On Tuesday last week we had what was to be the start of a lovely few days of warm (too warm on occasions reaching the heady heights of 18-20 degrees!) weather here on Unst with little or no wind. It did enable me to get outside and work without the need of a fleece coat to do some boundary maintenance - fences and a wall to re-build. Like I said before, I take my hat off to the folk that built the walls here as the material available isn't the best, and even though my dad built drystone walls, it wasn't easy....................

 ......before

  

........almost finished

  One mistake I did make and that was I made it too wide at the bottom which meant I almost ran out of stone for the top.

  The evenings were beautiful and calm and provided one of the first of the seasons 'simmer dim' nights...........

   Last Thursday (24th) I headed off island for the day to go down to the airport and pick up Ian (my father in law) who was coming to stay for ten days. As well as a few chores to do in town, I also intended to try and catch up with a couple of uncommon avian visitors to Shetland. One was the Longtailed Skua which has returned to an area down at Burra, unfortunately despite spending an hour looking for it, I drew a blank. The second bird was an Avocet down at south Mainland but unfortunately this quest also failed as it had flown off the previous evening after apparently being disturbed by someone trying to get too close. Hey ho.

  I still had a couple of hours to spare so it was off to Sumburgh Head. Up at the head, there was hardly a Puffin to be seen (probably due to the time of day) and the only other bird of interest was a Common Whitethroat. However, (why is there so often a 'however'?) walking back around the lighthouse, I approached the area where the RSPB folk put out seed for the local Twite. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bird take flight and go under a nearby large metal construction. In the gloom underneath I could just pick out a contrasty stripey plumage of a bunting - and my thoughts were 'Rustic?'. Going around the back (thinking it may have flown over the wall behind) I then saw the the bird disappearing at great speed over the lighthouse buildings. Despite searching for a while, I couldn't find the bird so I headed off - after first mentioning it to some friends who were nearby. As it turned out, the bird was found a short while later by some other folk and the bird in question was a cracking male Rustic Bunting - b******s !

  Back at home later, I went up the drive to chat to our neighbour when I got another garden tick - a flypast of a Short-eared Owl. Later still (around 9.45pm), we were in the sitting room when Rona said 'dad, there's a bird flying around the edge of the lawn'. Looking out, it was the SE Owl and what a cracker it was. The bird headed off west along the shore so I sent Mike a text to keep an eye out. Shortly after I got a call to say on looking for the owl, he found an American Wigeon on the Houb in front of his house. I went along and took some pictures - 6400iso with a 1/60th second shutter speed - well it was just for the record :)

  The following morning I was up early (about 5.30) with a view to looking for the wigeon - no luck there then. I went on over towards Skaw and had a some lovely coastal views of the sea mist over towards Lamba Ness, making the coastline look even more moody than normal..........

Looking east to Lamba Ness

 Pulling up at Skaw, straight away a warbler flew up from the spearmint vegetation. After a frustrating 15 or 20 minutes of only getting brief views and hearing a distinctive 'tack' call, I managed to get some shots. I was sure it was a Marsh Warbler, but I would have to wait until later to confirm it - as it turned out it was...............

Marsh Warbler

 Returning home later I picked up Ian, for us to then return to Skaw and try and relocate the warbler. We did see it (and hear it) but the bird was very flighty, so we let it alone. Driving back up the hill a short way, I stopped to look at some swallows feeding from the power lines; I couldn't believe my eyes, there amongst them was a Red-rumped Swallow! There had been one on Fair Isle for several days but I certainly didn't expect to find one here, but it didn't end there, there were actually two ! It was now almost midday and on one of the warmest days of the year so far (around 16 or 18 degrees). Sadly heat haze was a big problem and ruined the pictures.....

Red-rumped Swallow

 Back home again later and I added another bird to the garden list, No106, a Red-backed Shrike sitting on the flowering currant bush 40ft from the front door. Also later on in the day, I caught up with the American Wigeon which was now over at Haroldswick.........

American Wigeon

  The following morning at 5.30am (26th May) it was thick with sea haar again (mist) so I decided to take a look over at the west side which is often clear in those conditions. Going up on to Valla Field, I got an almost theatrical moment as the mist rolled down westwards over the hill and dissipated.................

 Valla Field looking down southwards

 Heading up north, I drove up from Norwick towards Skaw to find a rather damp looking SEO siting on the roadside fence. The bird was totally un bothered by me and allowed me to watch it for at least 20 minutes.................

Shortie' in the mist

 Later on in the day, I decided to go somewhere I'd not been to before in the evening, Hermaness. Due to several reasons, I didn't manage to get up there until the last rays of the sun were fading on some of the Bonxies near to the boardwalk so I didn't get a chance to get any of the cliched shots of Bonxies with their wings raised silhouetted against the setting sun. But I did manage one or two with sun on their faces........

