Here we are at the end of March and a couple of days ago it really felt like spring was here.  Down south folk were sweltering in around 20 degrees, while the temperature here was around 12 degrees and I was outside in just a jumper - I know which I prefer. I've been pretty busy over the last two weeks with different things so getting out and doing any wildlife related stuff has been lower down the list of things to do. I continued with making around the base of the shed watertight which is now almost complete apart from a coat of bitumen paint and also started to fit the two new wooden windows I'd made in to the porch. I also had work in the cottage to do as we now have 'Dr Phil' staying in it for two weeks as he works up here as a locum at the surgery.

   On the subject of the cottage, I had yet another example of the postcode surcharge rip-off. I ordered some blinds online, paid for them and thought that was that. The following morning I got a call from the company down south saying there would be a surcharge to send the parcel to Shetland by courier. When I asked why it couldn't be sent by Parcel Force (the package would have been 3 ft x 6"x6" or there abouts) she said 'but we don't use that courier company', 'so what's the cost?' I asked, '£50' came the reply. When I told her to cancel the order, judging by the silence, I think she was quite surprised. The following day, I found another online store that on their 'home page', stated 'Free UK delivery', great I thought and placed an order. When I got to the point of clicking 'buy', it then came up with ' UK Mainland only', no surprise there then !

  Last weekend on the Saturday morning, I got a call from a friend of mine to say there was young seal (a last years pup) on the beach at Norwick with some fishing net around it's neck. Going over a short while later with 'Dr Phil', we found the seal on the beach not far from the tide-line. My immediate thought was that if we tried to approach it, it would shuffle straight back in the sea and that would be that. I decided to try again later as the tide was dropping and then maybe it would be further up the beach and I'd be able to get between it and the sea.

  On the way back later, I met someone who asked me if I knew what to do with a seal caught in a net, replying that I was on my way over there, she said her partner was still there and she'd follow me over. Arriving at the beach the seal was nowhere to be seen and on asking her partner where the seal was, he said that when he walked down on to the beach with their dogs, the seal went back in to the sea - who would have thought that would happen ! I decided to go back again later when things had quietened down a bit and so went to Lamba Ness for a walk.

  It was a lovely afternoon, sunny, fairly calm and a clear sky. Walking around the end of the headland, I heard the unmistakable call of an otter cub somewhere down off the end of a rocky outcrop. Shortly after, I saw a female climb out with a very large Lumpsucker fish, joined shortly after by a very large cub. The wind was blowing from me to them but I thought I'd be ok as I was quite some height above them on the cliffs and also around 100 yds away. I was wrong however and she was very uneasy and kept sniffing the air and after only a couple of minutes slipped back in to the sea followed by not one, but two large cubs. They swam below me in the relatively sheltered water and fortunately they now wouldn't catch my scent. Then I saw something I've never seen before (and had longed to see for years) and that was an otter swimming under water - and not one but three! In the calm, crystal clear water, I could see them swimming through the kelp looking for food, leaving a trail of rising bubbles behind them. It didn't last for long but will be a memory that will last for ever. I only had my camera phone with me but they were in the shadow of the cliffs anyway so I would have been disappointed with the results.............

The left side of the red line marks the spot where they were.

  Returning back to Norwick there was no sign of the seal, so I will check again in the morning.

Sun 25th March

  The clocks changed in the night so one hour less in bed. I headed off to Norwick at 7.30am (6.30 really ) Arriving at the beach, there was no sign so I headed off along the sandy beach to the east. In the distance at the far end, I could see a dark object lying up the beach - it looked like a seal. Five minutes later and I was approaching it and had come to the conclusion it was dead, then its flippers twitched. Quickly throwing my coat over it, I managed to keep it still by sitting on it and holding the back of its neck with one hand. Despite this it still managed to turn and try and take a bite but thankfully it missed. It only took 5 minutes to cut the piece of net away but it wasn't easy only being able to use one hand with the knife and then carefully pull away the cut nylon. The net had cut in to the neck quite a way but hopefully the salt water will help it heal up quickly. I thought that monofiliment nets had stopped being used a while ago, but I suppose it could have been floating around for ages. Everyday this past week, folk have been checking the beach there and there's been no sign of it so hopefully that's good news...........

 Those teeth look sharp!

 The wound

The cause

  Also last weekend was the Sport Relief Mile here on Unst. There were a variety of walkers, runners and 'novelty' participants who undertook the 1, 3 or 6 mile course in aid of charity. This year they raised around £1500 pounds............

  Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to see something that possibly only a handful of people have seen (certainly here in the UK at any rate). It had been an idea that I thought of over fours years ago and finally the effort has paid off and I was rewarded with some close up moments. I'll keep you guessing for a bit longer as to what it was until I get some video - hopefully in the next week or so.

            Robbie

Yet more auroras

  As I mentioned in the last post, most of the last week had been pretty poor weather wise, I also said that we were due for a clear day/night.  Well on Thursday it happened, the sky had cleared and was due to stay that way for most of the night, fingers crossed. Keeping a close eye on Spacew, I waited for Catriona to come home and then I headed off northwards. I decided to go up to Saxavord first to see what it looked like towards Muckle Flugga lighthouse. There was a bit of activity but there was too much wind and also to much open moorland 'in the way'. I decided to go to over to Lamba Ness where at least the old RAF buildings could act as a wind break. I spent over two hours there and it was one of the best auroras I've seen - almost as good as last September. It wasn't that there was lots of colour, more the constant changing shapes of the curtains or veils. I'd not seen them swirling around quite so much before. It reminded me of maybe 'stage ice' being blow around or maybe a timelapse film of cloud movement except that this was in real time. I think on this occasion I'd have been better off leaving the camera for 2 or 3 hours doing a time-lapse rather than single images......................

Looking north over to Skaw from Lamba Ness at 11.30pm

  Despite it being quite sunny over the last few days, its been deceptively cold - which has been down to a wind chill. Checking the thermometer at the side of the shed the other morning, the coldest its dropped to has only been -3 degrees but it's certainly felt much colder. Yesterday morning I was very surprised to see a powder coating of snow on Setters Hill and Clibberswick, it didn't last and had gone in an hour...................

The old jetty - minus the sheep fence :)

  Last night (17th March) there was yet another alert for the 'Mirrie Dancers'. I looked out just before 11.30pm and saw the green glow to the north from the house. I took this one from the field to the south just before I headed up to the north of the island and away from the street lighting.......

  Getting up to Lamba Ness just before midnight, it clouded in, poured with rain for 10 minutes, then cleared up again,  but no aurora - time for bed I think !

   Robbie

  Well here we are at the end of the second week in March and it does now feel like spring is on the way. Oystercatchers are back in force with quite a few back in areas where I've seen them breeding over the last few years. Only today (13th) I saw one bird which has returned to the same nesting area for the fourth year - I know this as it is ringed (assuming it is the same ringed bird!) - and the pair were getting down to re-bonding and displaying etc. Also today, I noticed there seems to have been a large arrival of Common Gulls as there have been lots of flocks around the island feeding in the short grass fields. Lastly, today I saw my first Lesser-blackbacked Gulls of the 'spring' here in Baltasound, I'm happy to be corrected, but I think most leave Shetland during the winter months.

  At the end of last week, I went down to Westing as we'd had a bit of a storm. I was hoping for some gulls to be feeding there in the breakers and found a handful of Commons', 2 Icelands and a few Blackheads. One of the Blackheaded Gulls in particular looked rather splendid in that it had possibly the pinkest hue to its breast that I've ever seen on one of these birds...........

  Blackheaded Gull

  Inevitably, while I'm parked there, the local seal population will always come and inspect me - or maybe the car - depending on the state of the tide and how rough the sea is.

  A short way along the beach was a dead ewe on which at least a dozen Ravens were feeding when I arrived. These birds are so wary and as far as they're concerned the long lens may as well be a gun - it was almost 45 minutes before they first landed and then only briefly. If I turn up with the window up, they will often stay put, if it is down they are gone in seconds. From time to time a bird or two will soar or glide towards me along the beach, on reaching the car, they turn and go back to the far end of the beach again and perch - they are sussing me out..................

  At the weekend, I saw my first spring passerine for this year in the form of an early Reed Bunting at Haroldswick.............

Male Reed Bunting

  As is usually the case, it was the weather that dominated things here again. Over the last week, we've had a mixture of some ok days, a nice day and some pretty foul days. On top of this, the last week there has been quite a lot of auroral activity - but not seen here by me ! Some of the recent activity from one of the sunspots has apparently been the best for 5 years - in Iceland they've had almost 2 weeks of auroras. Just after sunset over the last two nights, Jupiter and Venus have only been around 3 degrees apart at sunset, it was something I was hoping to see but again it was cloudy. Looking at the local forecast we are due for a nice day and clear night at the end of the week - which will be a nice change..................

