, i counted 98 Long Tailed Duck and 2 Gt Northern Diver while on the beach 28 Turnstone joined Ringed Plover and Redshank.

A large flock of Starling was found feeding in the dunes.

Elsewhere an American Wigeon at Spiggie and a Green Winged Teal at Swinning while the long stay Firecrest was still in Yell

Birds

GN Diver (3) Long Tailed Duck (104), Shag (12) Black Guillemot (2) Raven (2) Hoddie (2) Rock Dove (6) Sparrow (20) Starling (150) Oystercatcher (120) Curlew (2) Lapwing (6) Ringed Plover (4) Redshank (4),  Turnstone (36) Common Gull, Iceland gull,  Gt BB, Fulmar, Herring Gull, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Wren, Twite (12) blackbird (2) , Mallard (3)

Grutness returning birds

Good to see Red Throated Divers returning to Shetland waters

Grutness is always a good spot to see these before they go back to their breeding grounds

We still have a couple of White Billed Divers further up north but these tend to stay mid water making it more difficult to see them

Lots of Long Tailed Ducks around the south mainland with 82 in West Voe and 8 at Grutness

Winter males always look smart far better than in the more browner breeding colours

Female LT Duck coming in close in an incoming tide

Turnstone numbers also building up with 76 at West Voe, 28 at Boddam, 36 Grutness and 22 at Sandwick. Also a single Sanderling, 12 Ringed Plover, 28 Oystercatcher and 6 Redshank around Grutness / Symburgh farm

Boddam Wildlife

A few from Boddam, still not a lot of movement although lots of Gannets back in Lerwick and Skylarks are starting to appear

Teal

Always good to find Common Seals

Around 100 Starling coming down from farm to feed in seaweed

 

Shetland Waders

The weekend was good weather wise, plenty of sun and fairly still

At this time of year there is not a lot of variation around but still plenty to see and photograph, Twite have lovely colours at the moment

Down at West Voe 72 Long Tailed Duck in the voe but right over the far side but along the beach a good number of wader

Purple Sandpiper always good to see, normally around rocky shores these were all out finding food in the sand

Apart from 68 Purple Sands, these were joined by 58 Turnstone , 4 ringed Plover and a couple of Redshank

A flock of 60 Oystercatcher flew over heading north, these are starting to appear on the east and south side of Shetland just arriving back from wintering in England.

Only a couple reported out on the westside.

The Purple Sandpiper always seem to be the last to fly with Turnstone the first

Apart from West Voe, out in Grutness several Cormorant and Shag with 6 LT Duck and 4 Black Guillemot

 

Lerwick seems to be holding onto a few Blue tit so it will be interesting to see whether they stop to breed

Purple sandpipers in flight

Greenfinch and a few Goldfinch still remain further north. A couple of Black Throated Diver, a rare visitor to Shetland remained near Brae with White Bill Divers.

Today a female Smew arrived at Spiggie before moving down to Brow Loch. Firecrest still in Yell with a few Common Scoter. A few Killer Whales have started to turn up, hopefully they will be seen in the south