Snowy Owl

When you watch a regular patch you always come across a surprise or two. Whether its an increase or decrease in some bird species or locating a new species for the area, it can be very rewarding. Imagine then , Bobby Tullock discovering a new breeding bird not just for Shetland but for the UK and having to keep quite while finishing off a bird watching tour.

Snowy Owls are not little brown jobs, the are big and conspicuous. But its surprising how well thy blend into the Fetlar landscape. During the 1960's a small number of Snowy owls became resident in Shetland, and in 1966 there were two males and a female resident on Fetlar. Then Bobby Tullock discovered a nest with eggs in June 1967 and the rest is history. Over the next nine years 56 eggs were laid and 23 young fledged, mainly by one pair although two nest were found 1973-1975.

On our first visit to Shetland in 1987 we visited Fetlar and found one female behind the school. It few a short distance before settling down for the 1/2 hour we watched it . It was well camouflaged against the hill side. This was one of two females left from the young hatched up to 1975. We then fell lucky as we saw another bird on Unst two years later. Apparently the birds had moved away from Fetlar when the rabbit population fell. Recent sightings are scarce.

Snow Buntings

My first encounter with snow bunting was back in the late 1970's up at Inverpolly, western Scotland, followed by sightings in the Cairngorms in the mid 1980's. This is a rare breeding bird in the UK, they normally are found breeding around the Artic from Scandinavia to Alaska, Canada and Greenland, we see more in winter.

In Shetland I was lucky enough to come across one in late May a couple of years ago on Ronas Hill, a superb male. Late May is normal for late spring sightings in Shetland and can occur anywhere in the isles.

This year snow buntings started to appear on the 12 September, with a bird at Lamba Ness. Birds continued to be seen throughout the month will larger numbers on Unst by the 29 September with 60 birds present. Throughout October numbers continued to build again with 120 at Belmont on the 8th, but by November numbers started to fall to 20-30 birds and the last 3 on the 28 November,  8 birds on Yell 30  December was the last of the year, with many birds moved south.
The excellent Nature In Shetland website great for details of sightings of all birds.

The white plumage evokes images of a snowstorm as the birds take flight. Being 70 + miles from the coast we don't come across birds in and around Sheffield, except for a few on migration and these are usually found calling while flying over.

Most snow buntings are found along the coast feeding in open weedy and grassy fields or along shorelines. I have come across flocks at Cleethorpes, Filey, and in Lincolnshire and North Norfolk. and they are normally very confiding . Two races have been identified, Iceland and Greenland / Scandinavia

Winter

With Shetland having yet more snow and ice recently which forced the closure of Sumburgh airport and several schools, its a worrying time for wildlife. They have to survive the cold and often deep snowy conditions. Those that cannot feed need to move south to more open areas otherwise they will die. Migration comes early to Shetland as winter visitors move through from October on and sometimes only stay in Shetland for a short time to feed and build up enough energy to continue their journey.

                                                                      Waxwings

Most Waxwings left Shetland by the 5 December, having spent a  few weeks feeding up on berries, apples and pears.

Down in Sheffield, numbers of Waxwings have fallen from the 700 hundreds to perhaps just over a 100 birds, moving around trying to find berries.

 In 2010 Sheffield experienced one of the worst winters since the war. We live on a hill and had 24 inches of snow making it impossible for ground feeding birds to survive in their normal woodland habitat. Most moved to nearby gardens or left the area.

Walking through the woods nearby no birds were encountered on the snow days , with only the occasional Robin moving back in a few days later, finding shelter in holly bushes. Other people reported wrens sheltering in nest boxes, in one 34 Wrens were found in one box, finding warmth together. Roosts of Pied wagtails could be found on top of buildings, at Meadowhall I counted 78 one evening.

So it is important to keep feeding the birds and also putting out water as well, with such as massive drop in bird numbers these last few years we cannot afford to loose any more. Birds like the Kingfisher move away from inland haunts to the coast where it is generally milder and ice free

                                         Kingfisher at Kelham Island Sheffield

Next Blog will cover the snow birds , keep visiting

Waxwings

They are back in good numbers. They arrived in Shetland in October with birds seen around the isles, often very confiding, feeding on berries as well as apples and pears put out to attract them into gardens. Some lucky people were able to feed them while they sat on a branch only a few feet away.

They moved south with only a few remaining in Shetland as we speak. These birds were joined by new ones coming in from the east so that in Sheffield at this present time we may have more than 700 Waxwings . I saw a flock of at least 300 birds fly over Carterknowle Road in the south of Sheffield only a few days ago

Birds come into Britain when food is scarce in Scandinavia and are always great to see, even the none birdwatcher is excited to see them. I was photographing a flock the other day near a main road, and had several people come up and ask me what the birds were and when i told them it seem to make their day.

Trying to get a good photograph is very difficult, unlike Shetland were there are few trees, the waxwings in Sheffield tend to feed from Rowan trees which are always near other trees or have large numbers of twigs to clutter up the background. So getting a clear background is always a challenge.

