Seems like an age since I was on Shetland, so apologies for the time it's taking to wade through the old news and pictures - only four days to go...Day 6 began as had the previous couple with a twirl around Hoswick - best birds of that session were a pair of Red-throated Divers in the bay which I picked up out of the kitchen window while we were having breakfast. The incessant wind continued so we sought out sheltered spots in Scalloway, finding nothing more exciting than Brambling, before heading for the pie shop.
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| Parrot Crosssbill |
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| Scissoring a cone from the tree with its powerful bill |
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| A darker red male fed just below the more orangey bird above |
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| Calls in flight were very different to our familiar Crossbills |
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| Bird of the day on day 6 |
English convenience stores have a lot to learn from their Shetland counterparts: for £1.95 we could get a delicious, compact pie with a choice of fillings and heat it up in the shop's microwave - many days this was enough to tide us over until the mid-afternoon snack pangs kicked in. I fear my constant grazing was a bad influence on the rest of the team, and by the end of the week they were troughing in to an ever expanding snack bag like troopers. At least that meant I wasn't the only one...
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| Red-breasted Flycatcher, Dale of Walls |
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| Looking a bit perkier than the one we saw in the rain on our first day |
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| A very vocal bird which frequently cocked its tail |
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| A good view of the white patches at the base of the tail |
Soon after we had all pied-up, news broke of a small flock of Parrot Crossbills in a conifer plantation near Sand - a major rarity on Shetland and a bird I had seen only once before in the UK. A consensus decision saw us heading there where we got excellent views of three male birds which were following our lead by chowing down on pine cones which they had ripped from the trees - a characteristic behaviour of the species.
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| The RB Fly flicks from a branch over Howard's shoulder |
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| After giving us the run-around, the Great Grey Shrike at Dale of Walls had the decency to hover over-head |
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| Hedgehog was an addition to the mammal list for the trip |
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| We continued to bump into good numbers of Redstarts - here a male... |
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| ...and here a female |
From Sand, we headed to Dale of Walls where a very obliging Red-breasted Flycatcher and a slightly less obliging Great Grey Shrike were the highlights, before ending the day with a selection of finches at Veensgarth. So another good day, of which the Crossbills were the undoubted highlight.
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| Mealy Redpoll, Veensgarth |
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| Pied Flycatcher at Sand earlier in the day |
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| Siskin at Veensgarth |
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| Offshore waters continued to boil in the strong winds |
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| A calmer image to end with of the Red-breasted Flycatcher |
