Peter Jones, "Hampshire Diary"

• Thursday, October 8, 2009 - Unst 2009

My Annual Autumn birding weekend. which seems to get slightly longer each year. A fact that has probably not gone un-noticed domestically! Armed with Flybe free flight vouchers, Scottish Islands were the obvious choice. Sanday last year was a success despite westerly gales, with a Pectoral Sandpiper found on the last day. However, it was hard work, and I could easily have returned home with zero from that trip. So I went with the Probabilities and chose Shetland this time round, and headed to the Northernmost point of the UK.. Unst.

Booked the flights and checked the bus times, then found I couldn't find anywhere to stay in the Northernmost villages, so panicked and hired a car. After much searching found a B&B in Uyeasound.. Batavia. A modern carbon neutral house that was very comfortable, and made for an enjoyable base.

Weather leading up to the long weekend was dominated by strong Westerlies. Here we go again! but as luck would have it, the winds died off during my stay, and in addition to 3 days out of 4 being in beautiful crisp, mild, sunny weather. The easing off of the westerlies, and low pressures over Scandinavia gave the Eastern migrants more than enough encouragement to leap frog northern Scandinavia and cross the North Sea. Overnight storms over Shetland were the final piece in the jigsaw, and done a decent job of bringing down small numbers of migrants.

Thursday was spent travelling, but on a brief recce of the northern villages of Haroldswick and Baltasound, I did see two "Greenland" Redpolls from the car. Got good views through the bins, and these turned out to be the only ones I saw in the trip.

Friday:
I was full of enthusiasm, and set off on a major trek around Lambaness. Not much in the way of quality for much of the walk, despite serious searching of every sheltered spot on the peninsula. The regular species made it interesting with plenty of Ravens, Fulmars, and a few Twite and Snow Bunting. Got near the point to be overtaken by a local birder in a car. Had this horrible feeling I was going to be beaten to the prize, but there was nothing on the point except Snow Buntings which we both admired for a while.

Returned along the Southern side of the peninsular which had warmed up nicely, and seemed to attract a few more Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and Twite. Best bird of the day was saved until the end, about 200 yards from the car.. A Pipit perched on a stone wall turned out to be a superb Adult Winter Red-Throated Pipit with quite a bit of orange remaining on its face and throat. Completely unexpected, and made the trip worthwhile for me with three days still to go!
Took some mental field notes, and switched from my telescope to camera, but sod's law, the bird dropped out of sight just as I was hitting the shutter! Didn't see it on the deck again, although I did hear it call in flight a few minutes later, and watched it head out towards a sheltered cliff top. Headed off there, and after 20 minutes or so, heard it again in flight. Tried the original stone wall an hour or so later, but no joy. Still, a nice experience while it lasted.

Saturday:
Weather was foul, I decided to try Sandwick. Somewhere with no previous birding track record. Another long walk but with no real highlights. Sandwick remains a birding nowhere!
Whooper Swans were building up on the Loch at Uyeasound. Counted 12 today, plus what initialy looked like a Scaup, but the size and extensive black on the tip of the bill relegated it to a hybrid.

Sunday:
Two days to go, and I needed to get back in full swing after the previous day's none event! Migrants were much in evidence with Snow Buntings, Redwings and a Whinchat all seen from the car whilst driving out to Skaw. Had a look round Lambaness but no joy.

Norwick was the highlight of the day with so many new birds in, a decent find felt close. A Brambling was new, plus a Whitethroat, and a couple of Blackcaps. Got a result in the form of a Yellow Browed Warbler. Something of a bogey bird in terms of my self found list, with a very painful near miss in Norfolk a few years back. Also saw the Rosefinch, that had been present for a week or so.

Repeated the Yellow Browed Warbler find an hour later in the sycamores at Baltasound.. Surely the site with most potential on the whole of Unst! Watched the Yellow Browed and a Chiff Chaff picking insects off the sunny side of the wood.

Monday: Last day, and I decided on a long walk around Skaw, trying to take in places were no birders had been for a few days, as Unst seemed to be crawling with birders, and quite a few scarce birds were being reported from the well watched sites. A Rosefinch at the cottage at Skaw was a good start, but the moorland and abandoned crofts were devoid of birds. The return leg along the coast was better.. An Otter was a surprise ambling over the moors, no doubt commuting between two favourite fishing locations. Best of the birds were two very showy Lapland Buntings.. Even got photos emphasising how confiding they were. Finished the trip in the Sycamores at Baltasound, where at least 6 Chiff Chaffs were feeding but only a very brief glimpse of a single Yellow Browed Warbler in a nearby garden.

Photos:

Lapland Bunting