Shetland: part the first

At the turn of last month, David Bradnum, Howard Vaughan, Bob Vaughan and I reprised our 2017 Shetland adventure with a week based on Muckle Roe, in the west of Mainland.

Woodchat Shrike at Barns Ness

Woodchat Shrike at Barns Ness

I don't think I could face writing a day-by-day account, let alone subject you poor innocents to it, so I'll try to wrap it up in just a few posts. Not that there weren't many highlights - there were plenty, and we saw a selection of birds that, had they been seen over the course of a week anywhere else in the country would have represented an excellent haul. But by Shetland's high standards it would be a lie to say that it wasn't just a wee bit anti-climactic.

The American White-winged Scoter at Musselburgh, flanked by two drake Velvet Scoter

White-winged Scoter (left) has a pink bill (yellow in Velvet) and a more prominent white 'uptick' over the eye

The main culprit for this was westerly winds: an almost constant stream of them preceded our arrival and they remained the dominant influence in the weather throughout our stay, depriving Shetland of the famous easterlies which have delivered so many beasts from the east over previous autumns.

One of a pair of Ringed Plover sheltering in tyre tracks on the beach near Busta House Hotel

And here's the other one of the pair

But I'm getting ahead of myself: first we had to get there. This involved me heading over to the east of the country to meet the rest of team who are London/Essex/Kent based. Our planned departure time of mid-morning gave me a couple of hours of daylight to head first to the Thames Estuary to scan for the Beluga Whale located a couple of days before. I failed to find it but it re-appeared an hour after I left - an inauspicious start.

A wind-swept Pied Flycatcher at Swining

A ditch-bound Common Snipe - one day it will be a Great!

There wasn't too much to divert us on the long road north - a Grey Phalarope at the well-appointed RSPB reserve at Old Moor and a party of Willow Tits on the Northumberland coast were barely a detour from the main drag, and we reached our first overnight stop in Berwick at a sensible hour. The following morning the Lothian coast offered a little more promise, with a Woodchat Shrike and Rose-coloured Starling at Barns Ness, plus a Pectoral Sandpiper and the long-staying American White-Winged Scoter at Musselburgh. We saw them all in beautiful light, the latter being my second encounter of the year with this bird after I caught up with in on a Scottish trip back in March.

This was the bird we initially identified as an Icterine Warbler based on the lead -grey legs...

...and apparent pale panel in the wing (we didn't get a good view of the primary projection)

A surprisingly calm crossing on MV Hrossey ended in a familiar sight: horizontal rain lashing the rock armour of Lerwick Harbour, though within minutes we had seen our first Otter and only Purple Sandpipers of the trip. Much of the rest of the day was a bit of a wash-out so we checked out our (plush) self-catering accommodation and gave the kettle its first workout of the week.

Later in the week we re-visited the re-identified Melodious Warbler

With better views the diagnostic short primary projection was more apparent

Melodious Warbler, Lunna

Undaunted we ventured out again later in the day to the picturesque Lunna Kirk, where we found what we took to be an Icterine Warbler. It was later re-identified as a Melodious - an even rarer bird for Shetland, making it a good if not entirely competent start to our birding week!

Howard channels Jesus at Lunna Kirk

White-wingers in Weymouth

I have often wondered whether the island outside the Radipole Lake visitor centre has hosted more rare birds per square metre than any other piece of real estate in the country. If it didn't before today it took a step in the right direction when an exquisite adult Ross's Gull, present in the area since Wednesday, paid a visit. This high arctic species is a great favourite amongst British birders, making very occasional appearances on these shores. The last one I saw was in neighbouring Devon, a tatty juvenile bird, a contrast to today's dapper adult.

Ross's Gull as it flew from Radipole Lake towards Weymouth Bay

Ross's Gull breeds in Siberia, Greenland and northern Canada

Only the 3rd occurrence in Dorset and the first since 1974

Son George and I had been dropped off in Weymouth by his mum and had planned to get the train home so thanks are due to the Mitchells for getting us back to Wareham, and to the kind chap from London who gave us a lift from Lodmoor to Radipole when the Ross's Gull was relocated there in the early afternoon. George is not a huge fan of birding, but he enjoyed the people watching. Desperate twitchers screeched to a halt in the Radipole Car Park wild-eyed and breathless, muscling their way to a good view like sharp-elbowed parents getting their kids into the best schools. Within minutes of seeing the bird, he observed, they were transformed into grinning idiots, generously offering new arrivals a look through their telescopes and slapping the backs of their travelling companions.

Wing-stretching in the harsh light of mid-afternoon...

...followed by a yawn revealing a Black Guillemot style gape

Note the short red legs

Earlier at Lodmoor, while we had been jogging on the spot to keep the cold at bay, hoping the Ross's Gull would drop in there, a couple of rather more substantial white-winged gulls had provided some good practice for finding the right exposure with the camera: not that I'm complaining, it was lovely crisp weather, but white birds in dark landscapes in the midday sun? Not easy.

