We woke up this morning to beautiful sunshine and at last a change in the weather. We headed straight for the airport after breakfast to pick up the lads we were birding with for the week, and started birding straight away. We headed straight to Levenwick and started to grill the area.
List of birds seen:
4 Chaffinch 4
23 Meadow Pipit
27 Song Thrush
14 Robin
6 Redstart
19 Chiffchaff
3 Yellow-browed warbler
1 Reed Warbler
1 Whinchat
9 Blackcap
Looking down over Levenwick
We had just finished birding at Levenwick when a Wryneck was found down the road at Scholland, so we headed down there and had great views of the bird.
My first Wryneck for Shetland
As we were watching the bird, a red-throated pipit was found on Unst, which Dan needed as a lifer. It has been a joke for years that he still needed this bird, so we had to try and see it as he'd dipped 7!. We soon made tracks heading north and had good views of an otter swimming around the ferry terminal on Yell.
News then broke that an Upland sandpiper had been found on Fetlar, which two of the lads needed. This was going to be a manic next few hours trying to see the two birds. We arrived at Skaw on Unst, and I soon picked up the red-throated pipit in the grass before it landed on a fence. The bird showed well for the next hour, and Dan was made up that he had actually connected with this bird.
Dan watching his first Red Throated Pipit
Other birds of note were 2 Wheatear, Little Bunting, 2 Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, Whinchat, and a Yellow-breasted warbler.
Unbelievable, he gets a tick, where's mine!
Leaving Unst behind, we boarded the ferry again to Fetlar, where we soon connected with the Upland sandpiper up on a hill very close to where I had my first Swainson's thrush back in 2007.
My third Upland Sandpiper for the UK
Spot the Upland Sandpiper
Moving on from here, we did some birding around Tresta, where I saw my first Tiaga Flycatcher back in 2009. Birds were thin on the ground as the light started to fade, but we all enjoyed a lovely sunset to round off a great day of birding.
The garden at Tresta, where I saw my first Tiaga flycatcher in Britain
