Tarmac twitching

Food has become an important part of our annual trip to Shetland as we pursue our goal of becoming the best-fed birders on the islands. Every little shop has a decent selection of pies and a microwave which generally sorts lunch. We treat ourselves to a meal or two out during our week long stay but otherwise it's home cooking all the way. Having arrived on Saturday and headed straight for the Veery, I got the ball rolling with a modest chilli, but having only procured what we needed for that one meal at the local Co-op in Brae, we needed to stock up for the rest of the week.

Citrine Wagtail, Sound, 1st October

Citrine Wagtail, Sound, 1st October

Sunday morning's forecast was pretty foul so it made sense to hit Tesco in Lerwick whilst waiting for the weather to clear. With provisions secured, we headed for a nearby car park from where a Citrine Wagtail was being reported. After initially feeding at a fair distance on a neighbouring football field, to our surprise it eventually flew up and landed on the fence just yards from where we were stood on the tarmac of the car park. Motordrives whirred and photographers purred. 

Citrine Wagtail, Sound, 1st October

Citrine Wagtail, Sound, 1st October

The weather had improved slightly so we checked out the shore of Clickminin Loch, where on the final day of our last trip in 2022 I had disappointingly poor flight views of my first White's Thrush in torrential rain. We couldn't relocate the reported Little Bunting but a flock of Mealy-looking Redpolls posed for pictures. After lunch and a bit more mooching around we headed back north towards our accomodation on Muckle Roe, stopping at the community woodland in Brae to check out the mystery bird we had flushed the night before but been unable to identify.

Redpoll, Loch of Clickimin, 1st October

Redpoll, Loch of Clickimin, 1st October

Re-tracing our steps from the night before, what had to be the same bird flushed from exactly the same location, giving the immediate impression in flight of a large locustella warbler with a long, rounded tail. Fortunately on this occasion, rather than flying into the nearby pine belt as it had the previous day, it headed in the other direction and landed on a grassy knoll, where to my amazement I realised that rather than diving into cover it was sitting on the top with its head just above the grass looking back at us. 

River Warbler, Brae, 1st October

River Warbler, Brae, 1st October

It was a good way away and knowing that photos would likely be needed to help confirm any identification, and that it could vanish at any minute, I concentrated on getting some record shots and left the identification to more competent members of the team. As I rattled off a few frames I could hear River Warbler already being suggested, tentatively at first then with more confidence until, having eliminated other possibilities and checked the photos, we were happy with the identification and put the news out.  The bird wasn't seen again that day but did show for some of the early birds later in the week.

River Warbler, Brae, 1st October

River Warbler, Brae, 1st October

It was late in the day by now and thoughts turned to food and drink - being the Sabbath there was only one option: a celebratory Sunday roast accompanied by a selection of local ales. A mega-find for the team and it was only day 2: if this was what peaking early looked like, bring it on!