Shetland- birding 60 degrees North.

Just had a great few days birding Shetland with some of my birding friends from the Scottish Highlands- Al Mcnee, Bob Swann, Richard Rafe and Peter Stronach. After initially twitching the amazingly tame Long-billed dowitcher just north of Burravoe, we decided to go and search for our own birds as opposed to just twitching the 'big' arrivals. It is probably a little early for the main event with regards to migration, although we met with varying degrees of success, clocking up two western Bonelli's warblers including a group 'self found' at Sumburgh. Other birds found included a red-backed shrike, six or so yellow-browed warblers, a couple of barred warblers and a number of pied flycatchers. A gropper found in a bed of nettles at Sumburgh initially had everyone's pulse racing! The Sumburgh Bonelli's was very interesting as we had initially tried to find the elusive booted warbler. Once again a pale warbler was encountered in awful light and in wet conditions and following fleeting glimpses of the bird in flight, it took the more senior and capable birders of the group some effort in deciding that the bird was a Bonelli's sp. and not the booted! Amazingly in the low- light and wet conditions no greenish hues could be seen although photos. of the bird showed otherwise! It was finally confirmed as a western Bonelli's after it was trapped, ringed and processed by some of Shetlands' finest. We later saw another western Bonelli's at Burrafirth and the good light conditions made that identification far more straightforward- especially as it had been previously found and identified by top, local birder, Brydon Thomason of Shetland nature. Hearing this bird call was a useful learning process for me. Of course, with some very challenging conditions we did not get everything our own way and dipped Pallid harrier, Booted and Eastern Olivaceous warblers but we also managed to accumulate a trip list of 97 species over our four days including marsh harrier, little stint, garganey, ruff, lapland bunting, red-breasted fly, common rosefinch, lesser whitethroat and jack snipe. A great trip North! I'm going back up in a couple of weeks with Shetland Nature and can't wait!

I have put a couple of phots. below comparing 'our' Western Bonelli's in the awful conditions with the one we later saw on Unst, showing the obvious effect good light conditions can have on the same species.

Western Bonelli's at Burrafirth

Western Bonelli's at Sumburgh

Long-billed dowitcher near Burravoe

Red-backed shrike, Sandgarth.

Grasshopper warbler, Sumburgh.

Yellow-browed warbler, Isbister. 

Black sea- vis. mig. portraits

Wow!- busy, busy!, with lots of migrants on the move over the last few days and with the following species recorded on the deck (not in any particular order) :- pied wagtail(12+), black redstart (1), blackcap (1), redstart (20+), willow warbler (20+), chiffchaff (30+), red-breasted flycatcher (10+), spotted flycatcher (3), robin (8+), wren (1), blackbird (2), song thrush (6), chaffinch (12+), meadow pipit (1), lesser whitethroat (2), red-backed shrike (1) and flying past- lots more of the same and scores of swallows and a dozen or so skylarks! Also had visits from sparrow hawk and two red-footed falcons.

Here's a selection of some portrait shots:-

red-breasted flycatcher

red-breasted flycatcher

black redstart

lesser whitethroat

redstart (male)

red-backed shrike

spotted flycatcher

Mega twitch

From a birding perspective I have been increasingly restless since my return from the Isle of Lewis. Birding locally has been very quiet with absolutely nothing of note. I drove over to the Black isle a few days ago for a 'mini-twitch' as a rather unseasonal dotterel had been found amongst a flock of several hundred golden plover. The bird was rather distant although through the scope it looked very neat. This was followed by a run up the coast to Tarbet ness in the hope of finding an 'eastern' migrant. The weather was fine and although no major find was on the cards we got onto a number of birds including a couple of blackcaps, a couple of chiffchaffs, two goldcrests and a whitethroat- not too bad considering the date and latitude! Other interesting birds on account of the fact that they are never encountered in the west, included a tree sparrow, three magpies and a number of yellowhammers. 

Tarbet Ness lighthouse

Anyway, still feeling rather unfulfilled, I planned my first major twitch since April (when I went for the Blagdon squacco heron). I left Ullapool at 0400 on Sunday morning with fellow birder Richard Rafe, in the hope of connecting with the Olivaceous warbler at Kilminning castle in Fife. We could not have asked for a better day to go- despite an hour of occasional fog banks near Pitlochry and Dundee the journey was as good as they get. The sunrise was gorgeous and we arrived on site at approx. 08:20. Half a dozen birders were onsite working through various trees and scrubby areas but having parked the car we were almost immediately on the Eastern olivaceous warbler- pure luck as I glanced towards the bushes where the sun was shining! The bird was fairly active and showed well although it proved difficult for me to capture with my camera. Mind you I was not so brazen as some folk and kept a reasonable distance from the bird so as not to risk flushing it! 

Word quickly spread and numbers of birders built slowly. As there was no word of the Radde's warbler we decided to look for it and unbelievably located this bird only an hour after getting on the mega! It was a wonderfully marked individual and a lovely bird in its' own right. Speaking to other birders we learnt that the red-breasted flycatcher was also seen that morning so we headed off from the throng to try and locate it. After initially heading over the road to the wrong site we then headed back to the correct area and Richard quickly got onto the bird. It flitted through the sycamores in typical fly-catcher fashion but gave good views. Unbelievably I got three UK life list ticks in 3 hours! Sweet birding indeed and a truly memorable morning when everything just fell in to place! Happy days indeed!

eastern olivaceous warbler