Flocks and things

Despite light easterly winds not that many migrants turned up. The best was a Common Rosefinch at Grutness but now flocks of birds are starting to gather. Groups of 50-150 starlings are roaming about, especially around seaweed which provides a lot of insects to feed on.

On shorter grass a flock of Meadow Pipit (32) skylark(6), wheatear (8) and White/ Pied Wagtail (8) but no Citrine wagtail which was seen a few days ago near the pool at Grutness. Skeins of Greylag Geese are very vocal as they fly over.

The beach at Grutness held many waders until recently but during visits over the past few days very few have been seen. On the last occasion only Knot (1) Redshank (1) oystercatcher (1) Sanderling (1) Turnstone (1) and a flew over Curlew was present.

                                                                                            Oystercatcher

                                                                                                       Turnstone

Overall it seems quieter with all the main seabird now departed and  the Skuas have followed. Fulmars and Gannets are still around with plenty of young Herring gulls. Ravens and Hoddie Crows are moving further field with a few flying close to our house finding the occasional  meal put out for the smaller birds.

                                                                                               Gannet

A few bees especially Northern White tailed are visiting road side plants and coming into gardens, especially as the weather is so good. Even the odd Red Admiral and Painted Lady butterflies can be found, a great year for both.

                                                                                                      Sanderling

As the migration season is now underway I am looking forward to seeing falls of birds and more unusual warblers. On a different subject was this Sea Kale which is only the 3rd reported plant for Shetland, found by Logan Johnson (thanks for the location) on a beach near Tesco. Its about 1-1/2 feet wide on a shingle beach.

                                                                                                        Sea Kale

Having visited Boddam several times recently its hard not to see Brown Rats running about among the rocks especially on the west side.

                                                                                            Brown Rats

Autumn delight

The week started with problems with my 800mm sigmonster lens, the aperture wouldn't open or close so it was off to the camera centre in Lerwick at the beginning of the week. The heavy weight around 14 lbs in old money would cost a bit in postage to send off, but its a lens I have used a lot since i bought it off e-bay back in 2007 and I wouldn't want to be without out it during the migration period.

Having to use the 500 mm sigma 150-500 mm lens is still a good bet, with the crop factor it gives me 50 mm lens, the 800mm lens using the converter in the Nikon D7100 gives an incredible 1600 mm lens.

With the great weather Friday and Saturday we headed to the south mainland, always a good bet for a mixture of birds. With the Puffins, Guillemot and Razorbill long gone from Sumburgh cliffs we decided to stay at Grutness.

On the pool a Little Stint was still present along with three Dunlin

                                                                           Little Stint on the pool

                                                                                               

 
                                                                                      Ringed Plover

Making my way over to the beach a large flock of about 150 starlings flew over and landed on the top of an old barn. Also over 30 House sparrows fed on the jetty closely watched by two Eider which sat right at the edge near the sea.

                                                                                                Sanderling

At the beach a lot of seaweed had been washed up which attracted waders, starling, wheatear, white wagtails and a couple of Hoddie Crow. At the waters edge two Curlew Sandpiper looked impressive, the first I have seen since a summer plumage individual at Boddam the other June. This species is a scare migrant to Shetland with most being seen in September- six had been seen earlier in the day by Rebecca Nason.

                                                                                          Curlew Sandpiper

Other birds present included Knot (62) Sanderling (82) Dunlin (12) Ringed Plover (11) Turnstone (5) Oystercatcher (8) all looking superb in the afternoon sunlight.

                                                                                                 Knot

Heading back to the car two Red Admirals took flight, a good year for this migratory species, while a Large White the only species of butterfly to breed in Shetland was in flight around the garden area, Two Shetland Bumble bees also caught my eye as they fed on wildflowers along the roadside.

The following day we made our way around Scatness, a lot of standing water to the west of the main lock attracted Ringed Plover (42) and Sanderling (12) with small flocks of Skylark and Meadow Pipit flying over. Again only two Arctic Tern could be seen and these attracted the interest of a light Phase Arctic Skua. Right at the far end on a rock was a Grey Heron looking out of places as it stood close to 12 Shag

Autumn arrives

Its been a busy few weeks as we moved into our new house. What with various tradesmen coming and going and decorating it been difficult getting out. Autumn is upon us now and the bird migration season is starting up with plenty of variety.

                                                               Fulmars will be around all year

Lots of waders have been moving through, the south mainland the main attraction with Little Stints, Knot, Ruff, Godwits, Turnstone, Sanderling brightening up the beaches. More small migrants have been seen and we had good fortune to see a Black Redstart in Sandwick yesterday.

A couple of days ago we also located a Common Rosefinch, lesser Whitethroat, Pied Flycatcher at two locations and several Chiff-chaff and Willow warbler. Swallows  may have nested  Cunningsburgh as they have been regularly seen at the south end of the village and a House Martin flew over.

The cliffs have become a lot quieter, sadly the Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbill left some time ago but it seems that they have had a good breeding season. Gannets seem to be finding plenty of fish judging by the numbers clashing into the sea in Mousa bay.

A few Arctic terns are still a round, but large numbers have already left Shetland to start their 10,000 mile journey south. The Skuas will also be leaving following the terns south, few numbers now seen each day.

