March 31, 2005
Of fat finches and porky pigeons
(NB - for those looking for the Little Auk / Gyr Falcon image - click here)
Some interesting odds and sods in around Shetland as a whole recently, most notably a Common Rosefinch in the south Mainland; a ridiculously early record. Doubtless there is some room for speculation as to the origins of this bird, but just because it's exceptionally early doesn't necessarily make it dodgy in my books. Here's the thing though... I'd call it the Red-headed Bunting Effect... if it's a "real" rarity (rather than a scarce migrant), and has a history of being kept by aviculturists, a bird automatically seems consigned to be trashed by the cognoscenti as a likely escape. In this case the un-rarity of the species means this rosefinch won't suffer that besmirching.
Apart from the bastard grotfinch (a far more appropriate name) there are a few Hawfinches and Woodpigeons, seemingly mostly on Unst. Imagine how thrilled I was to share in this early Spring event while out walking the mutts with P yesterday evening... And imagine how much more I'd have rather seen 2 Hawfinches than the 2 Woodpigeons we saw instead... Still, better than nothing, and after last week's little flurry of migrant promise this helps to keep the tiny flicker of anticipation alive. In the meantime I'm still seeing Iceland Gulls in Lerwick every day, all 1st winter birds, and there are a pair of Whoopers and a handful of Goldeneye still on the freshwater lochs as I drive down the island. Winter hasn't gone altogether yet.
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March 24, 2005
Migrants at last!
(NB - for those looking for the Little Auk / Gyr Falcon image - click here)
Great to see I'm still an accurate soothsayer where this birding business is concerned - the day after my hopeful plea for a Wheatear, driving along the island, what should flick up off the road in front of me but a Wheatear? Damn, I'm good!
Yesterday was a glorious spring day, 14 deg C and sunny with the wind coming from the SSE. Migrants! Came back home in the evening to find a female Stonechat on the fence below us (a new bird for the croft list, no less). This morning I left the house early to have a go at the plantation on my way down the island, and could hear a Song Thrush calling. Also a Chiffchaff today.
B had a few Goldcrests there yesterday, so we're getting as much as anywhere on Shetland just at the moment. Give it a month and I'll be starting to expect some sort of exotic overshoot... last year's Sardinian Warbler was all very well, but I'd much prefer a Ruppell's (which won't bother JL as he's already found one on the island), or better yet an Orphean.
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March 21, 2005
UK rarity news page
Bird news from round the UK - truly public service broadcasting!
30th June 2005
MARSH SANDPIPER
Bowling Green Marsh, Devon.
Collared Pratincole, Carmarthen -nnew
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March 08, 2005
White-winged gullfest
(NB - for those looking for the Little Auk / Gyr Falcon image - click here)
Now back with far more excitement (tongue firmly in cheek) than the last scraping the barrel entry with tales of dodgy divers in the English Channel!
Out this afternoon on a work-related photography mission, and stumbled across a small gang of gulls on the pier in town. Immediately found my eye drawn to this enormous white lardarse sat on the edge of the pier:
and it was only after taking a few photos that I realised that the Lardarse Gull was dwarfing another white-winged gull a few feet away, a thoroughly cowed and puny Iceland Gull. I've never seen Glaucous and Iceland together (except in swirling flight), so was pretty pleased to get a shot of them side by side:
Recently had one of those profoundly satisfying walks around my patch, with nothing particularly rare (in fact, nothing even remotely rare) but a uniquely Shetland mix of winter and spring / sea and land birds that I frankly doubt you could manage anywhere else but here.
It's really good to see the breeding waders coming back; for a few weeks now there have been Oystercatchers digging in every field; on Saturday there were a pair of Ringed Plover on the airstrip, and in the evening Snipe were drumming in the darkness over the crofthouse. Yesterday the Ringed Plovers had attracted some companions, and in total 9 birds were hanging around the gravelly margins of the airstrip. Four pairs were present last summer, so this seems about par for the course.
Our end of the island was shrouded in mist for much of yesterday, lifting occasionally for brief periods. A Red-throated Diver was calling from East Loch in the murk while I was watching the plovers. A few minutes later I flushed 3 Snow Buntings from the clifftop turf - they soon vanished into the swirling mist, audible long after they'd gone from sight. Fulmars are all paired up, and loafing about on cliff ledges - they drive my dogs mad by skimming low over the clifftop grass at great speed at dog headheight...
