Shetland: Day 5: Unst

Wednesday October 6th

The wind was still strong today, and after the trials of yesterday we decided to go up to Unst, the most northerly of all the islands, where a long-staying Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll was still doing the business.

To get to Unst you have to drive north past Lerwick, and then take two ferries, the first of which goes to Yell. Poor Yell, it seems most people only go there to get to Unst. You have to drive the length of the island to another ferry terminal, and from there a short crossing takes you to Unst. The Redpoll was at the northern end, in Norwick, which is less than 200 miles from Norway. By contrast Google Maps suggests it is 808 miles from Wanstead.

In increasingly poor weather, the Redpoll was incredibly difficult to find. Unusually, I employed caution when looking at candidate birds. We found a number of excitingly white-looking ones, which back home I would have called cast-iron Mealies, but I knew that my quarry was unlike any Redpoll I had seen before. Redpolls are very confusing birds, as I know from bitter experience. Basically they range from small and browny to large and white. Where one species ends and the next begins is anyone's guess, but Hornemann's sits at the very far end of the scale. Think Polar Bear, but with a beak.


We caught up with a Little Bunting in a weedy field at the top of the village, and I found a Redstart feeding with some Robins, but there was no sign of the Redpoll. We tried another site and came up with another Yellow-browed Warbler and a flock of over a hundred Brambling, but still no Arctic Roll. Five and a half hours later, and just as we were about to leave empty-handed (and totally gutted), we noticed a bird fly into a rose bush. Looking through the foliage, all we could see was white. Yes! It finished eating the Seal it had caught and then went and had a bath in a ditch, before briefly having a preen on a fence right in front of us. Hard work, but well worth the effort. Probably the bird of the trip.






Running Bird count: Buff-breasted Sandpiper x 2, Glaucous Gull, Short-toed Lark, Buff-bellied Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Swainson's Thrush, Radde's Warbler, Booted Warbler Sykes Warbler, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler x 5, Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, Little Bunting, Black-headed Bunting.

Shetland: Day 4: Mainland

Tuesday October 5th
A hard day in near gale-force winds made for poor birding. We tried a number of sites on South Mainland but saw very little. The best bird was another Yellow-browed Warbler found after over two hours of slogging through iris beds at Quendale. Overall scant reward for many hours of effort, but I imagine that this is the norm on Shetland.

Seeing as there are no birding highlights, let me introduce the team. First, Paul and The Monkey. They both adore junk food and like to wash it down with Nelson Mandelas. On this trip, malt whisky chasers also featured rather heavily. It is amazing that they actually got out in the mornings.



The other two are Steve and Vince. Both big-time listers, they were stunned to get a tick in the form of the Sykes's Warbler.



In the background is one of our hire cars. It had a 0.35L engine and had to be pushed up hills. If you look close to Vince's leg you can see a hole that he put in the bumper by reversing into a sharp piece of farm machinery at Quendale Mill. Unfortunately I was not there to see this happen, but having spent the last two days birding with them after the others had gone, I expect the atmosphere was somewhat lively! Although both cars were naff beyond description, they did their job and got us to all the places we wanted to go. Throughout our trip we listened to Sibe FM.

The Sumburgh Hotel. The only place to go in the evenings, although the Gurka Curry House in Lerwick featured more than once. My diet was terrible, grease and alcohol. I came out in spots and felt awful most mornings. Once home, I attacked the vegetable box in the fridge, and a steady intake of White Burgundy is restoring my natural balance.



Running Bird count: Buff-breasted Sandpiper x 2, Glaucous Gull, Short-toed Lark, Buff-bellied Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Swainson's Thrush, Radde's Warbler, Booted Warbler Sykes Warbler, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler x 3, Black-headed Bunting.

Shetland: Day 3: Mainland

Monday October 4th
Late yesterday evening, too late to do anything about it, news broke of a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler at Southpunds, found by the Drunkbirders. Birders were cordially invited to partake in an organised walk of the iris beds this morning in the hope of refinding it.

Disappointed at having had to cross Lancy off our lists, we were happy that instead we had a chance at the rarer relative. So that's what we did. Probably about 50 birders turned up, and we duly managed to kick the bird out. It had fairly obvious pale tips to the outer tail feathers visible in flight, but never landed. Tick and run!

I should have known better. Despite being a very careful and critical observer, ahem, this bird also later turned out to be a Gropper, albeit it one with very abraided tail feathers. Still, at least the fine people of birdforum had the good grace not to mention it. Oh, wait....

