A Black & White Shetland Christmas

There has not been that many good birds of note recently, except a White Tailed Eagle which has been seen a few times up on the hill at Sandwick.  My local patch, Sandsayre at Sandwick, has turned up three good birds in the past two weeks

Iceland Gull

The Iceland gull was present three days and only in the morning. It was always seen in a flock of gulls just off shore

Black Redstart

This very nice male Black Redstart stayed four days and spent all the time down on the beach or around the rocky outcrop to the north. It easily found enough insects to survive and was present after Storm Deirdre .

Today a Little Gull was present but too far away to take any photos

Purple Sandpiper

Around 30 Purple Sandpiper, 15 Turnstone, 2 Oystercatcher, 4 snipe and a couple of Curlew at Sandsayre

Mountain Hares in the North Mainland

Its always good to find Mountain Hares and during winter they are easily found on the moors , sitting out in their white coats. When we lived in Sheffield we had the only English colony near Ladybower in Derbyshire.

This individual allowed a close approach, first photographed from the car then approached on foot to within 30 feet

Not always in full view, three more sat further up the hill with only their heads showing

To everyone that reads this blog have a happy Christmas and I look forward to posting another blog very soon

Rosefinches

Finally the winds turned to the east encouraging migrants to start dropping into Shetland. This time it was the turn of the south mainland to receive some good birds

In Sandwick two Common Rosefinch settled in for a two day stay down at Sandsayre. As i was photographing the birds news came in that a Paddyfield warbler had dropped in just a few miles north down in Cunningsburgh. It was around a 3 mile walk to the headland and back and since i saw the Noss bird the other year i decided not to go.

Later news came back that it was in fact a Sedge warbler so i am glad i didn't go across. Its always difficult to identify warblers even though there may not be much vegetation in Shetland for the birds to hide, its not surprising that they go down into ditches and only give a brief glimpse in flight.

Anyway these two Rosefinch were very confiding, just a pity the weather was poor, very dull and windy result in ISO 2000 being used so not ideal for a quality photo

Another interesting find in Sandwick was this possible Siberian Oystercatcher (Longipes)

As you can see it has a lighter back and was smaller and thinner than the other Common Oystercatcher on the beach. It should have a big white collar but perhaps this hasn't developed yet as these are normally seen in winter plumage

Another feature is the bill, which should be longer than the normal and have a 50% + nasal grove  We will wait for any further news, if correact this will be the first British record.

Garden warblers are always difficult to see in England and you only know one is about when it sings from dense undergrowth. In Shetland they are out in the open giving great views.

One of three Yellow Browed warblers seen on the day, lots in Shetland at present.

                                                                              Lesser Whitethroat

                                                                                  A Few Goldcrest arrived

                                                              A very dull looking Chaffinch

Should be some more birds arriving this week as easterly winds and very strong winds continue, also heavy rain expected