Arctic Terns

Arctic Terns breed in Shetland, estimates of 73% of the British population. Yet numbers here have  dramatically decreased with sand eel numbers very low for many years. There may be only around 7,000 birds down from 35,000 back in the late 1980's

For 2015 and 2016 things sort of improved with young birds being fed large sandeels. It was good to watch Arctic Terns catch fish in Lerwick harbour and feed young close by both years.

This year the courtship period where they rebuild bonds saw large sandeels being brought in at the two colonies i watched. However as the breeding season progressed large sandeels seemed to be in short supply.

Terns from the Grutness colony tend to fly over to West Voe to collect food. On the return trip, if they have been successful they are often mugged by Arctic Skuas.

A few days ago i could see four Arctic Skuas working the area causing the whole colony to go up and mob the Skuas.

I was checking birds coming back to the colony and counted about 1 in 6 birds bringing large sandeels back to young. With other birds bringing very small fish , very difficult to see the fish in the beak of some. I couldn't see many young birds due to the nature of the terrain.

Over at Scatness i counted 38 Juvenile birds around the loch, much easier to check. These occasional got fed but only with small fish

At least this colony seem to have raised a reasonable number of young. Lets hope i have under estimated.

With Arctic Terns travelling around 22,000 a year its a small wonder they come all the way to Shetland for a few months, only to find there is very little food

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Killer move

Having missed out on the Killdeer by a day we spent time around Sandwick on Saturday and managed to record the following:

                                                                                                                        Snipe

                                                                                                                     Redwing

Greylag (166) Golden Plover (56) Ringed Plover (62) Turnstone (47) Redshank (6) Curlew (4) Snipe (12), Jack snipe (1),  Purple Sandpiper (6) Oystercatcher (2) Lapwing (18) Meadow pipit (26) Starling (50) House Sparrow (40+) Blackbird (30+ ) Redwing (20+) Fieldfare (4) Rock Pipit (12) Mallard (6) Robin (2) Long Tailed Duck (6) Shag (18) Eider (20) Rock Dove (16) Herring Gull (12) Gt BB (8) Common Gull (3) Fulmar (30) Black Guillemot (6)  Twite (12) Raven (4) Hoddie (12)

On the Sunday we also managed to see Dolphin (5) although at a distance, we saw them jumping out of the water and moving very fast out of the bay, couldn't identify the species at that range. The usual Porpoise (10) also seen in the bay.

Also the Selkies resting on the jetty. Further north people saw Humpback and Killer Whales

On the Sunday the weather was equally good so we went south to Grutness where Long Tailed Duck (6) Black Guillemot (4) Shag (8) Mallard (6) Teal (4) Sanderling (22) Turnstone (8) Ringed Plover (2) Gt BB, Herring Gull, Fulmar, Rock pipit, Meadow pipit all present but no unusual species.

Its interesting that we are finding more and more Blackbird's with white feathers in Shetland, this one at Sandlodge. Perhaps in Blackbirds the white feather show more against their normally black/ brown colouring.

This condition is known as Albinism and is commoner than first thought, it is usually inherited but the amount of white can vary considerably. It normally the male Blackbird that are affected and only occasionally females.

Other birds such as House Sparrow are also affected,  but a photo appeared on facebook the other day of an almost white Water Rail found in the north mainland, a very striking bird.

I walked round St Ninian's Isle the other day in superb weather, i was photographing Landscapes so no photos but did come across the following:

SE Owl, Snow Bunting, Jack Snipe (2) Common Snipe (12) Gt Northern Diver (3) Long Tailed Duck (8) Rock Pipit (15) Gt BB Gull (49) Fulmar, Kittiwake, Common Gull, Wren, Sanderling, Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Starling, Redshank, Whooper Swan (3 Over) Lapwing, Hoodie, Raven, Twite, Blackbird, Herring Gull, Meadow Pipit, Black Guillemot, Shag

Just a few days ago the Killdeer re-appeared in the same field as before so hope to see the bird this weekend.

Still time to order your Shetland canvas in time for Christmas at www.amazingshetland.co.uk