Birds down in Sheffield also seem to have more competition for food, with aggressive Mistle Thrush and later Fieldfare chasing the Waxwings off, also Blackbirds and Redwing join in so berries soon disappear. In addition to this waxwings are attacked by Sparrowhawks on a regular basis making them very nervous and less confiding.

Birds have often been around until mid April but birds tend to linger later in Shetland with one seen on the 4 June in Unst the other year.So make a special effort to go out to see them this year.

You sometimes forget you are in Shetland, in spring on a sunny day you might be lucky to be watching a bird that should really be down in the warmer Med. But this could easily be side by side, (well nearly) to a bird from America, the Artic or the East

Over the years we have been lucky enough to have seen a few bird that we have seen in France & Spain . While not a common visitor, the Little Egret is wide spread in England and moving north quickly as a breeder. Although herons are not that common in Shetland we have seen one at Loch of Spiggie a few years ago. As a tree nesting bird they will find it hard to find a nest site, perhaps at Kergord in 50 years time !!

Marsh Warblers are normally found towards the end of May and into early June, and have bred in Shetland. We have seen several and including this singing bird at Hoswick a few years ago and with no other birder present on the day.

Perhaps the most exciting bird was the sub-alpine warbler found at Skaw on Unst, yet gain no other birders around . This was present for about a week. We saw it collecting nest material and moving in and out of a spearmint patch near the stream. It sang a number of times. One visiting birder managed to identify the song from that of an Italian raced bird. It goes to show that the level of expertise is fantastic, not just of recognising the song, but others are able to pin down the race of other species from looking at the birds plumage etc. This takes a tremendous amount of work and dedication to birdwatching and often involves many trips abroad to gather the knowledge.

One bird that was instantly recognised was a Bee-eater which we watched at Vidlin. It seem incredible that this could survive, but it stayed around Shetland for over a week and looked totally out of place as sheep walked past.

Turtle doves are very rare around South Yorkshire, but I have caught up with quite a few in Shetland, usually getting good views. Earlier this year we visited Royan in France where Turtle Doves seemed to be reasonably plentiful. Its surprising any are left as the French shoot about 100, 000 per year as they migrant over the Pyrenees

Black Redstarts are one of my favourite bird, we are lucky to have a pair or two breeding in Sheffield, one of the few cities in the UK. In Shetland they often appear late autumn and early spring and are always nice to find.

Shetland attracts all sorts of migrants, both in spring and especially in autumn. Both periods are exciting as you never know what will turn up.  In Shetland birds can turn up anywhere, much depends on the wind direction. When you think about it you could be watching birds from America, Asia, the med or the Artic all within a few miles of each other. That's the great attraction , expect the unexpected !!

When we saw the Killdeer in 2007 it was unexpected as it was first discovered at Banna Minn on the 6 April, so we thought it would have gone before we visited Shetland at the end of May. So to find that it was still there but now down at a little pool near Exnaboe was a big surprise. Most spring birds don't tend to linger, this one however decided that Shetland was a great place to stay and eventually continued to frequent the area until 15 April the following year !!!!!.

It seemed to be paired up with a Ringed Plover, spending all of the time around the small pool

Another one of my favourite american birds is the American Wigeon. These arrive late either in spring or autumn with an exceptional  flock of 10 birds, which included 6 males at the Loch of Hillwell in the southern mainland on the 9 October 2000. Recent spring arrivals have occurred in May and June with the latest being a male on the 9 June 1992.

It is interesting that a ringed bird seen in Shetland in 1966 had been ringed in Sheffield (my home town). Birds are brought to Shetland in westerly gales and during northward migration in spring. The green sheen around the head on these birds are truly memorable

more rare migrants to come soon

With Britain's second ever Chestnut- eared bunting recently identified at Virkie we can expect to see another rush of twitchers reach the isles, which is great for Shetland's economy. Many other interesting birds are also around, but based on previous experience most will only have eyes for the bunting.

This bird is a mega, as it is  a National rarity , other birds just depends on whether its rare to you and this is governed by your experiences in general and your location in the UK.

Being 70 or so miles from the coast its always a pleasure to encounter seabirds, not that they are rare to us, but sometimes you do see special birds such as the Storm Petrels on Mousa and the long gone Black Browed Albatross which could be found at Saito on Hermaness between 1972 - 1995, although missing for a couple of years towards the end. It was on our third visit that we finally saw Albert as Shetlander's named it, sitting on a ledge half way down a cliff. It was a very windy day and not the best for photography.

Common Cranes seem a regular spring visitor to Shetland, sometimes in flocks of 4-5 birds, others singles. We have come across a couple over the years, the most memorable on Yell. We had just left our B&B in mid Yell and started to drive down the track when a crane took off from a ditch , it was gigantic. We watch it fly in front of the car before coming down about 300 yards further on where we got excellent views.

Any raptor usually sends the pulse racing, especially an Eagle on Shetland. We came across this Sea Eagle a few years ago while driving south near to Spiggie. This wing tagged individual originated form the Scottish population and made its way up to Shetland via Orkney , to the displeasure of the local birds.

More to come next time