From here we moved onto Eshaness, home of the long-staying American Buff-bellied Pipit. A couple of birders inadvertently flushed it about ten seconds before we arrived, and then told us about the "PG Tips" reidentification. Thanks lads!

The bird took a fair amount of time to refind amongst the numerous other Pipits, and then only showed distantly before disappearing again. Eventually we relocated it much closer, took a pile of photos, but then in an inexplicable fit of remorse at our Locustella ID behaviour, reclassified it as a Meadow Pipit. My fellow basket-cases deleted all their photos in disgust. I was happy to have some half decent photos of a Mipit, so kept them. The following evening, going through them, we realised we did in fact have the right bird.... Yes, we're shit, and we know we are.

Meadow Pipit Buff-bellied Pipit

In deep despair at our seemingly fast-evaporating birding skills, we headed for the Lighthouse to see if we could relocate the Buff-breasted Sandpipers that had been knocking about. It was no suprise to me that there was no sign, and at a low ebb I almost gave my bins away to a passing farmer.


Our spirits were however lifted when the birds flew in from wherever they had been hiding and treated us to point-blank views as they fed on the grass.

Having drunk our fill so to speak, and also found a large flock of Snow Buntings with a couple of Lapland Buntings, we birded our way back down to Sumburgh in increasingly strong winds. I managed to find a Yellow-browed Warbler in the plantation at Sullom, and Paul picked out an adult Glaucous Gull at Lerwick harbour.

Back home, the Channerwick Booted Warbler was reidentified as a Sykes's Warbler.....



Running Bird count: Buff-breasted Sandpiper x 2, Glaucous Gull, Short-toed Lark, Buff-bellied Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, Swainson's Thrush, Radde's Warbler, Booted Warbler Sykes Warbler, Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler x 2, Black-headed Bunting.

Shetland: Day 2: Out Skerries

Sunday October 3rd
From first light we worked Sumburgh for a bit, but the only bird of note was the Radde's Warbler from a few days ago still hopping about in the same patch of nettles. Not much else going on, but seeing as it was our first proper day on the Islands, we were nonetheless pleased to be out and giving it a go.

We had decided that we would not twitch stuff, and instead find our own birds on South Mainland, so with today the only ferry to Out Skerries before next Friday, and a small easily workable island already hosting a stack of rarities, we immediately caved-in and went. Paul pretended to be pissed off at the divergence from "the plan", but secretly he was looking forward to seeing his first Citrine Wagtail.

We arrived at Vidlin in plenty of time, and had a poke around the only notable plantation. Paul refound the Barred Warbler, meanwhile Bradders found three Otters (in the loch, not the plantation). I ditched the bird in favour of the mammal, and we had an amazing loch-side encounter. One of them swam right up to us, came out of water, had a quick look, and then swam away. An incredible experience for someone from London. I've seen Otters before, but never like this.

The ferry ride was bumpy to say the least, but within five minutes of arrival the Citrine Wagtail was on display. We savoured it for a moment before moving swiftly on to the Black-headed Bunting which showed very well by the roadside and later in a field. Yet another new bird and I hadn't been on Shetland for even 24 hours.

We were now able to calm down a bit and actually bird the island. This netted a handful of Lapland Buntings near the airfield, a large flock of Snow Buntings flying over, never to be seen again, and some good views of the Short-toed Lark on the runway, which erased yet another 'bvd' from my notebook - last year's flight only views at West Runton.

We hadn't planned on going to Skerries on setting out in the morning, and so had no provisions. The bustling metropolis of Skerries has a population of 76 people, so we were surprised not to find a Tescos. We did find a village shop, open from 2-4pm, so at 2:01 we emptied it of food, possibly at the expense of the local population. If the next census reveals fewer than 76 people, you'll know why.

On the point of leaving news broke of a Lanceolated Warbler back where the Bunting had been, and with only thirty minutes until the boat left, we were somewhat pushed for time. We legged it back there and refound the bird, which appeared tiny, though somewhat plain. Of course when it comes to rare Locustella Warblers I am an expert, and being a tick, I had no difficulty in confirming it as a Lancy immediately. After all, it was tiny, what other feature do you need? On my list!

Photographs later showed it to be a small Gropper. Off my list...

Paul is pleased to add Citrine Wagtail to his UK list

Running Bird count: Short-toed Lark, Citrine Wagtail, Swainson's Thrush, Radde's Warbler, Booted Warbler, Lanceolated Warbler, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Black-headed Bunting.

Shetland: Day 1: Arrival and Mainland

Saturday October 2nd
The trip did not start well. After an early start, we arrived at Gatwick to be told our plane was broken and that there was no way we could get on to Shetland today. You are having a laugh, right? Sadly not, the first leg was delayed, we would therefore miss the flight to Sumburgh, unless....

