Shetland day 3: brightening up

We saw a proper Shetland rarity on the third day of our recent nine day visit: sunshine. As the morning dawned brightly we decided to check out some promising looking gardens in remote areas of the western mainland before relocating to our accommodation for the coming week in south mainland.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Culswick

Yellow-browed Warbler, Gardins

Yellow-browed Warbler, Gardins

Pied Flycatcher, Culswick

Starting at Culswick, before long we had flushed a skulking locustalla from a roadside ditch. The most likely option in this scenario is the familiar Grasshopper Warbler, though there is always the chance of it being something rarer - Pallas's Grasshopper or Lanceolated Warbler being the most desirable. The Warbler buried itself in an iris bed but, with some gentle encouragement, flew to a ruined croft where it showed well enough to confirm it was 'just' a Gropper. Still, a promising start.

Grasshopper Warbler, Culswick

Willow Warbler, Gardins

Willow Warbler, Effearth

Male Redstart, Easter Skeld

At Gardins, Yellow-browed Warblers were the order of the day - including four together in one small bush at the gateway to a large house. The impression of there being good numbers of common migrants on the islands was confirmed as the morning progressed: Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Redstarts, Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs. It felt very birdy and encouraged us to continue pishing our way around any suitable looking patch of habitat.

Blackcap

Blackcap, Wester Quarff

Lesser Whitethroat, Wester Quarff - probably of a race ;-)

Red Admiral - the only species of butterfly we saw in Shetland

Sparrowhawk, Wester Quarff

Highlights of the day were a couple of Red Grouse which appeared cackling over a fragment of heather-clad hillside near Easter Skeld and gave us a close flypast before vanishing over the horizon, and finally a Corncrake, flushed by David at Fladdibister where we were searching for a Red-backed Shrike. We assumed the Corncrake would run for cover and never be seen again but as we approached where it had landed, it flushed again to give conclusive (but unphotographable) flight views.

Red Grouse, Easter Skeld 

Red Grouse, Easter Skeld

Red Grouse, Easter Skeld

Redwing, Easter Skeld

Autumn on the patch

I've been making a bit more of an effort to catch up with autumn migrants on my local patch at Swineham over the past few weeks. My visits in recent years have often been necessarily fleeting, involving a brisk canter around the gravel pits trying to cover as much of the area as possible. This autumn I have tried a different strategy, lingering in a few of the more promising looking spots for passerines, and not worrying about trying to cover all the ground. It's worked quite well, and I've started to appreciate the old place a bit more as a result. But a late evening walk tonight was bright, breezy and almost completely birdless, so I had reverted to type and was doing a circuit of the gravel pits when, heading west up the Piddle Valley, something made me look back: Great White Egret in a ditch - patch tick! It looked like it had clocked me before I clocked it, made a few short flights and settled to feed in amongst a herd of cows. A few pictures of the Egret and some other recent migrants below.

Great White Egret - difficult to miss

A huge bird, much larger than the familiar Little Egret

It or another has been seen recently at Lytchett  Bay, Middlebere and in the From Valley 

No point trying to be stealthy when you're that colour mate

Reed Warblers have been moving through though it's difficult to tell the migrants from the residents with this species which breeds in good numbers at Swineham

Reed Warbler

Whitethroat is surprisingly rare at Swineham - this one of two earlier in the month

Lesser Whitethroat is even rarer - three together a few weeks ago was quite a record

A juvenile Spotted Flycatcher was also a belated patch tick this autumn

Always a treat to see one of these

A steady stream of Willow Warblers over recent weeks seems to be tailing off

Always an attractive species at this time of year

Willow Warbler

Plenty of Sedge Warblers also around the gravel pits

Not a great year for them breeding at Swineham so presumed migrants

An acrobatic Sedge Warbler

More spring arrivals

Long-distance migrants have been arriving in force over the last week or so - I managed to catch up with ten of my favourites last weekend and this, all common summer visitors to British breeding grounds. Common maybe - but uncommonly difficult journeys they undertake to come back to these shores. A good excuse to flick through the old BTO Migration Atlas to marvel at the journeys they make, read the accounts of ringing recoveries and be reminded of the perils they face along the way.

Male Redstart, Suckthumb Quarry, Portland, 17th April. A trans-Saharan migrant, the Redstart heads through the Iberian peninsula before arriving in Britain, having wintered south of the Sahara.

