Shetland Eider

Eider ducks locally known as Dunters in the south mainland

 At one time 7,000 used to be seen in Shetland but now numbers atre greatly reduced and may be down to a few thousand

Birds nest well away from the sea in some instances and on moorland where the female blends in with the heather

Gt Black Back, Skuas, Feral Polecats and stoats all predate their nests

Sumburgh Spring birds

Finally managed to get out after lots of bad weather and being ill round Christmas. It was an excellent day on Sunday with lots of sun and a lack of wind

We stopped off at Sumburgh and straight away heard the song of Starlings, Twite, Meadow Pipit, Curlew and Oystercatcher - a good sign of spring

The three Twite sang away unconcerned by my close approach. They were joined by around 20 Starling who started singing immediately, what a tonic

Making my way over the West Voe I saw a small bird on a fence post which turned out to be a male Stonechat then the female jumped up near by. This pair has now been present for a week with the odd bird a bit further north

They constantly dropped down into the dunes picking up insects and looked settle, who knows if they will stay to breed

At Grutness only a few Shag could be seen on the incoming tide

This one surfaced just in front of me as I stood on the pier.

Several Red Throated Divers could be seen but only one showed any sign's of Summer plumage

Also good to see a group of 18 Long Tailed ducks in the bay

West Voe
Gt Northern Diver (2) Eider (6) Long Tailed Duck (66) Common Gull (22) Turnstone (18) Gt BB(2) Rock Pipit (4) Herring Gull (8) LBB (1)

Iceland gulls

Shetland always attracts a number of white winged gulls in the winter months, usually after Christmas

This year the gulls have come earlier than normal, this weekend 6 Iceland gulls frequented the harbour in Lerwick while a couple could be found over in Scalloway

We didn't come across the Glaucous Gull that had been present for a few days earlier in the week

All the Iceland gulls seemed very approachable. To attract gulls bread was thrown and soon around 50 + gulls gathered. In addition to the Iceland gulls, Herring, Common, BHG, Fulmar and a lone Kittiwake.

Gt BB Gulls didn't seem to bother coming down and just stood on the rocky foreshore.

A few Black Guillemot also came close in, these looked splendid in winter plumage

A flock of 12 Long Tailed duck remained close to the gulls, many displaying and again the looked superb

Joining the LT ducks, a flock of 18 Eider.

Not much else about, only a few scattered Snow Bunting and  a couple of Gt Tit (Rare here)