A Goldfinch flying around Sumburgh Head lighthouse this morning was a bit of a surprise, although not as much of a surprise as when I went to make a pot of tea and happened to glance out of the office kitchen window to see a bloody great raptor about 20 yards away. I dashed outside to see the Honey Buzzard gradually making its way north (and presumably back over my house again).

Honey Buzzard being escorted away from Sumburgh Head by a feisty Hooded Crow.

The sensible thing to do was obviously to take an early lunch and go back home in the hope that the Honey Buzzard would land on my chimney or something equally as stupid, which of course it didn’t. However, it did something far more unlikely than that; it returned to Sumburgh Head, landed on the cliffs, booted a Shag off its nest and ate a brood of Shag chicks! I would wager that not many people have seen this before…

Honey Buzzard just after having its lunchtime shag.

Later in the afternoon I decided to have a look at Scatness. I’ve never found anything here before, partly because I don’t look here very often and partly because I’m incompetent. Today was different. I pulled up in the turning circle and noticed a pink and blue warbler sitting on a bush. Eh up, I thought, we don’t get many pink and blue warblers in Shetland. It was a splendid male Subalpine Warbler (a Western one for anybody who cares about these things) (which I don’t) (actually I do, as Eastern ones are still BB rarities and Western ones aren’t). Bizarrely it was in exactly the same patch of roses as the first-summer male Subalpine Warbler in April.

Western Subalpine Warbler – a found tick.