Whinchat, Suckthumb Quarry, Portland, 17th April. Another long-distance migrant wintering in tropical Africa. Spring males are stunners!

Lesser Whitethroat, Swineham, 23rd April - quite a rare visitor to the patch. British Lesserthroats head to northern Italy for a stopover on migration across the Med to winter in east Africa - an unusual route for one of 'our' warblers.

Common Whitethroat, Suckthumb Quarry, Portland 17th April. They spend winter in the Sahel region of Africa.

Reed Warbler, Wareham, 23rd April. A trans-Saharan migrant, our Reed Warblers are thought to winter in west Africa, reaching us in spring via a westerly route through North Africa and Iberia.

Sedge Warbler, Swineham, 23rd April. Another trans-Saharan migrant, more ringed British Sedge Warblers have been recovered from Senegal than any other country.

Willow Warbler, Portland Castle, 17th April. Many British birds winter in the Gulf of Guinea.

Yellow Wagtail, Suckthumb Quarry. British birds winter in Senegal and the Gambia, following the west African coast and passing through Spain en route to Britain in spring.

Male Blackcap, Portland Castle, 17th April. British breeders spend winter in southern Iberia and northwest Africa. Blackcaps wintering in Britain are, however, thought to be continental breeders.

House Martin, Lodmoor, 17th April. Over a million House Martins have been ringed in Britain but only a couple of dozen of these have been recovered south of the Sahara. Knowledge of their wintering grounds is therefore limited.

Whinchat, Suckthumb Quarry. A very dapper beast.



Rare breeders

For some reason I can't think about Monty's Harrier without being reminded of a famously sweary line from Withnail and I. This doesn't happen very often, as they have become a very rare breeding bird in Britain, having started off being not very plentiful in the first place. After an early start from Dorset en route to a Gannet-fest at Bempton cliffs for a couple of days, I was able to call in at another RSPB reserve, Blacktoft Sands, where a pair have set up shop this year.

Male Montagu's Harrier, Blacktoft Sands

A very slim and elegant raptor

Here the male and female together

Records of breeding Monty's are usually kept pretty quiet but once in a while a pair will turn up somewhere like this where they can be kept an eye on and birders can be encouraged to see them there where the risk of disturbance is low rather than go looking for them elsewhere. Keep up to date with the progress of the breeding pair here. Always distant, though the female got up for a stretch and did a circuit which brought her a fair bit closer than the male.

Female Montagu's Harrier

Showing the white tail band here

The female Monty's looked very rufous in the field

Marsh Harrier and Avocet used to be rare breeders in Britain not so long ago but both have seen an upturn in their fortunes - and both were plentiful at Blacktoft. They weren't getting along too well though as several passing Marsh Harriers experienced the wrath of nervous Avocet parents intent on protecting their newly fledged chicks.

Marsh Harrier mobbed by Avocet

A Grey Heron gets similar treatment

Marsh Harrier

On the way back south I detoured via the Brecks for a day to see another rare breeder which I haven't seen for a few years - Stone Curlew at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve on Weeting Heath. Four adults were present and I glimpsed a couple of fluffy chicks tottering around in the long grass too.

Stone Curlew, Weeting Heath (#188)

The birds were very vocal in the early morning

The hides at Weeting Heath are a reliable place to see Stone Curlew without the risk of disturbing the birds

Just around the corner from Weeting Heath is Lakenheath Fen, the third major RSPB reserve on my itinerary. A Little Bittern had been barking there for a week, but chose the day of my arrival to go elsewhere. Frustratingly, it was back again today after a two day absence which coincided with my visit.

Common Cranes, Lakenheath Fen (#189)

Cuckoo among the Poplars which used to ring with the sound of Golden Oriole song

Interpretation board at Lakenheath

Lakenheath used to be a reliable breeding site for Golden Oriole but although a male sang briefly there earlier in the month, they appear to have given up the ghost in recent years. Very sad, but a distant view of a pair of Common Cranes, which returned to the Fen to breed in 2007, made up for the disappointment of not seeing the Little Bittern.

Jay with what looked like a Great Tit chick.

Whitethroat, Lakenheath - more showy than...

...Lesser Whitethroat, taken back in Wareham last week (#190)