Shetland- Red Backed Shrile

 It has been a poor year regarding common birds but to keep everyone going there has been a run of scarce and rare birds

Yesterday, at Spiggie things came together. In the new crop field a good number of Twite and Linnet

and a distant Common Rosefinch and a Red Backed Shrike in the other direction working its way along the fence line.

There was a distant American Widgeon on Setter Marsh. Later over at the Bluethroat site. two had been seen first thing but on arrival nothing. One did show towards the back of the house.

Interesting Shetland visitors

Shetland has been very quiet bird wise, only a few migrants around. The other day i did see a couple of Siberian Chiffchaff and a Blue tit down at Swinster

Whooper Swan numbers have now dropped as most have moved south, more by instinct rather than the weather which has been very mild with only a few gales

Whooper Swans

 

Oystercatcher with winter collar

Bobby Tullock & Bill Oddie

David Bellamy

These famous naturalists have promoted Shetland wildlife in the past. Bobby Tullock lived on Yell and was most remembered for discovering breeding Snowy Owls on Fetlar. We had a lucky trip in the late 1980's when we saw one of the last offspring at the back of the school in Fetlar.

Bill Oddie always liked to come up to Shetland and promoted Shetland after the Braer oil disaster , we meet him a few times, the one with Bobby Tullock on the island of Noss.

David Bellamy was up in Shetland promoting Conservation work, we met him at the Aith Lifeboat gala.

Happy Christmas to all my readers, back soon with more Shetland Blogs

Great White Egret meets the arctic

The long stay Great White egret has now moved to the north west end of Spiggie making it a lot easier to see from the road.

It seems settled and is catching a lot of fish. It doesn't seem to mind the Whooper Swans that rest up close by. 

It does seem odd seeing both of these species together with the GWE from the warm southern Europe and the whoopers the colder Greenland/ Iceland area.

Once it stops to preen it looks around to check on any intruders.

There is a maximum of 88 swans still around this north end, most are Whooper families, together with Lapwing, Snipe, Redshank and Curlew with Coot and Moorhen with a Water Rail on one occasion.

Lots of duck with Wigeon, Goldeneye, Mallard, Teal mixing in and feeding round the swans. Skeins of Greylag passed over and 100's of gulls washed on the loch before moving onto the hill to roost

Raven, Hoddie, Redwing, Fieldfare , Blackbird, Meadow Pipit a few Skylark, Starling and Sparrow roamed around the edge. 

Back home we have had Two Blackcap and a Goldcrest these last few days and a few Twite. In the field  today 14 Blackbirds fed with about 100 starlings

Wood Pigeon and Collard doves have become regular this year and are expanding their range in Shetland

Siberian Chiffchaff

Most birders have now left Shetland so its down to a few local birder to come up with the goods. The Blackpoll Warbler remains up at East Burrafirth and on Sunday a Whites Thrush made an appearance in Gulberwick, may be the same one from last week which appeared in nearby Lerwick

A number of Arctic Redpolls are still getting reported, most from Unst and several Siberian Chiffchaff from various parts including two from the south mainland.

I went down to the Blyth Reed Warbler site at Spiggie, a place i intend to keep an eye on. As soon as i arrived the Sib Chiffchaff was seen on nettles just a few feet away.

A Blue Tit made a couple of fleeting appearances then moved back into  dense nettles, a rare bird in Shetland.

It flew over the narrow burn and landed near the cattle feeding rings and started to feed. It posed a few time then dropped to the ground where it caught a Crane fly

This was a ringed bird

It then moving further into cover in the corner near the fence. I spent some time here and a flock of Brambling moved in, 6 birds with a couple landing on the fence. A Chaffinch soon joined them and they flew and landed in a field on the opposite side of the road.

Two Robin and three Wren fed close by, a Wood pigeon flew passed and then a couple of Goldcrest appeared in front of me feeding before moving up the burn

Flocks of Fieldfare (50) and Redwing (20) were joined by Blackbird (20) but were very wary. From the nettles further in flocks of Meadow pipit (40) and Skylark (22) took to the air.

No sign of the Great White Egret but plenty of swan with Whooper (64) and Mute (12) with lots of wigeon, goldeneye, Tufted, Mallard, Teal and a few coot on the loch.