Down at the beach (ish)

A few Wigeon on the sea at Quendale not seen this happen before but i have seen Mallard,  Teal, Tufted and Scaup on the sea even though they are normally on fresh water

Long Tailed Duck, up to 7,000 can be found around the Shetland coast before they gather in Bluemull sound and then migrate further north to the arctic to breed, a few stay around the Shetland coast during summer

In Shetland these duck are also known as Calloo ducks, I prefer to see them in winter plumage they look a lot smarter than the browner spring plumage

I like to get down to the beach there is so much to see, lots of abstract patterns

Too much litter on the beach which is very harmful to the wildlife, a few seals have been seen with deep wounds to the neck as they have been caught up in fishing line

You don't have to g far out before you see more wildlife, this in a rock pool in Sandwick

Treasure found on the beach before it gets ground down into sand

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Sanderling

Had a good influx of Sanderling, the numbers on the beach at sandwick have increased from 6 on Monday to 54 today

 Most are coming into breeding plumage but a few less colourful non breeders among the flock

 It was interesting watching the dominant birds, one kept the others in place but constantly attacking

 The birds under attacked puffed their feathers to look bigger  and they weren't just the non breeders

 Lots of sea weed had been washed up at high tide and most fed on top collecting insects which were numerous

 A few fed along the shore line and these were the birds attacked.

 They will soon be moving onto breeding sites in the Arctic and just stopped off to refuel

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