Early Migrants in Shetland

It was sad to hear that over 20,000 Guillemots have been washed up on the Dutch coast  recently and it looks like they have starved. They are just confined to the Dutch coast and not Belgium or Germany coastlines, its the biggest find since the 1980 & 1990's

                                                           Chaffinches (Flock of over 20 in Scalloway)

They may have been affected by the contents of 341 containers that were lost in a recent storm from MSC Zoe. The contents included lots of plastic items and included a bag of dangerous powder identified as Organic Peroxide.

Collard Dove common in just a few places in Shetland

Whether any of these Guillemots come from Shetland we shall have to wait and see. This season Guillemots made a return to Sumburgh cliffs in November and then on and off during December. Puffins returned to the cliffs of Sumburgh on the 6 April at least a week earlier than normal

Hawfinch, several still about

Other early migrants this week included Marsh Harrier, Slavonian Grebe(2), Sparrowhawk, Goldfinch,  Chiffchaff, Pied Wagtail, Robin and a few Hawfinch.

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail back in good numbers

Yesterday I came across two adult Little Gull on Henry's loch, great to see in breeding plumage. But left quickly so no photos unfortunately

Brambling

Red and Gt Northern Divers at Grutness and West Voe

RT Diver

Long Tailed Ducks

The Lucsistic Starling was present again at Sandsayre, see the last blog

On the Sunday in a strong easterly wind, we searched Scatness and found a Snow Bunting, Two Dunnock and a Blackbird sheltering on the westside in a geo. Far too windy for any photos. Lots of Fulmar on the cliffs with a few Shag.

Below the cliffs, several Long tailed duck sheltered with one Gt Northern Diver.

Gt Northern Diver

Black Guillemot

#Shetland, #Shetland migrants, #Scalloway, #Hawfich, #Germany, #Dutch

Siberian Stonechat

A rare Siberian Stonechat turned up in Scalloway and was showing well but i found out too late the first day.

As i work in Scalloway i decided to make an afternoon visit in glorious sunshine and calm conditions the following day

Two other birders were on site and had seen it briefly. After a short search the bird turned up in a weedy area at the top of a drive.

It showed well for a good 5 mins before heading towards the gardens. A male Bullfinch was also seen here , another uncommon bird.

Last year i had good views but no photos of a Siberian Stonechat at Swinister Burn, Sandwick so it was good to get some photos in good weather.

Its range covers East - Western Siberia, with the subspecies ` Maura' breeding over most of the range, often separated into two subspecies, the easternmost one called stejnegeri . This one is thought to be this subspecies, it was ringed a few hours before i photographed it with DNA taken.

The race variegata is basically similar to the respective plumages of maura but it shows a considerable amount of white on the inner part of the tail. This Stonechat stayed for four days

This is the sixth Siberian bird i have seen in Shetland, the others Siberian Rubythroat, Siberian Snow Bunting (Fetlar) Siberian Chiffchaff ( Unst, Sandwick) Siberian Accentor (Dunrossness), Siberian Oystercatcher(Sandwick)

Shetland bucks the trend for waders

I was very interested to read that Scotland's woodland birds have increased by 67% between 1994 - 2016, while farmland birds have also increased in the same time period by 13%. Its not all good news as upland birds have decreased by 16%.

                                                          Good to see a good number of Skylark in Shetland

The survey suggests that 10 out of 17 upland birds have declined, with Curlew -62%, Lapwing - 63%, Golden Plover-43% decline.

However in Shetland Curlew are doing well, and there even might be a slight increase, Lapwing and Redshank only show a slight decline by around10% with Golden Plover just a few % down

Shetland Amenity Trust give the following indication on numbers in Shetland
Curlew 2,300 breeding pairs
Redshank 1, 170
Golden Plover 1,450
Lapwing 1,740

This is partly down to a lot of crofts, poor soils and less improved ground

In Shetland we have very little woodland and as a result little diversity in this area, perhaps highlighted by the fact there may be only 3 pairs of breeding Robin in Shetland. Good news for farmland birds and the mixed type of farmland/ Crofting helps. For instance the House Sparrow appears to be doing well here and poorly down in England and Skylarks seem to do well.

This week has seen a lot of birds leave Shetland and headed ? with all the lochs frozen duck and swans will have found it difficult to find food, this also may be the point that the Pied Billed Grebe either leaves or perishes it will be interesting if any more records are submitted.

                                        Whimbrel numbers down but may benefit from peatland restoration

The field outside our living room window has been full of birds today including 5 species of wader. Redshank(6), Oystercatcher(4)  Turnstone(8) Golden Plover(12 briefly) Curlew(2) also Greylag(4) Starling (30) Herring Gull (2) Rock Dove (6) Blackbird (8) Rock Pipit(2) Fieldfare (4)

 I have seen a Peregrine at the Scord Scalloway chasing thrushes while a Sparrowhawk flew low over the road at Cunningsburgh. Gulls such as Iceland and Glaucous still present in small numbers and seaduck, King Eider (Yell) and Surf Scoter (Unst) reported. The Pied Billed Grebe has survived and is still at the north end of Spiggie

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)