                                                                   Young Arctic Terns with food

Judging by the number of hedgehog road casualties, it seems that a large number of young are born and die on the roads, these are providing food for gulls, Hoddies and Ravens

Large flocks of Starlings are moving around with many feeding amongst the seaweed. Although I saw a large flock down at Sandsayre yesterday when i did my first beach survey count they at least seem untroubled by the large amount of fishing nets washed up. Its always sad to see Gannets with fishing line or nets around their feet, a common item they use for nesting material. A trip up to Hermaness will show the amount used and the threat it causes. Back to the beach survey, and no birds found dead which is always good.

I have started a garden bird list, in Shetland they count birds in the garden and any seen from the garden which is interesting. This has allowed me to collect Whimbrel, Lapwing, Curlew, Oystercatcher Gannet, Arctic tern and common birds such as starling, sparrow, Wheatear and Blackbird- must get some bushes planted up soon

Food

Its been a busy few weeks as we finally moved into our new house in the south mainland yesterday , you can see more at shetlanddream.blogspot.co.uk

                                                                                 Kittiwakes deserve a break

Food is something we all need and wildlife is no exception. While we can all go to Tesco or the Co-Op and stock up, providing there is anything on the shelves, the birds are reliant on fish stocks. Shetland has a rich stock of fish and this year seems to be better than most for a wide variety of species, even for sand eels which are crucial to the survival to any seabirds and divers.

                                                                         Some birds rely on others to catch the food

It’s been good being in Shetland since April, well before the Arctic Terns arrived back and in the early stages of breeding for other cliff nesting seabirds. After a number of unsuccessful breeding seasons it’s looking like a good year for most species, but this needs to be confirmed. Is this just in Shetland or has this happened elsewhere as well?

 

                                                                             Young Arctic tern at Sullom Voe 

Starlings have done well by the number of young we have seen in flocks all around the isles, with several flocks of 500 on the moors, Sparrow,  Wheatear, Blackbird, Wren, Meadow Pipit and Skylark- all the common species seem to have had a good year as well.

Shetland only has around 70 regular breeding species so any additional species that breed are welcome and it will be interesting to hear which have been successful.

                                                                                             Fulmar and chick

Migration is starting to pick up with Greenish and Sykes warblers seen recently; flocks of waders are passing through with good numbers of Sanderling, Knot, Redshank, Dunlin and Turnstone. The latter in decent numbers on Clickimin fields with over 70 present earlier this week and they also could be seen on Tesco roundabout with just over 20 present feeding with Starlings.

                                                                                                    Knot at Grutness

Good breeding season

These are a few photos from recent trips around Shetland. Its good to see so many birds bringing in fish, these tended to be sand eels early in the season but now this has changed to small fish, not sure what species. Talking with a few people it seems everyone is predicting a good breeding season for once, it seem quite a while since we could say that.

                                                                                 Sumburgh Head

I have seen a number of young puffins either at the entrance to the burrow or just above the entrance, generally around 9-10 pm but also one early morning. Puffins have also been bringing in food as with predators such as Gt and Arctic Skua down in numbers more birds seem to be getting through.

                                                                              A 3rd year bird

Fulmars have large young on the nest, these white balls of fluff seem too big for predators and seem quite happy to be left while the adults find food.

                                                                                       Fulmar Young
On the cliffs, Shag have large young , a few guillemot young have been seen late at night diving off the cliff to join the adults in the sea while Razorbill young fledged a while ago.

We visited Yell the other day and watched Red Throated Divers catching large sand eels which indicates that young may be present.

                                                                Red Throated Diver at Mid Yell pier

Young Arctic terns are still well guarded with adults diving bombing me on the road at Grutness and Scatness. I really feel sorry for the birds having traveled such a great distance from the Antarctic to breed in Shetland.

                                                                                 Arctic tern young

Many young wheatear, wren, meadow Pipit and white wagtails have been seen as well.

Waders are very numerous in Shetland and again a number of young Oyster catcher, Red shank, Curlew, Lapwing and Ringed Plover have been seen in different parts of the islands

                                                                            Ringed Plover young at Grutness

Just hope that this successful season is repeated next year and that it is not just a one off

                                                                   Arctic Skuas numbers are down this year.

Terns

If you was a birds doing serious mileage each year, coming up from a place where food is plentiful and passing up through Africa and Europe and ending up in Shetland around mid- May only to find that a few more of your neighbors have failed to make the journey this year, would you be in a good frame of mind?

Then after settling down with your mate you managed to produce some eggs, closely guarding them from all intruders such as Skuas, gulls, rats and even otters. They hatch out and the race is on to find enough food which is hard to find most years.

These are Arctic terns who for around 20 years or so have found going difficult, numbers in Shetland being reduce from around 35,000 to around 7,000. Having traveled around 22,000 air miles a year for 15- 20 years they have not produced any young for a number of years.

Would you have given up hope by now ?

This year however things are looking a lot better, perhaps the best year for 20 years, with a large number of adults bringing in large – medium sand eels for several weeks.

As a result some Juv Arctic Terns have been seen at three colonies which is a great sight. This has brought more Skuas in for a closer look but with numbers of these predators low, more terns seem to be getting back to the nest unmolested.

                                                                                                          Arctic Skuas

At the Grutness tern colony, the problems are the common gulls that nest in close attendance, also sheep and Shetland ponies roam through the nest site no doubt crushing a few eggs as they go.

Let’s hope this is a good year for all seabirds the auks need a good year but I have only seen a few young and only a few adults with fish and also there are the Kittiwakes that have also been having a poor time of it

It was good of the council to erect a warning sign about Terns diving you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can see a tern waiting in the background