One of the nicer days at Skaw  taken with the camera phone

  Work around the house etc continues with the main focus last week being on getting the stables more water tight. I think I may have mentioned it before, but the stables were built directly on to the concrete without a course of bricks first. This has meant that when it rained (which it does very frequently) the water just ran straight under the bottom timber sole plate. Hopefully with work I've now done it will prevent that happening. Also the boards need painting with some timber treatment as when the rain is combined with a strong wind (most of the time) you can stand inside and see the water soaking through the 1" boarding as though it was a sponge. The stables are now my workshop as I manged to persuade the girls to give up their 'den' which was in one of them (I've made them another one in the other shed) So, by taking out the timber dividing wall, I now have one shed around 12ft x 20ft which is great for working in. The other jobs I have on the go at the moment are getting the cottage ready for renting out (having a gas cooker fitted etc) and starting to organize having the roof re-slated this summer - scaffolding, slates etc etc. It's going to be a busy year - but I'll still find time for the wildlife - I hope.

Up Helly Aa and auroras

  Last Thursday (1st March) was a rather nice day weather wise and the evening was set to be good also. In the late afternoon we had a friend come round who had walked along from Baltasound. Just as she got near to our house, a helicopter landed in the next field to the house and the pilot got out and ran up to the road to where Helen was - he was after directions ! At around 6.30pm I took her over to Haroldswick and on the way back it was one of those magical evenings that could have been mid summer (apart from the temperature). The sun was setting, there was no wind and down in the bay at Haroldswick an otter fished silhouetted against the orange reflection of the sky on the water. There was another aurora forecast, not a strong one, but one non the less. I missed the strongest part which was around 8pm, but managed to get out a bit later; the moon was shining but not too brightly. However, at the pier across from our shoreline, there was a fish-farm ship tied up with all its lights blazing. I decided to head off up north to try and get some shots from either Lamba Ness or Skaw. By the time I'd got there the aurora had subsided and was just faint glow, so I headed down to Skaw and try some moonlit beach pictures. In theory, digital makes taking this sort of picture much easier but I'm still not particularly good at it so it's a case of practicing when the opportunity arises....................

 Skaw beach - 63 seconds @ f5.6, ISO800

  Leaving Skaw sometime around half midnight, I headed home. Had I used my 'give it another 10 minutes' way of thinking, then I'd of had some better pictures; as, on arriving back at home, the 'light show' picked up again..................

1am looking north to the pier.

  Saturday (3rd) was to be Norwick Up Helly Aa. During the day, the wind picked up, it poured with rain and it looked like it could be cancelled. Fortunately early evening the wind dropped very slightly and also the rain. Going on the forecast (and 'live' conditions) if Catriona hadn't been in a squad, I think I'd have given it a miss; however, in the end it wasn't too bad. A few pictures from the evening............

Sula and Rona - the shield Sula designed is on her left side

  After the burning of the boat, most folk go to the hall for the acts etc and then the dance. We left at around 11.30 as Catriona was off away in the morning and had an early start, but many folk didn't leave until 3am!

  Catriona left early on Sunday to go to Zimbabwe for a 2 day meeting ( + 2 days travel each way) so I was at home with the girls. I made most of the time by doing some work in the sheds and then later on going for a fish and chip supper in the village hall - very civilized as there's a bar there as well.

  Yesterday (5th) was another of those sort of days when (if possible) you just have to get out. Now I've taken down the fence at the jetty, I thought I'd have a go at the Redbreasted Merganzers that often feed down there. Previously when the fence was there, they'd have to swim out and around it at high tide (which is when they are the closest) so now I hoped they'd stay nearer. Unfortunately on this occasion they stayed quite a long way away from the shore and all I had was a couple of Fulmars...................

  Back in the garden, the almost resident Rock Doves ( they don't visit quite so much in the summer) were either sitting around waiting for some food or strutting their stuff trying to impress the females. Down south, folk would be complaining about the 'dirty, messy, pigeons' but here these are the 'real McCoy' wild birds from which all town, feral and racing pigeons have descended so I'm only too happy to have them in the garden.............

Rock Doves

  Yet again, there was another aurora forecast, however the moon was now almost full so any show would be watered down somewhat - if it was visible at all. The two websites that I have been using for aurora alerts were not showing the aurora maps but one did have a link to another site that is in the testing stage which is here . I think the overall view is better than the others but I prefer the colour bar on the other ones as it is immediately obvious what strength the aurora is.................

 Faint glow, 11pm March 5th

       Robbie