Bonxie

 Watching the sun go down over the north western horizon was pretty magical. With all of the birds calling and the smell of the Gannets drifting up from below, it was a moment I won't forget.....

Looking north to Muckle Flugga at 10.30pm

  Walking back along the clifftop, I reached the point where two guys were wild camping. On speaking to them, one asked if I wanted a dram, too right I thought. It turned out they were two French students doing Shetland on the cheap - ie camping. Heading off home at around 11pm, I was aware of a small bird hoping around near the path in front of me. It was a rather nice male Lapland Bunting. Putting the camera on the tripod, I got a record shot at 6400 ISO which gave me shutter speed of 1/13th second - not a good recipe for a sharp shake free shot !....

Male Lapland Bunting

  The following morning (27th) I was out again at just after 5.30am (having only been to bed at 00.30am), it was a cracking morning and with no haar. All around Baltasound there were numbers of Tirricks feeding in the still, calm water................

Arctic Tern (Tirrick)

  Going up the hill again towards Skaw from Norwick, I was thrilled to see the SEO sitting on one of the fence posts again and this time in better light.........

Short-eared Owl

 Heading out to Lamba Ness a short while later, I saw another SEO heading west from the the headland. It was either the one we'd seen from Ordaal or another one, as the bird I'd just photographed had been there for several days.

 Back at home, work has been digging holes for corner posts down in the field - some can take 2 hours to dig in some parts of the field. I've also been building a small shed for 4 chickens (which arrived this evening). As far as work goes on the house, its very slow progress at the moment. Finding some new suitable slates has been difficult and we thought we' d have to use Spanish ones. However, last week I was contacted the builders merchants in Lerwick to say they'd managed to buy some Welsh ones. The problem is, now we have to wait for up to 5 weeks while the council decide if the colour is suitable - it seems it doesn't matter that we've actually got the chance of some Welsh ones, rather than that they have a very slight purple tint to them. On the existing roof there are at least 6 different shades to the slates already. The worry is that we get the go ahead to use them and that in the mean time they have been sold; or, we run out of time before the 'wet and windy' season starts again. 

    Robbie

  I know I mention the weather quite a lot here, but it has to be said we often get quite a lot of it. After what seems like months of cold northerly or north easterly winds and rain, things are now improving. Last night was - for me at least - the first of the 'simmer dim' evenings with it still being very light and with a colour in the sky at midnight. I looked out again at around 3.30am and saw the starting colours of a sunrise - magical !............

Down at the shore at 9.50pm with the camera phone

 In the last posting I finished off by saying that I'd re-found the 2 Common Cranes at Burrafirth. Well, by 10am in the morning they'd gone, only to be seen again the same afternoon down at Eshaness on north west Mainland. The following evening I got a message to say that there was another crane up at Lamba Ness and so despite seeing two really well over the previous couple of days I thought I'd still go and take a look. Getting there just before 7pm, I saw the bird feeding some distance from the road in not too brilliant a light; but, as I often do, I took some record shots...........

  The following morning (10th May), I headed off over to Lamba Ness fairly early (no kids at home) with the hope of getting the crane with some early morning sunshine on it. As I approached the Lamba Ness turning on the road to Skaw, I saw the bird walking in front of me and just about to cross the road. I was very aware that if I went too far the bird might take flight and go even further from the road,  so I pulled in to watch the bird instead. Despite it was obviously very aware of me, it didn't seen too bothered and started to feed as it walked. It covered a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time - mind you, with long legs and feet this size I'm not surprised................

What I believe to be crane footprints next to my size 9s

 I know that herons, storks and cranes will eat a very varied diet, this Curlew which almost certainly had a nest nearby was taking no chances and didn't like the bird in the area. The crane however, was totally un phased by the curlews flypasts...................

 Last week I did a couple of bird surveys up here. One was over on Uyea Isle to the south of Uyeasound (more of that at a later date) and the other was not far from the house in area of grassland, marsh and a little bit of rocky hillside. I'd not done any bird surveys as such since leaving the Cotswolds and hadn't really intended on getting back in to it. On being asked to do this one however, I didn't take a lot of persuading. It was a really nice day - although a little breezy at times - and I have to admit, very nice to do. All around me were waders calling - Redshank, Curlew, Golden Plover, Snipe, Lapwing and best of all, Whimbrel. It took a while to remember the BTO codes after so long but the next one in early June should be a piece of cake................

