St Ninnians, East Burra & Loch of Spiggie - 22/9/2021

SANDERLING (R) with a RINGED PLOVER (l)

I seldom got blown away by the scenery of Shetland, but St Ninnian's stands up there as the most beautiful location I saw in this archipelago. Its the best example of TOMBOLO in the country, a sand spit which links the island of St Ninnian's to the mainland. It was a gorgeous example of the kind of beaches you get up in this part of the world, beautiful white sand and turquoise sea, sort of what you would expect from the Caribbean, but with the bonus of being empty of people. When I was there the clouds opened up and the sun beat down to illuminate the vistas and it was just great walking on the sand, I just wished I had more time to spend here, but we had to look for birds.

A TOMBOLO, a stretch of sand that links an offshore island to the mainland

Looking towards the island of ST Ninnian's across the tombolo from the mainland

After the struggles of the past two days, with lots of effort being put into finding few birds, things picked up today, and there were a few more birds present around the islands. For a base we had moved to the Sumburgh Hotel in the most southern part of Mainland near the airport and Grutness. 

As it pretty much happened for the entire holiday, the wind was still blowing in the wrong direction, strong westerlies, which provided no help what so ever. The best winds for bird migration is a blow from the north east, the exact opposite direction, which explains the dearth of migrants. In the morning various skeins of PINK FOOTED GEESE flew over, providing good examples of migration happening before my eyes.

On Shetland there are few estuaries or mudflats and the first port of call for today was a visit to one of them. The mud on the Pool of Verkie, would prove to be a fertile feeding ground for a small collection of WADERS. The best of the sightings would be another LITTLE STINT, after the one the other day, my second record for Scotland, and a wader not often seen on mudflats. A flock of around twenty BLACKWITS was an interesting collection of birds, this was the only record for the holiday, and not a bird I often see in Scotland. A couple of KNOT were about as well, along with all the usual waders we had seen in other places, all in small numbers.

TURNSTONE and a SANDERLING (C)

Having seen a KING EIDER on the 19 September, it was time to see a second, this one located on a sea loch at East Burra. Again it was a daunting prospect, although this time it was much further in, close enough to make out, it was just amongst a flock of several hundred EIDER. It still amazes me how I was able to see it, but I did, the magic of expensive optics. Again it was differentiated by the orange bill, and it had a slightly different shape. Not a shower, but still a tick I guess.

One place I wanted to visit was Loch of Spiggie, an RSPB reserve, the largest loch in Shetland. Laying eyes on it, I was surprised at the size of it; it was a huge expanse of water stretching to the horizon. Despite this size, wildfowl numbers were fairly low, as is typical for lochs of Shetland. A flock of 30 of both MUTE and WHOOPER SWANS were about with small flocks of WIGEON and TEAL. More interest was provided by distant views of three GOLDENEYE and there were also a few SLAVONIAN GREBES about, dark specks even through a telescope, you differentiate them through their shape, which you learn through experience.

RINGED PLOVER, a common wader on the beaches of Shetland

Half a mile from the south of Loch of Spiggie, lies Spiggie Beach, another exotic looking location. Loch of Spiggie was originally a sea loch which got silted up to cut it off from the sea and so the beach was formed. The usual SMALL WADERS were present running up and down the shoreline. What was interesting was a small WARBLER seen distantly on some rocks. Our tour leader, desperate for any sighting of a rarity, climbed over a series of rocks, risking his life in the pursuit of: a WILLOW WARBLER. Worthwhile, but he was willing to put his life in jeopardy for a common holiday tick, that's dedication.

Spiggie Beach

Being an isolated piece of moorland, Shetland is home to few birds of prey. Probably the most common is the MERLIN, which is also the smallest. We would see individuals of this species from the minibus usually flying low across the landscape. We had a couple of records of KESTRELS and SPARROWHAWKS, which are actually quite scarce in a place with no trees. 

Another one from Spiggie Beach

And so the end of another post, one that's a bit more enjoyable to write about as it means I have seen some birds and visited various interesting places. Its good to write this blog right now on a cold October night in Ipswich, going through all the good memories I have of this holiday. All that was needed was a few more birds and it would have been a classic.