Corncrake

As a photographer as well as birder you have to patience, for some this doesn't come easy. This year i have already met birders who have no patience, these are mostly twitchers who have dipped on a bird after a long journey.

Living in Shetland you can normally react fast to a new bird. Some show themselves quickly others hide away. The corncrake in the south mainland was very showy, well to some, but not in my case. Some went down to the south mainland and saw the bird within 1/2 hour, it took me 8 visits and 8.5 hours to finally get a view which was a relief.

I heard the Corncrake calling on numerous occasions, sometime very close but it didn't show. On the occasion it did I heard it calling then it moved to a new location before showing among tall vegetation. I was in the car (it wouldn't show if you stood close) but after a number of photos I had to move the car as i was blocking the road.

When I turn round and got back to the singing area I saw it fly off landing on the other side of the bay. I headed round and came across a bird singing well away from where i saw the bird land - was there two birds?

I also found out that at the same time another Corncrake was calling from a village close to where we live. I have come across calling Corncrakes on four other occasions, two in the south mainland and one 10 miles north of Lerwick but these didn't show. One of these pointed out by Bill Oddie who was up on holiday.

Outside Shetland I have had Corncrakes calling all night while camping on the North West coast of Scotland, and visited Coll the Corncrake capital with many calling birds.

Farmers are now given grants for delaying cutting and also cutting in a way that allows the Corncrakes to escape rather than boxing them into the middle of a field. In addition to these birds a couple of quail have been heard calling from farmland.

Dunlin

While Dunlin are reasonably a common breeding wader its always nice to see them close up and especially when there is some interaction between birds. The following photographed at Boddam a few days ago.

We headed north on Friday and although we had very mixed weather we did see a good few things starting with an Otter at Toft, unfortunately a short view as it appeared just as we boarded the ferry

Herring Gull at Boddam

On Unst the weather closed in but broke around lunch time. Swallow appeared at Haroldswick, Baltasound and Skaw. Also at Skaw a female Red Backed Shrike, chiff chaff, Whitethroat and Pied Wagtails(2). Back at Uyeasound 6 whooper swan fed on a near by loch.

Common Gull Grutness

More migrants arriving this weekend with King Eider in Unst, White Billed Diver at Eashaness and several Greenish and Icterine Warblers, Red back Shrike and several Red Admiral. Unlucky for us a Pod of killer Whales moved passed Lerwick on Saturday evening heading north and feeding on seals but we were down at Sumburgh at the time too far to head back.

No change

Monday started cool again but improved by the afternoon so we went down to the corncrake site in the hope of getting a view but no appearance in an hour although it did call close by only once.

A car pulled up and a birder talked about the crake which he had seen briefly earlier that morning, he introduced himself as Robbie Brookes, someone who i had been following on his blog for a long time. He was out of his usual range spending most of his time up in Unst.

At Helendale mid week only a Chiffchaff sang, on Clickimin Mute swan(3) Tufted (28) Mallard (4) and several Arctic tern provided the entertainment

This weekend the weather was mixed so we made the most of our trip down to the south mainland. Resisting the urge to go and look for the Corncrake was a mistake as Dougie Preston managed superb views on Saturday morning.

We did however manage three Gt Northern Divers in summer plumage and several close up Sanderling and a few Turnstones in great summer plumage, they do look stunning at this time of year.

Starlings are all displaying and many bringing back food to young. Blackbirds seem everywhere with the white tailed male seen again at Sumburgh. A few swallows have made it to Shetland unlike many other migrants that would normally have been here had the wind direction been from the east. The weather on Friday was not spring like at all with snow falling in Yell and north mainland.

A barrier seems to have been set north of Orkney where many more migrants have been seen. Its possibly the poorest spring migration for years and even the breeding birds seem to be here in lower numbers. terns especially seem to be here in smaller numbers.

Of course there is still a few weeks for late migrants such as Marsh Warbler, the odd Egret or Heron lets hope for a few days of easterly winds very soon.

Little Egret and more

A Green Winged Teal and an Iceland gull (centre of photo) both at Spiggie

This week started well with more migrants arriving, although it was still cool for the time of the year. A reasonable number of Swallow and House Martin have been seen so lets hope some stay to breed, last year a pair of swallow nested at Cunningsburgh and i have seen birds around the area this year.

                                                                                                   Twite

On the west side 100's of Long Tailed and Pomerine Skuas passed Watsness. It now seems a long time ago that the male Long Tailed Skua set up a territory on Burra, which it held for 3 years

Down at Grutness a nice flock of Sanderling in various plumage held a ringed bird. This multi- coloured ringed bird created a lot of discussion on facebook as to whether or not its over the top. A close in Gt Northern Diver provided some photo opportunities as did the shags.

                                                This 4 year old Sanderling was ringed in Northern Spain

News of a Little Egret at Spiggie last Sunday morning was good, so a quick trip down saw the distant Egret feeding before being disturbed by a pair of Curlew. After we left it started to rain but this didn't deter more birders, including a bird tour for getting to grips with this rare egret for Shetland. This was the second Little egret we had seen at Spiggie, the last in the 1990's

On Monday i manged to get down to Levenwick after work and easily located the two male Ring Necked Ducks which had arrived the previous day.(These had moved to Hillwell on the Tuesday) They were very, very distant hence the poor quality photos. On the same bit of water, a Red necked Phalarope was busy feeding, no doubt this is one of the birds that will be on Fetlar in the next few days. A Hoopoe also appeared on Unst the same day.

Other birds at Levenwick included:
Gt Skua, Whitethroat, House Martin, mallard, Greylag, Red Throated Diver, Curlew, Lapwing, Snipe, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Wheatear, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, House Sparrow, Starling, Wheatear, Raven, Hoddie, Herring Gull, Rock Dove, Fulmar, Common Gull

 A pair of Shelduck displayed. while another pair protected 9 young in the south mainland, a strong hold for this species.

At Grutness a pair of White Wagtail chased away a Dunlin. Curlews flew over with lapwings and a very nervous mixed  flock of waders included Turnstone,Sanderling, Dunlin and Ringed Plover kept moving from one side of the shore to the other every few minutes.

It looks like Fair Isle is the place to be at present, with far more rare migrants than mainland Shetland, hopefully that will change soon as the period for migration normally finishes by mid June.

This weekend I managed to catch up with the corncrake in the south mainland, it called 13 times in 90 mins but didn't show despite being very close to the front of some very thick grass. Later in the day we went back but this time it didn't call in a 60 min period. Many have seen this very showy bird but this is the third time we have been without success. A party of six swallow was nice to see along with sedge warbler and a few chiff- chaff, but little else yesterday