Shetlands 20-23 May

The second of my spring birding holidays was a whistle stop trip to the northern isles and like Scilly my timing was off, the brief spell of easterlies in the previous days producing a smattering of Bluethroats, all of which had moved on by the time I arrived. However, Shetland in late May was always going to be fun.

I arrived to cloudy skies and I killed a bit of time in a small harbour in Lerwick, waiting for my friend to arrive, watching a pair of Common Terns at close range.

Common Tern

With nothing special to go and see we headed south to check out the gardens and fields around the Sumburgh hotel. Apart from the numerous Starlings feeding young around the walls, there were a few Whimbrel, Twite, Skylark and Meadow Pipits. The sun was now shining and Shetland looked beautiful.

Meadow Pipit

Whimbrel

A stop at the Swinister Burn produced Blackcap, Garden Warbler and Sedge Warbler, but birding here was hampered by dog walkers who were flushing everything in sight and then a crocodile of school children capped it off and I gave up. Obviously a spot to do early doors.

We headed north stopping off at Loch of Clumlie, where the Long-tailed Skua wasn't in residence but there was a nice herd of Whooper Swans and several Arctic Terns.

Whooper Swan

Arctic Tern

Returning to Lerwick, I took the ferry to Bressay where I had booked in for three nights. This was the rather expensive Maryfield House, the only place I could find that had space or was open when I had booked the previous November. I dropped off my stuff and returned on the next ferry back to Lerwick where Arctic Terns were performing at the jetty.

Arctic Tern

Back in town I had a walk around the old harbour, chatting to a policeman and policewoman who were interested in the birds I was photographing - a pair of Black Guillemots, which were doing some kind of pair ponding display. I expected them to copulate (the birds that is) but the male chickened out and both auks slipped into the water.

Black Guillemot

In the late afternoon we had a drive to Tondra in the west to look for Long-tailed Duck, but none were present but we did see a Cuckoo fence hopping, but the bird flew off before I could get a photo. Then another trip to Clumlie failed to turn up anything new and I had an earlyish finish after failing to get much sleep on the ferry. As the ferry to Bressay docked, a Great Northern Diver swam reasonably close allowing me to get some nice shots.

Great Northern Diver

I had a pre breakfast walk the next day and had a couple of Black-tailed Godwits on the little channel that runs up past the hotel. I walked up the hill checking out the gardens but nothing was doing and I cut back down via the harbour, where I had a pair of Twite around the fence and rocks down there one bird was showing the pink rump, which is just visible in one of my photos.

Twite

After a hearty breakfast, I thought it would be worth checking out the water around Shetland Catch which sometimes has late sea ducks but there was nothing doing. A Great Black-backed Gull though had a humbug thing going on with the post that it was perched on.

Great Black-backed Gull

The previous day a Golden Oriole had been reported from Kergord, and having missed the one on Scilly I decided to check this one and we headed north to the only proper woodland on Shetland. A Cuckoo was calling and I was joined by a local birder and we heard a brief snatch of song. But after a minute or two it gave a full phrase of fluty notes and also gave the Jay-like call a number of times before we had a brief flight view and the bird continued to sing frequently.

Driving south again we gave the Long-tailed Skua at Clumlie another go and this time connected with the bird. I watched it bathing in a puddle on the edge of the loch but couldn't get my camera to focus on the bird because of the bank of grass that was in the way and I opted not to get any closer in case I disturbed the bird. The light here in the afternoon is pretty dire and I got a few shots as it flew off but the bird was in silhouette as I was pointing straight into the sunlit sky.

Long-tailed Skua

After checking out several other sites for migrants to no avail, we headed back to Lerwick and I treated myself to dinner at no. 88, a super top end restaurant in Lerwick. Not cheap and you have to take your own booze - which I don't mind - and serves top end nosh. I had the scallops with asparagus followed by the sea bream and it was all spot on.

As I headed back to Bressay I photographed a Razorbill in the last proper light of the day. I was pleased to catch the eye light on this bird, whose velvet black irides are often indistinguishable from its feathers.

Razorbill

On the Sunday we went to Clumlie after breakfast. As we arrived at the north end, the Long-tailed Skua flew up from the loch, passing the front of the car to within a few metres, but by the time we had screeched to a halt and I had jumped out the bird had flown off at speed and I got even poorer shots than the day before. Moving to the southern end of the loch we did though get nice views of a dark morph Arctic Skua and a Bonxie. Several Common Gulls were bathing here, too.

Arctic Skua

Great Skua

Common Gull

We continued south and checked out Quendale Mill but there was nothing of note. We had a coffee break here and I bought my Mum a fridge magnet, which displayed the Shetland flag.

Considering our options, the best bet seemed to be to head north to check out an Osprey near Voe, which had been found the previous day. We arrived an hour later and located Sae Water to see the Osprey hovering over the loch.

I watched the bird through the camera and bins intermittently, rattling off hundreds of images. After 10 minutes the bird dived into the water. I witnessed the moment in my bins and quickly switched to the camera, to capture the bird carrying a trout in its talons. The bird was bearing the ring JJ6 and is a male ringed as a chick at Loch Arkaig near Fort William on 2nd July 2020. A truly magic moment and probably the highlight of the trip.

Osprey

On my last day on shetland I made a point of photographing a 'proper' Rock Dove and I think it made a nice image among the daisies on a sunny morning on Bressay.

Columba livia

At the ferry terminal on Bressay a pair of Common Terns were in exactly the same spot where I had photographed the Arctic Terns three days earlier.

Common Tern

Visiting Clumlie now seemed de rigeur as it always seemed to throw up something interesting. I still hadn't managed a proper shot of the Long-tailed Skua and when I did it was in unhappy circumstances. A birder who was leading a group beckoned me up the road where the bird was sitting on the edge of the loch. It appeared to be merely resting but when after an hour it hadn't moved, things began to look not quite right. Skipping a few details, the bird was taken into care and sadly passed away the following day presumably of avian influenza, which is laying low the Bonxies. A sad end to a beautiful bird.

Long-tailed Skua

Continuing south I spotted a bird on a small loch and was delighted to see a female Red-necked Phalarope, as I thought I was going to draw a blank on this species as they were turning up late this year.

Red-necked Phalarope

Checking out the waders at Virkie, there was no Little Stint from the previous day, but securing a comfortable piece of grass I got some shots of commoner waders, before checking out the rocks at Sumburgh hotel where a summer plumaged Turnstone was rummaging through the seaweed.