The Dreaded Day - 23/9/2021

Pair of HERRING GULLS

It was coming but I didn't really think it was going to happen - the day we saw nothing. I exaggerate of course, we did have some nice sightings, but with winds so forceful that you couldn't exit the minibus, it would prove to be a non-day.

RAZORBILL

So with 60mph south-westerlies, meaning there was no chance of leaving the van, let alone looking for birds, we just drove around. By the time we hit midday we ended up going to Lerwick, the capitol of Shetland, for something non-birding to do.

SHAG

Lerwick

Lerwick was a picturesque little town with some nice little shops and despite the urban (or what passes for urban in Shetland) location there were still some good sightings to be had of birds and mammals at close quarters. The lack of food in our oceans which has disastrously affected our seabirds, has meant that a lot of these birds are looking anywhere for food, taking them into close quarters with humans, which they wouldn't normally do. There are some sad records of emaciated sea birds washing up dead on our shores, with chicks dying of hunger. However it did provide the opportunity for some close photography of birds that would usually be miles out at sea. A BLACK GUILLEMOT, a RAZORBILL and a SHAG all posed for a nice photo as they swam around the harbour. These birds came so close, you could almost reach out and grab them. The RAZORBILL, dived and we could see it swim underwater, chasing a shoal of fish, with its stubby wings, it looked like it was flying through the water. 

Lerwick Harbour

Perhaps the most magical experience of the entire holiday in Shetland played itself out in the harbour. As we were hanging out by the water a shout came across of 'OTTER' and grabbing a pair of bins we ran over to the water's edge, and there was a pair of this elusive animal. Completely unfazed by being stared at, one of the otters came swimming over until it reached within ten metres of us. As it neared us it started calling out in this high pitched wheezing sound. It swam around for a couple of minutes before leaving the harbour entirely, not in the slightest bit fazed by the attention. 

OTTER in Lerwich Harbour

After the excitement of Lerwick, the winds in the afternoon  had calmed down a bit so we ventured out to look for some more birds, although there weren't many about. We visited a lot of places we had previously been to but with little luck. At one site, Western Quarff, upon examining a patch of stunted sycamores, a RED BREASTED FLYCATHCER was found, the second of the trip, as usual flying out of the clump to pose on a fence wire. Its amazing how such a small patch of trees could harbour any birds at all, and hide them so well it took some finding to see it. That was the last sighting of the day.

A RED BREASTED FLYCATCHER was found in this patch of trees

Sometimes on this holiday it just felt that things weren't really going my way. Watching birds is subject to the forces of nature, and when they aren't on your side there's really nothing you can really do. However when things are the other way round, you can witness the majesty of nature and feel quite humbled. That's part of the joy of bird watching, you just have no control at all, and in the end you just have to accept the way things are.

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.

DOTTEREL and that's about it -21/9/2021

I was fairly optimistic that yesterday was a blip and today was going to be a return to seeing lots of birds. However it was a bit of a no-show this day, which is how the rest of my tour of the islands of Shetland would pan out. For what has been a fairly quiet year for me bird wise, with the lockdown closing off the first quarter, I had plenty of birds to see to get back on track, and I thought this holiday would help. I mean there's nothing like going to Shetland, to really get to see some birds. But it just wasn't the case, and I was barely making any year ticks on this holiday (year ticks, in case you don't know, are the bird sightings for the year) let alone lifers.

As the title of the post makes obvious, the only bird of note today was a DOTTEREL. Like all the best sightings it was completely unplanned. Whilst searching through a flock of GOLDEN PLOVER in Stenness, our leader came across a slightly smaller bird in the flock. 'DOTTEREL!' came the shout, and everyone turned to scout through the plovers. It took a bit of searching but when I found it the bird became obvious and provided a good view of what can be hard bird to get close to. The dotterel was slightly smaller than the goldens, with a white eye stripe and an all brown plumage. The dotterel is a type of plover that nests in the highlands of Scotland, and for this species the roles of the sexes are reversed, with males looking after the young, and the females having the brighter plumage for a change. 

GOLDEN PLOVER, it was among a flock of these birds that I got the sighting of the DOTTEREL

You sometimes get DOTTERELS wandering through East Anglia on passage, but for Shetland this was the rarest bird we would see for the islands on the entire holiday. GOLDEN PLOVERS were fairly common, flocking on areas of short grassland throughout the islands, we would see them most days, nice birds, their big black eyes make them seem so sweet and innocent.

A good place we went to was Eshaness, but it was more for a photographic opportunity providing some stunning cliffs battered by the sea with massive waves to take pictures of. Winds were strong and not much was seen except a couple of ROCK PIPTS, common enough birds of the rocky coasts of Shetland. Most of the photos in this post was taken there. Its sort of the typical coast habitat of extreme cliffs, with tightly grazed grassland above. I think we went here so the leaders could come up with something for us to do today.

