Shetland Day 7: far from the madding crowd

We decided on an off-island excursion on our 7th day on Shetland - to Unst, the most northerly inhabited island in the UK, where we could get away from the hordes of literally, er, tens of birders on the Mainland. The forecast, and a report of an Olive-backed Pipit, suggested that we should stop at the Kergord Plantation en route before leaving the Mainland, one of the largest areas of woodland on Shetland.

Otter on Yell while waiting for the ferry to Unst

The Otter surfaced with a fish then vanished

Seeing trees on both sides of the road is a rarity on Shetland: this is Kergord

Although Howard got a brief view of the OBP, the rest of us didn't see it, but compensation came when we each independently heard, and subsequently saw, another small group of Parrot Crossbills in the plantation. These attracted another massive crowd of at least three birders, so we set off again on the quest to get as far from the madding crowd as possible.

A female Parrot Crossbill to go with the males from the previous day

Stoat with Starling as we waited for the ferry to Yell

And this is the ferry to Yell

Speaking of Thomas Hardy, Rustic Bunting may sound like something the townsfolk hang out on May Day in one of his novels, but it is in fact an attractive vagrant from the east. News of one at Lower Voe persuaded us to make a short detour before heading for the ferry. Time was short, but the Bunting was feeding on the roadside as we arrived and was soon flushed by a passing car, assuaging our guilt at ticking-and-running.


Rustic Bunting at Lower Voe

Strikingly white underparts

Thus Ruff was feeding near the Otter

We then hit a lucky streak with Shetland mammals - first a Stoat surprised us by running across the road with a Starling in its mouth as we waited for the ferry to Yell, then an Otter surfaced holding a fish as we waited for the ferry to Unst.

A couple of Bonxies at Skaw on Unst

Curlew on Unst

The cliffs and sea at Skaw were carpeted with Shag. No pun intended.

The main target on Unst was a Red-throated Pipit which had been present for several days. We arrived as another carload of birders was leaving, and they advised us to comb the grassland above the beach at Skaw to search for the elusive pipit. A short distance from the car, a Pipit flushed out of the grass in font of us and sat up on a post.

An attractive graveyard on Unst

Well at least it's an anagram of 'Starling on sheep's ears' 

We stalked this Pipit at Skaw hoping it was the Red-throated, but photos revealed it to be a Tree Pipit

We instinctively raised our binoculars, expecting a Meadow Pipit, and had a good view at close range before it flew again. Then we all looked at each other: 'That had bright mantle stripes'. 'Yeah, and a yellow base to the bill'. 'Well that was it then!' Too easy! I kicked myself for not grabbing a photograph of the bird at point blank range, and though we attempted to refind it, it had flown beyond a wall into a private garden, and did not look like reappearing.

After burying itself in the grass the Red-throated Pipit eventually came out on the beach 

Clean whitish underparts

A better view of the pale mantle stripes and fine bill with yellow base

The weather had taken a turn for the worse by this point, and we turned to leave - no sooner had we done so than the Pipit reappeared. It was flighty but after sweeping the area with another group of visiting birders we eventually pinned it down for some photos on the beach and in the long grass beyond. 

A rear view of the pale mantle stripes

The best of a bad lot of Red-throated Pipit flight shots

Yet another Redstart - this the most obliging of the lot

The rest of the day was spent birding Unst, the highlight being a White-tailed Eagle which an observant soul had picked up perched on a distant hillside. A great excursion and a welcome bit of peace and quiet before returning to the seething metropolis of Hoswick.

The Popemobile: they pushed the boat out when His Eminence visited Shetland

Record shot of a very distant White-tailed Eagle

The long road home to Mainland Shetland

Shetland day 4: the tipping point?

During our first 3 days on Shetland we had worked hard in challenging conditions for relatively little reward: there had been plenty of birds, and a couple of good ones, but nothing to justify breaking out the cigars. After another morning grilling the gardens of Hoswick and finding yet more Yellow-browed Warblers, we felt we had earned the right to go and look at other people's birds for the rest of the day. Specifically, a Rustic Bunting at Melby, back on the western mainland, in an area which, frustratingly, we had checked thoroughly a couple of days previously.

Rustic Bunting, Melby

Rustic Bunting, Melby

The Rustic Bunting showed soon after our arrival, feeding on the verge but before I could get a decent record shot a car approached and flushed the bird. Fortunately, it landed much closer, enabling a couple of half-decent pictures to be obtained. A few minutes later, and we were bundling back into the car to head north for the first 'mega-alert' of the trip: a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler had been found at Barnafield, a good 40 miles drive away in north Mainland.

This Black Guillemot moulting to winter plumage was just offshore at Melby

One of my favourite birds, known in these parts as the Tystie

Having been quick off the mark, and not seeing too many birders on our travels over the previous few days, we thought we might be among the first on site - a bit of a miscalculation as the major rarity had brought all the birders on Shetland out of the woodwork. We joined an expectant group of about 50 in an orderly assemblage around a small iris bed with a stream at its base. Within a few minutes we had seen the 'PG Tips' - named for the white tail tips - fly from an iris bed to some nettles, revealing a long, dark tail with the eponymous tips in the process. It was partially obscured and characteristically skulking when on the ground, but was on view just long enough to grab some record shots and piece together the key features.

Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Barnafield

A new species for my British list, it crept stealthily down through the nettles, revealing yellow underparts

One of this species had been seen a few weeks previously in Norfolk, but reports of bad behaviour at the twitch meant I had no desire to go searching for that particular individual, so it was great to see one with a small and orderly crowd. Some of them, including fellow Dorset birder Roger Howell, had waited several decades to catch up with this species so it was a special experience for all of us. Well done to the finders for checking out the iris bed, of which there must be thousands on Shetland which look equally if not more promising.

On the ground the PG Tips showed a dark, streaky crown, dark tail and hint of a rusty brown rump...

... and a prominent supercilium compared to other locustella warblers

We left the PG Tips just as the weather turned foul again, and the route home provided an opportunity to cruise the Aith-Vementry road where a Short-toed Lark had been seen earlier in the day. It was bucketing down and we didn't hold out much hope, especially as no-one fancied getting out of the car when we arrived at the site.

Earlier in the day we caught up with a putative Siberian Oystercatcher of the sub-species longipes at Sandwick - picked out from the regular Oycs by its browner upperparts - as Howard pointed out, if it is one, it was probably the rarest bird on Shetland that day.

Our home for the week (bottom left) near the beach in Hoswick

Miraculously though, the Lark was still there, grovelling in the gutter and looking about as water-logged as a passerine can look - another reminder of the trials which migrant birds are subjected to. Heart-warmingly, it survived the night and was still present the following morning, though we became quite concerned for its welfare a second time as the weather closed in again that afternoon.

The barely recognisable Short-toed Lark near Aith looking pretty sorry for itself in horizontal rain

Birders looking for the PG Tips - the largest crowd we saw in our nine days on Shetland