2nd October 2017: Day 7:
Wild, wet and windy would be an apt way to describe
the day. The weather blew through in curtains of driving rain all day and made
birding and even standing up challenging at times but the crew persevered and
we ended up having a reasonable day. Hoswick was given a good look after
breakfast and despite the wind we found nine YBWs, Spot Fly, two Redstarts, the
odd phyllosc and Peter had the Reed
Bunting again and found a Red-breasted Flycatcher that eluded the rest of us.
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| Hoswick at dawn |
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| No Sibe at the end of the rainbow this time |
With incoming weather we made our way south
and explored around Loch of Spiggie where 15 Whoopers and a raft of Tufted Duck
bobbed but the quarry where the first Siberian Accentor was last year only
contained some Song Thrushes, two Robins and sheep poo...
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| Whooper Swans - bit blowy |
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| Incoming over Spiggie |
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| ...but Bay of Scousburgh looks lovely |
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| Getting closer |
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| St Ninian's Isle |
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| Checking at the Accentor Quarry |
Grutness called and I refound the Little Bunting
in the road after about 15 minutes but it took a little while longer to get
some superb views after it was flushed by an inconsiderate muppet that wanted
to get closer to the Redstart on the same fence.
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| Little Bunting |
A Mealy Redpoll dropped onto
the lichen covered wall and Redstart, Blackcap and Goldcrest all popped up too
while a House Martin hawked low over our heads.
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| Mealy Redpoll |
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| House Martin |
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| Opposite the 1st Quarry looking towards the airport, Sumburgh hotel (left) and Grutness (right) |
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| Towards Brough Head |
The Sumburgh quarries and
environs added three more Redstarts, heaps of Robins, Blackbirds, Goldcrests
and Chiffchaffs and a lone Dunnock but the head itself was too windy and the
next wave of rain was on the way so we escaped but not before seeing four
Risso's Dolphins and three high speed Long-tailed Ducks.
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| Redstart |
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| Redstart |
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| Twite |
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| Raven |
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| Dunnock |
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| Blackbird |
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| Robin |
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| Shetland Mega Big Foot Wren |
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| Sumburgh Head Hotel |
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| Sumburgh Head |
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| Risso's Dolphins- Peter Moore |
Pool of Virkie and Exnaboe added a nice list of
waders to the trip with Sanderling, Curlew Sandpiper, Grey Plover and
Black-tailed Godwit as well as 11 Barwits and a good number of commoner
species. Two immature drake Goosanders were a pleasant surprise as the fed
right alongside the car. I have never seen them swimming with their tails up
before. Another new bird for the Shetland list.
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| Goosander |
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| Goosander |
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| Goosander |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Grey Plover - Peter Moore |
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| Shag - Peter Moore |
After a surprisingly successful dash back to Sumburgh to locate Peter's wayward radio we headed back inland. The Common Crane that we saw
last year was striding about a hay field near Hillwell with Rock Doves for
company while Swallows hawked around so low to the ground to prevent them
hurtling into the distance. It was not even possible to get out of the car and
required some shuffling around to view! A Gadwall and four Moorhens on the Loch
were new and several Wheatears got blown off of roadside posts while the
juvenile Little Stint up the road at Noss was found feeding in the flooded,
slurry soaked corner of a field with Pied, White and Grey Wagtails as
companions. A Rock Pipit present looked bigger than it!
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| Common Crane |
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| Little Stint |
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| Little Stint - Bob Vaughan |
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| Little Stint - Peter Moore |
The wind was still increasing and so we were encouraged by team leader Bradders to check out some notionally sheltered easterly sites including:
The reverse waves of Boddam...
The damp Golden Plovers and soggy Skylarks of Voxter...
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| Golden Plover |
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| Skylark |
The wet waders of Levenwick...
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| Turfstones, Deadshanks and Wormcatcher |
The general dampness of Veensgarth and not forgetting the howling unpleasentness of Fladdabister...
you need sound for the video to get the full effect...
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| Bird Free Fladdabister |
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| Bob and I suffering from imminent wind... |
We knew when to call it a day and eventually persuaded Bradders of this too and a nice cup of tea and my
special spag bol was calling... oh and a beer.
Why is the sky a funny blue colour in some of the photos?
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