Scatness was a medium sized lowland loch where we pinned the hopes of seeing some birds, waterfowl this time. We visited in the afternoon, and parked on the top of a hill, looking down with good views of the loch below, amongst moorland. There was a good assortment here for Shetland, because amongst the WHOOPERS and WIGEON, two PINTAIL were about, and some SHOVELLERS, which seem to be rare in Shetland. Two PALE BELLIED BRENT GEESE flew in to join the show, a fairly rare bird on Shetland, in Suffolk we get the dark bellied kind, so they were a bit exotic for me.

A youngish HERRING GULL

Days on which not much happens are so much easier to write up, as I have less to type, and don't have to worry about leaving things out. But on the other side it was becoming obvious that the holiday was petering out under the lack of birds and my first visit to Shetland was turning into a dud, not really what I wanted on visiting these haloed isles. I know that on the flip side I was visiting this place for the first time, where everything was new to me, I was meeting new people, and having large hearty meals in the evening, so I can't really complain. There are two sides to everything.

Unst -20/9/2021

In the early days of my holiday in Shetland, we were based in the north of Mainland, so it was inevitable that we would take a trip to one of the northerly islands, and today we went to Unst. This is the most northerly island in the UK, a rugged, bleak place with some outstanding scenery, and a few birds. After the decent haul of birds yesterday, today was a bit of a no-show, and we chased some birds which were fairly common, not really what I came to Shetland for.

A flock of TURNSTONE, Norwick Beach

The bird we went to Unst for was a PECTORAL SANDPIPER, yes a fairly decent bird, but one that's barely a scarcity. What was strange about the sighting was its location, in a field on the edge of a cliff, a strange habitat for a wader, you expect to see them on some scrape or lowland marsh. It had been found by a local birder, who was present, and showed it to us, even the natives are finding the paucity in birds difficult. It was with four DUNLIN, and I wager that all these waders have been blown in from America, the strong westerly winds making it very likely. It was a first record for me for Scotland, but that's about it. 

PECTORAL  SAND (r) with two DUNLIN, if you think they all look the same you would be correct, even to a birder like me

The site of the pec sand, Lamba Ness, was actually more interesting, the landscape was strewn with crumbling buildings from the second world war and later, radar towers looking for bombers from Europe. What's even more interesting about this place is that its being touted to be the UKs first spaceport. Exciting yes, first port of call to the stars and everything. However it will mean more taming of our wilderness, more destruction of our our distant and remote lands. Sure not much wildlife is present on Unst, but with busy roads being built all the way from Mainland, lots of building work and lots of people visiting, it will be another UK place tamed into submission.

-

COMMON ROSEFINCH, not much of a looker, but sighting of the day

As we were leaving Lamba Ness, a small flock of TWITE crossed our path, and the tour guide, David, managed to pick out a single COMMON ROSEFINCH among them. The flock landed next to the minibus, and settled on the edge of a small quarry, giving good views. This was a great sighting, one so out of the blue, I mean who would have expected it, and just shows the birding skills of our guide.

Lamba Ness

From Lamba Ness we headed on to more gentle country, and to Norwick Beach, to see a LITTLE STINT, yeah a little stint, a fairly common wader anywhere at this time of year. As usual the beach was formed of a brilliant white sand, with turquoise water, empty of people, but also very cold. The LITTLE STINT was easy to find, being so much smaller than the other waders, and  like a lot of small birds it made up for its size by its feistiness, chasing away the other waders which inhabited the beach. The most interesting thing about this sighting was that it was my first record of a little stint on a beach, you usually see them on some scrape or area of mud, and its also my first for Scotland.

Flock of SANDERLING

Shetland beaches are rich in the smaller waders, as the quiet areas of sand allows for undisturbed feeding. RINGED PLOVERS, TURNSTONES, SANDERLINGS and DUNLIN were all around in decent numbers, running up and down the tide line. Pretty much all the quieter beaches held numbers of these birds, birds which I miss in the busy beaches of Suffolk, where they are all disturbed by the throngs of tourists.

KITTIWAKE

Slightly off the birding topic we visited Skaw, the most northerly house in the UK, although it wasn't lived in except for some sheep in the front garden and there was little bird wise in the surrounding trees. Around the abandoned buildings were a couple of SHETLAND WRENS, a subspecies endemic to Shetland, slightly bigger and darker, which adds a new dimension to a common bird. With little tree growth they were found around, buildings, dry stone walls and rocky cliffs and were common enough.

TURNSTONE

Not a classic day really, the malaise in Autumn migration is not restricted to just Shetland, as throughout the country the birds weren't coming in. When the forces of nature are against you there's not really much you can do, with the constant strong westerlies blowing, what chance did we have. When even the local birders find it difficult going then there's nothing much I could do except enjoy the fact that I am on Shetland. There are worse things than a lack of rare birds.

