Peter Moore's Wildlife Blog: Another tick for one of the team on Shetland

Sunday 29 October 2023

Another tick for one of the team on Shetland

2nd October was our 3rd full day on Shetland and we were keen to see if we could keep up our record of at least one good bird every day. We decided to head for the hamlet of Wester Quarff to look for an unidentified species of Subalpine Warbler found the previous day in the knowledge that it would be a new species for one of us: I had yet to see Moltoni's; Phil hadn't seen Eastern and James hadn't seen Western. Being a female, identification would not be straightforward, but Eastern was favoured at the point we went for our first look. This turned out to be academic as the bird didn't show though a couple of Merlin sparring with a Kestrel made the excursion worthwhile.

Olive-backed Pipit, Voxter, Shetland

Olive-backed Pipit, Voxter, 2nd October

We headed south where a smattering of rarities had been reported the day before, and where there were also plenty of good locations for us to look for our own birds. The rarest of them in a local context was a Cattle Egret, the first for Shetland no less, which was easily located in a cattle field near the Sumburgh Hotel. Sadly a Greenish Warbler, a bird I have seen but never photographed which was present in the gardens of Grutness the day before, had moved on.

Short-toed Lark, Sandness, 2nd October

Our next target was a Short-toed Lark on the nearby windswept headland of Sandness. We wandered miles checking every lark, pipit and finch on the short sward but to no avail. Others had joined us then just as we were about to give up someone located it at the top of a slope we had just descended. We marched back up and enjoyed good views of the paler, more diminutive cousin of the Skylark.

Purple Sandpiper, Grutness, 2nd October

Merlin, Wester Quarff, 2nd October

After the yomp around Sandness a mooch around Hoswick produced not much so we headed back to Wester Quarff where the presumed Eastern Subalpine Warbler had been relocated. This time it showed almost immediately and well enough for some photos. Pictures of the spread tail taken by others appeared to support the tentative identification of Eastern - if so, a good day for Phil in particular.

Putative Eastern Subalpine Warbler, Wester Quarff, 2nd October

Dusk was approaching so we headed back north, ending the day with a classically Shetland experience - whispering directions to each other as we watched an Olive-backed Pipit at close range secreted in long grass in a tiny walled garden at Voxter.