Shetland Starling

It was good to have some winter sun after days and days of cloudy weather

One bird that always lifts your spirits are Shetland Starling. They are present all year round and do not migrate like the other European Starlings

They are always chattering and singing away and provide lots of colour

Around the house we have around 100 or so that fly down to the field at the south side to feed 

With Shetland having only just about 5.5 hours of daylight at this time of year we see flocks of Starling going to roost heading past our house and down towards the marsh

 

Common seals in seaweed

 With all the recent storms it has been no surprise that a tremendous amount of seaweed has been thrown up on the beach and beyond

Down at Sandsaye it was around 4 or 5 times normal and thrown high up from the ebbtide.

I was photographing waders when i noticed a mother and pup common seal high up on a pile of seaweed

Neither looked concerned as i approached slowly and at a distance. They turned a few times but stayed put

Common seal pup are born around June and this looked small

Sandsaye is always a good place for both Common and Grey seals

Common Seal - Sandsayre, Shetland

Its always good to see the Common seals down at Sandsayre

These haul out on the jetty in winter, not disturbed by the Mousa boat

 

Shetland Otter family

I was down at the beach photographing waves in gale force conditions when i heard otters calling close by

a few seconds later i saw one, two, three then four otters heading for the foaming sea

a mother with three young cubs that headed straight into high waves

it wasn't long before the young started to play with seaweed even though the mother called them over

I only had a 200mm lens but they didn't seem bothered and continued to go about their business

It was still play time and the mother c]kept coming back and calling for them to follow

It is good to have these back locally, i have seen them several times recently and they are always good to see. This is the first time I have seen four otters together, plenty of threes but no fours

The young finally followed the female and moved towards the jetty

The sea was still rough and foamy but they headed through without any problems

It was tricky for the young to climb up onto the jetty but had to wait until a wave came in and the mother dragged them in

 They all moved off, so happy to see them