Grey Phalarope reappears

After the last few days of gales the weather seemed to have calmed, although during the morning there was frequent showers

News came in that the Grey Phalarope had been seen again off the beach at Ireland near Bigton on the west side

It went missing yesterday and the day before had been seen down at St Ninian's to the south

Only one person present when i arrived but was soon joined by Jim Nicholson

The bird had only shown briefly over to the south side of the beach but large incoming waves made viewing very difficult

I saw the bird close in coming my way so waved the others over. It fed well jumping the big waves

After a few minutes it flew out and south again. I manage to pick it up way out close to three mallard

The weather had now turned rough with frequent showers, some snow and freezing temperatures, must have been 15 with the chill factor

It is amazing that the bird is here in Shetland, at this time of year it should be wintering off the coast of Africa

I headed back into Sandwick to find the roads covered by snow , but only at the north end.

Down in the marshy area, Lapwing (35) Redshank (12) Curlew  (6) Turnstone (46) Fieldfare (12) and an Iceland Gull at the Wart. Around 200 Greylag also fed in the fields

A Glossy Ibis has been seen down at Quendale but it is very elusive spending most if its time along the burn which cannot be seen from the road. This follows 3 more in Unst , all of which died. They may have been from the Orkney birds where 11 could be seen. Also in Unst the King Eider reappeared and the Ring Necked Duck is still at Tingwall

 

Shetland Ring- Necked Duck

 A male Ring- Necked Duck has been present on Tingwall loch since 26 October 2021. I have been several times and it has always been with a group of Tufted duck over the far side of the lock

I then went over on Tuesday afternoon, but the weather was bad, very dark and frequent rain showers but the Ring- Necked duck came quite close.

I too a lot of photos at a massive ISO20000 but at this setting came out very noisy, it was more or less dark as well being 3.50pm

Today i went again in better weather, although it was a strong wind and snow showers. The bird again drifted out towards the other side of the loch before slowly making it way to the middle of the loch. At least the light was a lot better

Ring Necked Ducks are all the way from North America.

Although they look like a Tufted duck at a distance they are easily identified as having a grey flank and a white wedge near the shoulder, its grey beak has a black tip and a white band. 

They always seem to associate with other diving duck such as Scaup, Tufted and even Scoter

Grey Phalarope in Shetland

News came in this morning from Paul Bloomer that he had found a Grey Phalarope at Ireland, Bigton in Shetland

Its unusual to find them at this time of year in Shetland, more an Autumn bird

I headed over the hill just 10 mins from where we live , conditions not good with Force 5-6 wind and frequent snow showers driving in off the sea.

As i opened the car door the cold he me, very very cold perhaps -4 wind chill.

On site already was a number of local birders all watching a small bird bouncing about on a very choppy sea

It started to come towards the shore and may have been within  10m or less to the pebble beach

It would then head out, often lost to view then reappear further along the coast before making its way back to the same spot in front of us

It was very difficult focusing on the bird with the very strong wind hitting the telephoto lens

It was feeding well often close to several Mallard and a few gulls including an Iceland gull

A good start to the year.