Having spent the last week in May on Shetland and the first week in October this year, I saw some really good birds. The spring was a great trip with my partner Dianne, who had never been to Shetland before, and guess what? She fell in love with the place! We had cracking views of Orca and Otter.The biggest disappointment was we couldn't fly on to Fair Isle for a Calandra Lark due to the weather, which was so frustrating. Anyway, we finally ended up staying with my good friend Allan Conlin and his wife Paula at Bordanoost on Unst for a few days, which is one of my favourite islands.
Bordanoost Lodge
Over 70 birds were recorded throughout the week, and below are some of the highlights:
Rustic Bunting
Sardinian Warbler
Great Skua
Red Backed Shrike
Arctic Skua
Puffin
Gannet colony at Hermaness
Other birds of note were
Icterine Warbler
Golden Oriole
Garganey
White-billed Billed Diver
Ring-necked duck
Hobby
Little Tern
During the week we also connected with five Orca's, which were Pod number 21's. The views were incredible, as you can see from the images below. For more information about Scottish Killer Whale's, click on the link below
Dianne watching her first Orca's
Another first for Dianne was a wild otter, which performed really well.
A great week holiday roll on the autumn!
The autumn has soon arrived, and my annual trip to Shetland has come around again. I stayed in Sumburgh Lighthouse for the week this year, which was an amazing experience with Dan Pointon, John Pegden, Neil Bostock, and Dave Mack.
Birding for 10 days was hard going though, with hardly any migrant birds about. Four Yellow Browed warblers were seen, and we didn't even see a Lesser Whitethroat. We recorded over 120 species though, and Dan found a Western Bonelli's warbler, but no new birds for me this year. Here are some images of the birds we saw.
Shorelark
Hoopoe
Jack Snipe
Twite
Whinchat
Woodchat Shrike
Eastern Yellow Wagtail
White-billed Billed Diver
Common Rosefinch
Western Bonelli's Warbler
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Little Bunting
2 different Red Eyed Vireo's were recorded
King Eider
Red-breasted flycatcher
Yellow Browed Warbler
Other things of interest throughout the week were numerous sightings of otters, and just down the road from where we were staying in the Sumburgh hotel garden, we had great views of the monarch butterfly.
On Friday evening, when we were all in Lerwick having a curry and a few beers, news came out that a Calidris species had been reidentified from a Temminck's to a Least and now a Long Toed! Panic set in as usual, and we weren't due to fly off till Sunday evening. Anyway, we continued to drink as you do, and we all got up early in the morning and headed for the airport, but no flights. It was a boat job, and fingers crossed the bird stuck till Sunday.
After a good sleep on the boat, we arrived back in Aberdeen at 7.30am. We got back in our cars and drove south to St. Aidan's RSPB-West Yorkshire. News came out the bird was still showing and I eventually arrived at 13.30.
What a bird, and another old school blocker falls in the same year as Red Necked.
This was the third record for Britain the last sightings were:
1970-Marazion, 7th to 8th June-Cornwall
1982-Saltholme, juvenile, 28th August to 1st September-Cleveland
Autumn was saved!Shattered after the
long drive, but well worth it.
A great 10 days of birding, but back to work! Here's hoping for the next BIGGY!