Scarcities Around Shetland - 19/9/2021

 

ROSE COLOURED STARLING

With a general introduction to Shetland yesterday, today was a more dedicated approach to pinpoint some more unusual birds. The only problem is that there weren't too many. At this time of year numbers of birds in Shetland are quite low and apart from these scarcities, there wasn't anything much else of interest. 

I apologise for the poor photos on this page, as the light was terrible, with this bleak murkiness that just kind of ruined every shot I took. Even the pink waist jacket of the rose coloured starling looks faded which is annoying.

WHOOPER SWANS were common in low numbers on the various lochs in Shetland

Around the island we would stop to look at the various small lochans that form part of the landscape. They held few ducks, compared to  English wetlands, but on some were a few WHOOPER SWANS. This bird has quiet recently colonised here and the Western Isles, and is now a breeding bird in small numbers, as well as a winterer in larger numbers.

Wadbister

The first spot of the day was a nice twitch for a KING EIDER. Male king eiders are magnificent birds with a massive blob of yellow just above the beak, and I was really excited about seeing one. Its a good tick for the lists, and isn't too common down south, so worth a look. However this bird was a second winter bird (not quite mature) in eclipse plumage, which meant it looked just like a female common eider, except it had an orange bill.

Record shot of a RED BREASTED FLYCATCHER, the poor daylight, plus the darkness of the plantation it was in led to a poor photo

Arriving at the site, things didn't look great. The bird we were supposed to look at was within a flock of thirty EIDERS black specks right in the distance. They were hanging around a mussel farm, which often proves enticing to these ducks, as it provides free food for them.

And so in a distant flock of black shapes a long way out we were supposed to see an orange billed bird - and we did, amazingly. OK views weren't great and it took a lot of eye straining to see the bird but I was able to see it and that's what counts. No photographs, and not one really to boast about, but we turned up and we got the bird, which is what counts.

Quendale

Second twitch of the day was at Quendale, where a RED BREASTED FLYCATCHER was hanging around. In the grounds of an old mill, stood a stunted growth of trees around a postage stamp in size. Its amazing that in Shetland such small spaces of cover can hold anything, and little places like this can be treasure troves of migrants.

The mill at Quendale

Lining up by the tiny patch of cover we waited and unusually the bird turned up. I managed to get good views of it, although they were fleeting, as the bid wouldn't stay still for long. It would fly onto a small stake, or onto a wire, posing for a bit before flying off. Its a cute bird, brown at this time of year, about the size of a robin, it turns up on the east coast of the UK in small numbers.

The "plantation" where the RED BREASTED FLYCATCHER was sheltering in. This is what a lot of cover in Shetland was like

We would visit Quendale another time. This time we had to wait as a farmer took his large herd of cows from the fields surrounding the little plantation to his barn for the night which proved to be the highlight as no birds were there.

Aith

With there being so little cover in Shetland, places with trees, like gardens become important for migrants to the islands. So we went to the little village of Aith, in the middle of the mainland, to see a ROSE COLOURED STARLING. You can't get much stranger than urban birdwatching; rose starlings, like waxwings usually turn up in built up areas. As a birdwatcher I often get a lot of weird looks as I stand there in a housing estate with binoculars and camera, staring at birds. And so it was, a group of sixteen birders trying to get views of the bird that happened to take residence in someone's garden, standing on tiptoes to look over a fence.

The garden in Aith where the ROSE COLOURED STARLING was in

In Shetland there are lots of STARLINGS, even though there isn't much space for them to nest. And it was in this urban bird's flock that we found the rose coloured starling. Looking like a normal starling, except that it wore a nice pink vest, it squabbled and made a lot of squawking sounds just like a normal starling, it was just a lot more handsome.

The ROSE COLOURED STARLING fed on feeders with other starlings

In the bay, seen from Aith, a pair of OTTERS frolicked in the water, providing good, if distant views. One of them got out of the water onto a rock, bringing its full sleek figure out of the water. There would be further sightings of this mammal around the islands, but its a surprisingly hard animal to see, they have become so used to living with humans that they can become invisible when they need to be.

Across the bay from Aith, where two OTTERS frolicked

That was three nice scarce birds today, adding some glamour to the holiday so far. Unfortunately this would be the highpoint to this trip to Shetland, as from now on the rarer birds would be few and far between. Its no one's fault, not the guides, nor the holiday company, because if there aren't any birds about, there's no birds to see. Its just frustrating that on the entire island system of Shetland there wasn't a single rare bird that someone had phoned in.

