Aurora borealis

Chestnut-eared Bunting - plus links to photos

Phew. Am back at work after one of the more heart-felt twitches I've ever done. Got a phone call on Monday evening from a local birder who hadn't been to see the Chestnut-eared Bunting, and who assured me they were in fact sedentary, or short-range migrants at best. Not having any of my bird books unpacked I was in no position to query that, but I was booked to go to Fair Isle, so no time for second thoughts.

The Good Shepherd was every bit as awful as I feared. Got a text from JL wishing me "good luck on board glorified cork". My first impressions at Grutness pier were prophetic - I'd forgotten how small the damn thing was, and I didn't like the way it was bobbing alongside the pier. I lasted about an hour (time to see a Woodcock flying south overhead) before starting to feel less than brilliant, and as the wind picked up and the sea got lumpier the Good Shepherd started to really bounce and pitch. So did my stomach. The remaining two hours of the crossing were just miserable, as I leant over the side and made seal noises for want of anything left to bring up. All the worse for the presence of T, a birder and ringer from south who spent the whole crossing on the deck with me, laughing and enjoying the ride...

I kept telling myself this was only three hours of my life, and in the overall scheme of things really didn't signify. But that didn't really make me feel significantly better, and by the time I got off the wretched boat I was shaking with cold, fingers going blue, and the retching had been replaced by hiccups.

Once again the wonderful Obs to the rescue with hot food, and feeling more human we were driven down to the south of the island. Work out of the way, Deryk the warden got us straight onto the Chestnut-eared Bunting, and reassured us there's a Ural population that are medium to long-distance migrants, so felt a lot happier again with the provenance of this ultimate Sibe. And what a bird it was - an incredible combination of subtle browns and creams. Got several good, if somewhat distant views of it on short turf before it lobbed back into the oats. No chance of getting a photo, as the south-easterly wind was by now blowing good and hard with the odd heavy shower, so not really ideal weather for birding of any kind. Made do with a habitat shot, just to prove I was there! But this is what it looked like on the deck - see this and in the hand pictures at the wonderful FIBO site.

Walked back to the Obs with three birders along the geos, which didn't oblige with a sheltering rare, but good numbers of Brambling and northern Bullfinches.

Excellent evening at the Obs with good food, plenty of beer, and excellent company. What I don't know about the sex lives of Dippers (promiscuous giant wrens!) or the migration strategies of bats (they do, but conventional wisdom has it they don't) simply isn't worth knowing! Really enjoyed being back in the Obs and getting to talk to lots of folk involved in conservation. The Bunting was nice too!

Flew out this morning, renewing my vows never to go on that boat again!!

Some excellent photos of the bunting in the field here...

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Posted by Stercorarius at October 20, 2004 01:29 PM