Finally, I return from Shetland, about 2 days too late! A fairly notable fall occured in NE scotland, and I was hearing all the news as I was heading towards the ferry in Lerwick! Bugger! As a result, I missed all sorts of goodies on the ness, and elsewhere, including Greenish warblers, and all the other scarce migrants that you might expect. Shetland was a lot of fun.I cant really give any details of the super secret mission, other than to say that it was a rip-roaring flop, but I had a lot of fun all the same. All the usual Shetland goodies were in evidence, but, some more notable sightings included:
Wood warbler and Pied flycatcher while "working" on the 14th, 4 sightings of Otters, a Green sandpiper by a tiny loch on top of a moorland hill, a Great northern diver while doing some boat surveys, truly spectacular views of the Gannetry at Hermaness from the boat, a Little stint at the pool of Virkie, and many others. Undoubtedly, though, the most exciting moment came on the first day of the boat survey. About half an hour south of Lerwick, I spied a Minke whale breaching. The skipper of the boat killed the engine, and the whale gradually came closer and closer, until it was showing down to about 50 metres! And I thought the views from beatrice were good! I managed to get some respectable photos of it, which will be included here once I've worked out how to put pictures on that aren't the size of billboard posters. Until then, you'll just have to use your imagination.
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