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