Two taxis booked to Birmingham, where we made an alternative flight to Edinburgh on a working plane, and on to Shetland only an hour or so later than originally planned. Not ideal, but at least we were there. Collect suitcases, chuck them in the Lighthouse, and get birding. Sounds like a plan.



Er, where's my suitcase? The one with all my clothes and my tripod in it. And my Double Deckers. Genius. Sod it, deal with it later, we needed to get birding. A timely text from Bradders, already on holiday for a couple of weeks, contained news of a possible Booted or Sykes's Warbler at Channerwick. Seeing as I didn't have any unpacking to do, we went straight there.

Crap views of a pale warbler, mostly in flight, though perched a couple of times, left me none the wiser. It was definitely one of the two, and seeing as either was a new bird for me, happy days. The general concensus was that it was a Booted, the most likely in any event, and as it appeared we weren't going to get any better views, we decided to head for Quendale where there was another Booted Warbler that might perform more satisfactorily.

About a mile down the road south I got a call from John H of the Drunkbirders, to say that they had just flushed a Swainson's Thrush from the quarry at Levenwick. Would that be the Levenwick about a mile ahead? It would. Cue some outrageous driving from the Monkey and we were on site literally moments later. The Thrush had flipped over the top of the quarry and been lost, so after a few introductions we split up to look for it. A distant Song Thrush had us going, but happily the bird was located in a nearby garden and showed superbly on a dry stone wall. Well done John, Dave and Andy, what a start!

Goldcrests are rare on Shetland, I was lucky to get this shot

Two new birds in about two hours. At this rate I'll be on 500 by the end of the week, possibly sooner. It was basically dark at this point so we headed back to the lighthouse. I unpacked, oh no my mistake, Flybe had lost my suitcase. I must have done something else instead. Wept maybe. Not to worry, I had the camera, and amazingly had had the foresight to strap a monopod onto the side of the bag in the incredibly unlikely event that a two-bit budget airline might misplace a large blue suitcase with my tripod in it. No chance of that surely? 

We ate dinner at the Sumburgh hotel, had a couple of beers (where couple = 20), and I went to sleep in my clothes.

Bird count: Swainson's Thrush, Booted Warbler, Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler.

Shetland: An Appetizer

Monster

Shetland beckons. Not long now. According to my contacts up there, it is FREEZING. Yesterday, here in Wanstead, I was gardening in my shirt sleeves, so the wind-chill factor could be tough. The Siberian Rubythroat will no doubt warm me up though. You know that feeling when you go on holiday? The plane lands, and as you step out of the door onto the steps you are assaulted by a wall of stiflingly hot air. It's going to be like that, but subtly different.

Can't wait. The forecast has the potential to be monster. The President of the British Birding Association, who so recently graced us with his presence on Wanstead Flats, has sent a missive saying that Shetland is going to be carpeted in rare vagrants. I've been tracking the various low pressure systems, and there is a biggun headed for Shetland. And with a high still sat over Scandinavia and birds actively migrating south, he could well be right, bless his little white cotton socks.

Bradders has been up there for about ten days now, and has seen hundreds of Barred Warblers, thousands of Yellow-brows, and millions of Lapland Buntings. He's also seen a PG Tips and a Buff-bellied Pipit. Mega, however I'd like to think that those are just the warm up acts, and that the real show is about to start. We've got ourselves ready with a cheeky cast-iron Alder Flycatcher in Norfolk, and with that safely tucked away, we can now start with the properly rare birds. The sky is the limit really.

I've just been packing, trying desperately to outwit the hand-luggage gestapo. You're basically allowed a match-box on the actual plane, and then a real suitcase in the hold. The trouble is that I don't want to put any of my stuff in the suitcase, lest it end up on Ebay by the weekend, so it's the match-box I'm struggling with. The dimensions are somewhat un-500mm-friendly. It will actually fit lengthways in the rear pocket of my coat, but this may cause me to repeatedly fall over backwards in the departure lounge. No doubt I'll think of something crafty, and if I don't, well all I need is bins really.

So, very excited indeed. I'm basically ready, all I need to do is buy a couple of double-decker multipacks, and pack my toothbrush. A quick plane ride, and then I'll be wading knee-deep through grounded Sibes, kicking dross like Bluetails aside in my quest for the big one. The only slight concern is that I don't know what the big one is, and probably wouldn't recognise it anyway, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

In addition to a large haul of Sibes, we expect to report many sightings of Gadwall