Last year’s Pied Billed Grebe had returned to Loch of
Spiggie yesterday and thus that was to be our first destination of the day. On the way off of Muckle Roe we spied a sad
denizen of the high Arctic in the emaciated form of a Polar Bear seemingly too
weak to move having attempted to scale a fence into a garden after some loose
chickens.
The poor beast was skin and bone and had quite probably
headed south following the scent of stray Beluga Whales and Walruses.
We made the appropriate phone calls be decided that trying
to free it from its precarious perch would be detrimental to both our and its
health...
Meanwhile down at Spiggie the Pied Billed Grebe was immediately
on show which given its penchant for disappearing into the sedges was a good
thing. It may have been a fair way off but that is why we have good scopes and
through them it was just fine. It was my
first since the booming male at Thompson Water in Norfolk in May 1999. This fat headed little thing as busy catching
small fish before retreating to digest.
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| Loch of Spiggie - grebe was in the bay - look at how quickly the light changed |
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| Pied Billed Grebe |
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| Pied Billed Grebe |
A Slavonian Grebe fed in the shallows closer in and 25
Whoopers, two Moorhen and a few Tufted Duck were noted while a Swallow and
Skylarks were in the windblown field below us.
On to Boddham for some more Rosefinch action but no sooner
had we found it that the dreaded news of Lancy at Quendale once again appeared
in the news. We were five minute away and so off we headed resigned to more
time spent in the irises.
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| Rosefinch |
No one who had seen was on site – again – and so a concerted
effort was made to find it this time with a proper close knot line working the vegetation.
A good job was obviously done as rodent scurried ahead of the line and occasionally
didn’t and required a gentle parting of the iris blades by hand to send them on
their way but of a tiny brown locustella
there was no sign, only two Willow Warblers, the same damp Chiffchaff and
Whitethroat and an ominously difficult to flush mute Wren...
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| The Quendale irises are in the cleft running across the picture |
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| QuendaleBay with Sumburgh beyond |
Once again I walked away and this time Bob came with me and
as it was not raining we headed back up the road towards Brake to check out the
gardens and fields above Loch of Hillwell. There were plenty of Skylarks, Twite,
House Sparrows and Meadow Pipits but the wind and squally showers were making
thing s difficult. Coot was added to the list on Hillwell along with another
Moorhen, 30 Mallard and seven Whoopers. Two
Wheatears and our first two Redwing were also seen.
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| Quendale lichens |
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| Quendale lichens |
Hoswick was our next stop but again the wind was proving
troublesome and two large dark North-western Redpolls, a Swallow and Wheatear
were our scant reward before the heavens opened again.
Sand Lodge produced Ringed Plovers, Oystercatchers and Redshank
on the foreshore but nothing with the House Sparrow flock bar a few Twite.
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| caption competitions for both these Ringed Plover pics... 'ooo that's got to smart a bit' |
However it is usually the Harbour Seals that captivate me here and this year
was no exception and with a quiet approach I was able to get pretty close
without disturbing them from their low tide respite.
Similar stealth meant that when we found ourselves
accidentally in the ram field behind the house, we managed to slip by with only
a few foot stamps and nose blowing...
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| Three Rams - two breeds... lots of testosterone |
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| Moussa from Sand Lodge |
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| And the famous Storm Petrel Broch |
From here we swept around towards Loch of Asta and Tingwall
where a good look through the Golden Plover and Redshank flock once again
yielded nothing different. Three Mute Swans and 19 Tufted Duck were on the
lochs before looping past Weisdale and up to Kergord.
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| Bradders inspecting the bin for vagrant litterstella warblers... |
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| Whiteness Voe |
I stuck to the road at Kergord and let the lads have the deathly quiet
woods and picked up a couple of Robins and Redwings as I walked north.
Common Gulls and Rooks were feeding in the fields and Ravens
and Hoodies played in the wind.
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| Ravens |
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| Rooks |
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| Common Gulls |
I was delighted to find a Jackdaw with the Rooks – my first
for the islands. Apparently this one has been around for a few years but is
seldom reported. A Sparrowhawk spooked Woodpigeons from the upper plantation
and a young female Peregrine sat perched in the leeward side of the next stand
up the road before a female Merlin careened across the road after a Blackbird.
With the weather closing in once again there was just time
to stop at Sand Water on the way out and usher a family of Whooper Swans out of
the roadside verge.
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