Shetland, an Introduction - 17-26/9/2021

Windswept and desolate, the Shetland Islands lie like a lonely child in the vast waters of the Atlantic ocean. These remote pieces of land beckon to a birdwatchers, as they are legendary migrant traps, that lure rare birds to its warm embrace and as a result I have always wanted to visit the islands. Having now visited I can now picture those famous places on the archipelago: Grutness, Quendale, Unst, Loch of Spiggie, famous migrant spots I now know. 

However these migrant hotspots are weather dependent and are reliant on the right winds, When the winds blow from the wrong direction, the south west, then there are precious few birds on the islands. And when the winds don't blow right Shetland can feel like a bleak bird less rock. And bird less it proved to be with strong westerlies blowing the entire time I was there.

Sure I saw some scarcities, two RED BREASTED FLYCATCHERS, two KING EIDER, ROSE COLOURED STARLING and COMMON ROSEFINCH were all good birds, but they are more scarce than rare, and can be seen in many places outside of Shetland. What I wanted was that lifer, that rare bird that could only be found on these islands, something to remember the holiday for.

GREY SEAL

From the 17-26 September, the space of a week, I visited the islands, in pursuit of some of its famous migrants, my head full of the exotic birds I'll see. Not being brave enough to head out on my own I booked the visit with the Heatherlea bird holiday company. I have used them before, to the Nethy Bridge area, Mull and the Outer Hebrides and saw a decent amount of birds on each visit. I entrusted to the guides knowledge of Shetland, although in the end that didn't really come to much. A large amount of time was spent in a minibus travelling from place to place in the futile attempt to find some birds. I would have preferred to have explored some areas on foot, to walk a further distance than we did, we seemed to be shuttled from place to place got out, had a look, then moved on to some other area.

Being a solitary fellow, who spends a long time roaming the countryside on my own, it would seem strange for me to join a group of people I don't know. However even a man like myself needs to meet up and see what's happening in the world outside of my bubble. The group was fine, and as per my blog rule, I don't write about people. And going to Shetland is as far away from people and civilisation as you can get.

Undulating moorland defines the landscape of Shetland, an inhospitable land to cultivation. The islands was mainly given over to sheep grazing, with cows and ponies on the flatter lower fields, without any agriculture. Habitation was mainly scattered housing dotted around the landscape, with a few centres. There are some scenic cliffs creating beautiful vistas, breathtaking as the waves on the sea battered against the land. Salmon and mussel farms nestle in the sea lochs and inlets. However, because the low fertility of the land, the money on the islands come from the sea, through oil, and the islanders have made a lot of money from it. 

MEADOW PIPT, the most common bird on the islands

Bird wise, things were fairly quiet as a whole, the number of birds on the island are quite low at this time of year, none of the seabird cliff of summer. As a set of islands consisting of open land, with no trees numbers of small birds were low. MEADOW PIPITS were the most common birds, with WHEATEAR everywhere, perched on a fence or stone wall, their white rump as they flew away was very distinctive. There were small numbers of lochans around the islands, with a few waters of larger size attracting a few DUCK. On the coast a variety of beaches and mud flats attracted a decent range of WADERS. Sea watching was quiet, with little migrants, but everywhere there seemed to be a GANNET dive bombing into the sea, as well as AUKS, including the Scottish specialty, the BLACK GUILLEMOT. A lot of the places we visited were stunted tree plantations barely scraping an existence in some sheltered area, which was the only cover for migrating birds, as little as there were. However no place really held that many birds, and there was no real centre to birdwatching on the islands.

BLACK GUILLEMOT, or TYSTIE as its known in Scotland

When dealing with something as tricky as bird migration there must be room for the fact that there might just be no birds present. I mean its difficult when there was just so little birds to see, as for someone as time poor as myself, I can only take a few holidays a year, and its galling to have to deal with a fail. But then there's the other view: I've finally been to Shetland, somewhere I've always wanted to visit and another place ticked off the list, and that's the side I'll take, its all good. This is just an introduction post, the next write ups will get into more depth about the Isles and the birds I saw.