On the sea Black Guillemots are in breeding plumage; I can't help but feel a pang of worry about these seabirds - on the basis of the last couple of years disastrous breeding results in Shetland, I wonder what seabirds will be left in say 20 years time? Anyway, was completely thrown as I walked along the clifftop heading back towards home; looking out to sea for Great Northerns, I picked up a chunky dark bird with a rapid wingbeat coming in towards us over the water. It's funny how an out-of-context bird can be so deceiving... as soon as it crossed the clifftop and was flying over land, it was immediately obvious - Red Grouse! The first record for me on my patch since the two birds B and I heard from the plantation in autumn 2003. I'd like to think this was a pioneer-grouse fresh in from Mainland on this mild spring day, but I guess a disorientated local from further down the island is more likely.
Fine and clear this morning, with brisk south/south-easterlies - 5 Goldeneyes on the fresh water lochs on the way to the ferry. Not long now before the first Wheatear, surely?
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First freshwater Diver of 2005
(NB - for those looking for the Little Auk / Gyr Falcon image - click here)
Very brief entry this - first Red-throated Diver on freshwater this year this morning as I drove to catch the ferry. Really threw me for a moment as I was expecting to see Goldeneye, but the reality was a much dingier, but far more thrilling diver.
Forgot to mention the walk around the golfcourse on Sunday - really fine day to be out, and the Great Northern Divers clearly thought so too - 12 birds in total, including one compact flock of 5 close inshore. I was wishing so hard for a White-billed it almost hurt! I haven't seen White-billed since the over-summering bird off Fetlar in 1995, so it's been a while... Actually, that's not entirely true - when I was working on the Vomit Comet catamaran crossing to Calais in the winter of 1996/7 I saw what I'm 99.9% certain was a White-billed flying across our bows - the only problem was that 0.1% uncertainty of "nah, it couldn't have been, surely?..." But at the time I was convinced, and in my heart of hearts I'm still sure. But you'd never get a fleeting view like that accepted by the powers-that-be, so it's relegated to the strange limbo that's neither on-my-list nor one-that-got-away.
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March 07, 2005
Aurora borealis (ironically!)
(NB - for those looking for the Little Auk / Gyr Falcon image - click here)
Fabulous clear cold weather here continued all weekend, not producing much of note birding-wise, but sky-watching was amply repaid. Friends came round on Saturday with some slightly annoying news - a leucistic Shag which has been seen around the island all winter had spent Friday afternoon on the shore opposite their house, drying its wings in the sun. I'd dearly love to see such an oddbod bird, and that would have been a golden photo opportunity. A quick scan from the car on my way down the island on Saturday revealed 5 Greylag Geese, 2 male Goldeneyes, and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. Nothing scintillating.
Standing outside at 10 o'clock on Saturday night with the dogs (nature call!) the sky over Yell, Fetlar and the Skerries was a mass of slowly shifting green light - the first aurora borealis I've seen this winter. Managed a couple of vaguely okayish photos - unfortunately it was quite a diffuse display, without any really intense waves or spots of colour. Still, not something you see every day!
Over Yell
Over Skerries
No repeat of it last night, but a really good sunset to inflict on you instead:
Glaucous Gull again on the island this morning as I drove to work, this time flying towards B's house. Nice bird to open the curtains to first thing in the morning!
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March 03, 2005
First signs of Spring
(NB - for those looking for the Little Auk / Gyr Falcon image - click here)
Am clearly completely fated not to bump into one of the (relatively) many Gyrs hanging around Shetland this winter - it appears there have been around 3 individuals involved, which is a pretty remarkable haul when you think about it. Shouldn't be too hard to see one, you'd think...
Except it seems it's just a case of being in the right place at the right time. I've been out a couple of times this week tramping the wilds for work, and of course hoping I'll bump into one, but it's not happened. Frustratingly on a couple of occasions every bird in the area has panicked up into the sky, making me think they've been raptor-spooked, but I've not seen so much as a Merlin, let alone the big white bird.
Plenty of signs of Spring, despite our continuing ridge of freezing cold high pressure. Lots of Oystercatcher everywhere now, and two days ago on Trondra some fabulous Long-tailed Ducks courting, the males flinging their heads back in display. Still seeing Iceland Gulls in Lerwick most days, though no sign of the King Eider back home the last few mornings I've looked.
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