-
Pages
- Blog Home
- About Rob
- Autumn 2007 rarity montage (updated 13th Nov 2007)
- Code of Misconduct for visiting birders in Shetland (updated 8th Dec 2007)
- House list (updated 15th April 2008)
- Links (updated 8th February 2008)
- Not found on Foula (updated 18th December 2007)
- Quotes page (updated 26th January 2008)
-
Gallery
-
Latest Posts
-
Archives
-
Admin
-
Search
The wind continues to come from the east, but the ‘rares’ (whatever they are) stubbonly refuse to arrive. A good selection of birds around Sumburgh Head included a Ring Ouzel, a Woodcock and a noticeable arrival of Fieldfares, whilst a couple of Common Terns at Scatness and a Swallow at Hillwell hinted that spring may be finally sneaking up on us.
Circumstances beyond my control meant that birding was very limited today, although I managed to get to Grutness in the evening, where a nice littoralis Rock Pipit was feeding around the pool. This race is strangely rare in Shetland, presumably because nobody can be arsed to look at Rock Pipits. I took some photos of it but unfortunately my useless website is not letting me upload photos at the moment and the Teutonic bastards who run Coppermine (the photo gallery) refuse to respond to requests for help.
Apparently it was St George’s Day today, so middle-aged Daily Mail readers will have had an excuse to drape themselves in a St George’s flag and moan about immigrants.
A lovely sunny morning was rudely interrupted by a sudden bout of fog for about 15 minutes, and all of a sudden I couldn’t see the end of the garden. As the fog began to clear, I had a wander into the garden and was most surprised to see a Turtle Dove at the end of the drive - consultation with the relevant literature confirmed that this was Shetland’s earliest ever Turtle Dove by a day. As soon as the fog had lifted it flew off high to the north at top speed, presumably making a bid to become Iceland’s earliest ever Turtle Dove as well. Other odds and sods today included a pair of Reed Buntings in the willows, a Barnacle Goose at Spiggie and a few Chiffchaffs.
The continuing easterlies, combined with a change in my working hours for the better, meant that I could finally get out and see some birds. A pleasant afternoon in south mainland produced a Black Redstart at Sumburgh Head, a Willow Warbler at Quendale, a pair of Pintails at Hillwell, the redhead Smew now at Spiggie and a Grey Wagtail at Geosetter. Sadly, the Jackdaw roost in the willows has reduced to just one rather lonely-looking bird.
A combination of work, work and more work has meant that I have done no birding over the last few days other than during fag breaks at the Sumburgh Hotel and the lighthouse. The only things of note have been a Sparrowhawk at Sumburgh Head on Saturday 19th and a few Robins. I managed to miss out on a good house tick on Thursday 17th, as a Common Crane flew north over Fair Isle and was then seen over Mousa later, meaning it must have flown over my house to get there.
Today (Sunday 20th) has seen the appearance of a Calandra Lark on Fair Isle and a Black Lark in Norfolk. With easterly winds predicted for the next four days at least, there ought to be something silly like that in south mainland soon… (but there probably won’t be) (and if there is I probably won’t see it anyway)
Another flat calm day encouraged me to find a White-billed Diver on the sea; unfortunately, I couldn’t find one, although there were 19 Great Northern Divers in Quendale Bay. So I cheated a bit and went to Mousa Sound to see a White-billed Diver there, which was nice. My first three Bonxies of the year were also there. Nearby at Hoswick a fine Long-eared Owl was hiding in a conifer, and other migrants around the village included a Robin, a Dunnock and a Greenfinch.
Warm (relatively speaking in Shetland terms) and calm today, and quite a few migrants around: a nice Black Redstart around Grutness/Sumburgh, 3 Wheatears at Sumburgh Head, a couple of Goldcrests at the hotel, a Brambling at Hillwell and a load of Robins in various places. Much more exciting, however, was a pair of Mute Swans on the pool, making the house list 109.
I went to the petrol station today for the first time in nearly a month. The price of diesel is £1.33 a litre. So to everybody else: stop moaning that your petrol price has just gone above a quid.
I got back to Shetland at about 3.30pm after 40 hours of non-stop travelling involving 4 planes, 5 airports and no sleep. A report on the north-east India trip may well appear some time or other, or may not.
The weather in Shetland has taken a distinct turn for the better in my absence and was lovely this afternoon. There were even a few migrants around: a couple of Chaffinches at Scatness and a load of Meadow Pipits all over the place. Everyone else gets to see Little Ringed Plovers, Swallows etc in April - up here our migrants are Chaffinches.
Nothing much to report over the last few days: one of the Rooks still in the field next to the house on March 15th, a Snow Bunting flying around the garden on March 16th, a thoroughly exciting Dunnock in the garden yesterday and the redhead Smew at Scatness today. It’s all been a bit frantic as I’m preparing to leave Shetland tomorrow to go on a three and a half week trip to north-east India (Eaglesnest, Bandhavgarh, Kaziranga, Nameri etc). Back on April 14th, with the promise of a trip report that will never appear.
I’ve not done a ‘blast from the past’ photo for a while, so I am indebted to Marcus Lawson for the picture below. This rum selection of people boarding a plane consists of (from the left): Mark Reeder (back on), Richard Fray (daft grin and dafter haircut), Marcus’s mum, Ange (Marcus’s ex), me (back on), Andy Lawson and then some unknowns. The date was 28th March 1992 and this was the first and only time I ever went on a charter plane to twitch something. It was a good day: destination was Lerwick and the bird was the Pine Grosbeak.
Cheque-book birding, 1992 style.
Amazingly, the sun was out for the third day in a row, which I suspect means we’ve had spring and summer all in one go over the last few days. A few odds and sods were at Hillwell and no odds and sods at all were at Spiggie, but this was made up for by a splendid house tick in the form of a couple of Rooks in the adjacent field this evening.
(I’ve just re-read that last sentence and it sounds very sad. Oh well. It will soon be autumn hopefully).
keep looking »