Grutness and Mossbank - 18/9/2021

SEAL

As the small passenger plane landed with a thud, I looked out of the small window and my eyes lit up with wonder at the new vista ahead of me and it finally dropped - I've arrived in Shetland! The land looked bleak, a low cloud hung over the hills, but still there was still a bountiful world of birds ahead of me.

GANNET

I had met up with the group at Aberdeen airport having travelled up the day before, everything went pretty much as scheduled, which is always good when travelling. 

Getting into the minibus at the airport car park, first port of call was Sumburgh Hotel where we stopped to look at some trees for a greenish warbler. We didn't see it in the wind, and with time at a paramount, the leaders decided to pass on it. This as a mistake as it showed later on in the day, but there were bigger things to catch...

Grutness

Just across the bay from Sumburgh Airport, Grutness is a well known migrant spot, I guess because its so close to the airport. An uninspiring place, it wasn't a great start for a trip to Shetland. I mean on viewing the place, I couldn't help but wonder if there were better birding places on the islands. It consists of stony, boulder strewn grassland gradually dissolving into pasture with some stunted trees in the gardens of the few settlements. There was a rocky sea wall, as well as a beach and of course the sea, which provided am assortment of habitats, although that didn't result in many birds.

Female EIDER

The most prominent bird here was an unusual one. A first for the UK and Ireland, which was good as I haven't seen too much of those, this little bird was quite easily found perched on a fence. The only problem with the bird didn't exist on many checklists so there was no twitches which is usual for a first, sometimes you get birders from all over the country arriving for a view. The bird in question was a WHINSTART, a hybrid between a REDSTART and WHINCHAT, a type of bird recorded once before in Europe, ringed and DNA checked in Sweden. So the bird here at Grutness was only the second ever confirmed sighting, ever. What's strange about this hybridisation is that whinchats and redstarts live in different habitats to each other, redstarts prefer open woodland and whinchats open moorland, so with little chance of hybridisation the bird was a rare one. Its top parts resembled a whinchat, brown with a distinctive white eye stripe, whilst having a red tail of a redstart. It perched on the fence like a whinchat providing decent views, it was quit a showy bird. An unusual sighting indeed but not really one you can count which is a shame, as it takes away from what was a unique sighting.

Grutness, pretty uninspiring

A small flock of TWITE were about, their distinctive call as usual advertising their presence. This is the most common finch on the islands, a smaller version of our linnets, and little flocks could be seen around the islands on various days. Out on the bay were RED THROATED DIVERS, BLACK GUILLEMOTS, RAZORBILS and EIDERS, typical bird of the sea and the bays across the islands, and I would see them most days on this trip. A BAR TAILED GODWIT was on the beach, and unusually for a bird that prefers large flocks, I would only see singles of this species.

RED THROATED DIVER still in summer plumage

Leaving Grutness news spread of an ORCA pod heading south from the north of Shetland, and we headed north to meet them.

Mossbank

Mossbank was the spot we based ourselves at to get a sighting of the ORCA pod that was heading our way. Around mid afternoon we had arrived, north of the mainland, at a lookout across several bays to the island of Yell in the background. The weather which usually changed from minute to minute in Shetland was lovely and sunny, as if giving us a welcome, providing excellent visibility, which was needed as views were distant. 

Mossbank, the ORCAS could be seen against the distant landmass

In the long wait for the ORCAS the supporting act was provided by several HARBOUR PORPOISES in the closest bay, a few little fins breaking the water before us. BONXIES were about, huge pirates of the sea. Like a lot of these type of birds, rare in Suffolk they are very common this far north in Shetland, and would constantly see them off the coast on many parts of the islands. As usual large numbers of GANNET were about often dive bombing into the sea to catch a fish, despite being common, they are very charismatic.

The community at Mossbank, WADERS were present on the mud in the bay

For two hours we would wait and the constant thought that hung with me was whether we would see the ORCAS. When asked about going to Shetland, what I most wanted to see, the reply was always KILLER WHALES, everything else was a bonus.

GANNET

 

And then there came the shout, someone had caught one in their 'scope. What we were looking at was pretty distant, a pinprick even when so magnified. It took some finding to see them in the sea. But with the island of Yell behind, landmarks pointed me to them. And yes I finally saw them, their black dorsal fin rising up from the water, and there seemed to be three of them, but there were probably more. One rose up further from the water and you could see the white patterning beneath. It was an amazing view, better than I expected anyway. The ORCAS soon moved on and went out of view behind a headland. We moved to another spot, further down but they never showed again. As with all nature you only get a very brief glimpse of something stupendous, one I may never see again. Spectacular.

TYSTIE

So a good first day on Shetland, which made me wonder what other goodies were awaiting me on the islands. Arriving at new places can be very exciting with the potential there for anything to be seen. The holiday stretched out before me with the potential for me to see many more birds. 

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.