The whiter of the two Glaucous Gulls at Lodmoor - note the pale iris

This is the more mottled of the two Glaucous Gulls - note the beadier dark eye

And here both Glaucous Gulls together - the one on the left a particularly fine specimen

With Thayer's, Ring-billed, Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls all being seen at Blashford Lakes just over the border into Hampshire, intrepid birders who left Weymouth in the early afternoon could have clocked up double figures in gull species in a single day. We were quite happy though to stick around Weymouth, enjoying a major Dorset rarity and a handsome selection of waders on display at Lodmoor.

Lapwing, Lodmoor

Common Snipe, Lodmoor

Spoonbills, including a Dutch-ringed Bird, Lodmoor

Ross's Gull, Radipole Lake



Shetland day 2: bring your waders

Our base for the first two nights on Shetland was a remote croft at Collaster on the western part of the Mainland. The croft had only been recently made available for self-catering and the owner had been taken aback by the level of interest in the property. He was a good host though, and as well as a warm welcome we found a fridge stocked with an impressive selection of breakfast meat. Keen to get out in the morning, we saved this for an evening fry-up, and while unlikely to appear in the M&S 'healthy eating' range anytime soon, it was an impressive spread.

Snipe

Golden Plover

Several frying pans were needed to hold the meat feast laid on for us: bacon, sausages, black pudding, haggis and saucermeat - a sort of offal-based, sausage-slab affair as far as we could tell, and apparently a Shetland speciality, pronounced by the locals as 'sossermit', almost in a single syllable.

Brambling

Ruff

Before that though there was birding to be done and bearings to be got. We started as we meant to go on, hunting out likely looking patches of habitat and grilling them for birds before moving on to the next. Over the next 24 hours my Shetland education continued, and I started to appreciate the radical differences between birding the archipelago in autumn and birding at home. Whereas in Dorset I might go to an extensive patch of specialist habitat or a nature reserve, up here a patch could be a tiny stand of willows or even a solitary tree.

Great Northern Diver

Great Northern Diver

Similarly, whereas at home I would typically avoid areas of human habitation in search of wildlife, on Shetland, gardens are one of the most likely locations to find the cover necessary to attract birds in an otherwise treeless landscape. 'Walk in the ditch, not in the road' was one of the many rules of the game to be observed and good guidance it was too - over the course of the coming days this flushed out a number of birds - nothing particularly rare, but enough to prove the wisdom of the advice. The poor weather continued, so there was also a bit of birding from the car in that first few days - a good way to see waders in roadside fields.

Hooded Crow

Slavonian Grebe

Drive-by shootings

My last visit to North Uist was memorable for the exceptional views of breeding waders, the best of which can generally be obtained by driving slowly around suitable habitat (which is most of it) with the windows down. All of the following (with the exception of the Sanderling) were taken this way, with Bradders (aka Parker) doing the honours as chauffeur in that finest of wildlife safari vehicles, a clapped out Astra with a dodgy clutch, which made every gear change sound like a Corncrake with tonsillitis.

Redshank in breeding plumage

Redshank



Common Snipe

Common Snipe

Common Snipe among the rocks and Cotton Grass of Balranald

Ringed Plover

Lapwing

Lapwing in the lengthening shadows

Red-necked Phalarope (female) - a rare breeding bird in Britain at the southernmost edge of its range - photographed from a respectful distance from the car with the aid of teleconverters

A male Red-necked Phalarope - duller than the female, who lays the eggs and leaves him to bring up the youngsters

Red-necked Phalarope (male)

Red-necked Phalarope (female) - we thought we had travelled a long way to get to the Western Isles, but satellite tagging has revealed that a breeding bird of this species from Shetland migrated across the Atlantic, south down the eastern seaboard of the US, across the Caribbean and Mexico, wintering in the Pacific off the coast of Peru. And all without the aid of an Astra.

Sanderling in summer plumage



Back on dry land

There was some time between pelagic trips on my recent visit to the Isles of Scilly to check out some old haunts in search of migrants and resident birds around St Mary's:

Returning to St Mary's afer seeing the Fea's Petrel there were a good few hours of daylight to enjoy so I headed to Content where several Pied Flycatcchers had been reported. It took a couple of hours of patient watching to get a photo I was happy with. I was also impressed with the camera to capture this with so little grain shooting at ISO4000.

The next morning I went for an early morning walk around the Garrison but before I had got there I kicked up another Pied Fly (#215 for the photo yearlist) off the road in the middle of Hugh Town.

Male Blackcap in the gloom at Lower Moors...

...and a female in slightly better light, but still shooting at ISO1000

Reed Warblers were around the pool at Lower Moors - probably local breeders rather than migrants

And an obliging Sedge Warbler was in the same area

A very attractive bird, the Sedge Warbler

This one put the camera through its paces, landing in the shade on the boardwalk - I shot this at ISO4000

A couple of Green Sandpiper (#216) dropped in at Lower Moors

This can be a skittish species so it was good to see them settle and start feeding

They remained jumpy though and provided some flight photography practice...

...this one turning in mid air...

...and this one coming in to land

Another attractive species

Even managed a reflection

Snipe is also fairly reliable at Lower Moors - this one captured in a downpour

A Greenshank at the same site in the same downpour

Another Greenshank at Porth Hellick