Shetland Day 5: Atonement

After ditching the rest of the team and twitching Unst (unsuccessfully) the previous day, it was time to serve penance on 6th October with some proper bird-finding, back under the wing of Bradders Birding Tours. We combed the Hoswick area after breakfast (an Otter in the bay was the highlight), checked out some farmland and wet meadows near Brake (best of which were 3 Jack Snipe and a Merlin) but baulked at the mighty iris beds of Quendale in favour of scoping the bay (Great Northern and Red-throated Diver were seen) and visiting the tiny shop at the Mill. Next stop was Geosetter where a Pied Fly was the best we could manage.

Wheatear near Brake

Pied Flycatcher, Geosetter

Some pleasant spots then but nothing spectacular, so the team agreed on a return to Kergord to look for a Rustic Bunting. It didn't take long to locate this fairly bright individual, though photography was another matter due to its habit of staying low in the grass. At one point it got up into a pine on the shady side of the hedge, so a couple of record shots were possible for the trip album.

Rustic Bunting, Kergord

The pot of gold at the end of this particular rainbow is Gary T, who lent me a lens when mine broke. Another top photographer Chris Griffin is also in shot bathing in the reflected glory! Taken at Kergord waiting for the Rusting Bunting to appear.

I said in an earlier post that BBT rarely goes back for seconds but the rest of the team, aware of my eagerness to see a White-billed Diver in summer plumage, took pity on me and agreed to a return trip to the Nesting/Skellister area to relocate the bird they had seen the previous day - a generous gesture as it was I who had briefly 'quit the band' after all.

Whooper Swan (adult)

Whooper Swan (juv)

It didn't take long to do so, and we enjoyed good scope views as this parsnip-billed monster fished in the sunlight. With Great Northern, Black-throated and Red-throated Diver present, I think it was the fist time I had seen all four species in the same day, let alone in the same bay. Harbour Porpoises were also in the bay along with the usual Tysties gleaming from a distance.

Phone panorama with Howard overlooking the Bay of Scouseborough

Merlin, Skellister

Last stop was Lunna, scene of a bit of a Melodious/Icterine confusion moment on our last trip, where a Dusky Warbler had been reported earlier. We arrived to the depressing sight of birders wandering aimlessly in the rain but while all bar one of them eventually got bored and left, we stuck around and split up. I had neither found nor relocated anything better than a couple of Otter all week and was beginning to feel like a bit of a passenger in the team, who were some way from me when I heard the unmistakable call of a Dusky Warbler. 

Shetland sunset

It was so clear and close that I thought it might have been the remaining birder, who was just around the corner of a small plantation out of view, playing a tape - but when I reached the corner he was still a good way away. The Warbler then broke cover and flew to some dead dock plants where I could keep an eye on it as I radioed the others and they scurried up to my position. We all got views of the bird as it called again and flew back to the plantation, and I felt my re-discovery of the skulky bird had in a small way atoned for my infidelity of the day before. Dinner at Frankie's Fish & Chips capped another fine day in the field.