  Whimbrel at Lamba Ness

  I must add that Whimbrel (like a number of other breeding waders here) are protected by law and a license is required to photograph them near to their nest site (which I don't have - or want) . This bird was photographed from the roadside at Lamba Ness earlier on in the month - in fact I think it was one of the first I saw this year.

Looking back north to Balta Sound -our house is dead centre (camera-phone)

 During the last couple of weeks we've had a few birds come through the garden, three of them (all of one species) are much less common than the others. These birds were Tree Sparrows and we were lucky to have them feeding for over a week on the seed-feeder........

  Tree Sparrow

  The two other species were Pied Flycatcher and Dunnock (No. 104 for the garden list), the Dunnock didn't hang around, but the male Pied Flycatcher spent 3 days feeding around the garden during a spell of windy and wet weather..............

Pied Flycatcher

 Another nice sighting was that of several flocks of migrating Knot. The first one was of over 450 in Baltasound on the morning of the 14th, followed by at least 70 at Haroldswick. Later on in the day Mike P counted at least 650 as they roosted at high tide in Baltasound...........

 Part of the Haroldswick flock

Part of the Baltasound roost

  I know that these small amounts of Knot are nothing compared to the thousands that roost down in Norfolk during the winter, but they're still nice to see nonetheless.

  Last week I was on my way down to Lamba Ness when a bird flew in from my left across the road and landed a short distance away in front of the car. My first thoughts were 'Snow Bunting', however, on taking a few pictures it didn't look quite right. After lots of thought - but not enough as it turned out - I assumed it was a ?????? (to save any embarrassment). Contacting several others later - with much greater knowledge than me - I was given the correct identity. The phrase 'marriage in haste. repent at leisure' could quite easily be adapted to this occasion  :)

 a pale female Snow Bunting

  While looking for the bird along the cliffs, I came across some resting Tysties (Black Guillimots), I'd been looking for a while for a suitably accessible site - most I'd seen before were either too far down the cliff face or in a not very safe location to view them from........

Tystie

    Something that I've just seen via Facebook and if it gets the go ahead will be very controversial - and totally ludicrous is the proposed 'management' of the UK Buzzard population - with Government backing and funds, read on here .The only things that need controlling are some of the pillocks in the Houses of Parliament !

  I recently upgraded (long overdue) my pc monitor to a 24" LED HD one, so if the colours etc don't look right (do they ever?) bear with me :) Hopefully later in the year, I'll do the same to the pc - now almost 7 years old and a lot slower than me !

    Robbie

Winter again !

  Last Friday (4th May) we had some quite heavy sleet/snow showers again. However, due to the ground being already wet, it didn't stay for long. Keeping an eye on the forecast, I decided that if there was any snow over night, then I'd head for Hermaness early next morning.

  Setting the alarm for five o'clock, I looked out and saw a dusting of snow over towards the hills above Woodwick (roughly north west). By 5.15am I was heading along the road out of Baltasound and to the Hermaness car park. Getting my gear sorted, I then remembered I'd cleared the car out of some of my warmer winter gloves etc! Hey ho. The first thing I saw was this very confiding rabbit sitting in the morning sunshine................

  Getting up to the main area where the Bonxies  are near to the boardwalk, there was a covering of snow - around 1/2 an inch or there abouts - and quite a few birds sitting around displaying at any bird that flew over in to their 'air space'......................

  As much as Bonxies can be very photogenic, the main reason for going out in what was a very cold May morning, was the hope of seeing a Puffin in the snow. Reaching the cliff top at the end of the boardwalk, the very cold northerly wind hit me. I don't know what the temperature was (I must carry my wind watch more often) but it was certainly well below freezing as in no time at all my fingers and nose were going numb. With the wind strength, if there were any Puffins around, they certainly wouldn't be sitting out on the cliff top. A quick walk along the cliff revealed no Puffins so, looking out to sea, I could see a large snow storm approaching so I headed back to the Bonxies...........................

It is May isn't it ?

 Getting back to the spot I stopped at on the way up, I decided to wait for the snow storm to pass by and see if there was anything worth photographing. There were a couple of pairs of Bonxies close-by so I sat down on the boardwalk and waited. Twenty minutes later the snow storm arrived and for  five minutes or more was really heavy...................

Even the Bonxies didn't seem to like it !

  Once the shower had past, I headed back to the cliffs again. Going along to one grassy area that I know has Puffin burrows, I decided to wait for a while and see if any returned. It was now around 7.45am and believe it or not, I could feel a little warmth in the sun. Facing the cliffs (so I could watch for any arriving Puffins) my face felt numb with the cold, however, my back was towards the sun and I could feel its warmth through my coat - a very strange feeling. Around 8.30, I saw two Puffins repeatedly flying along the cliff edge, going out and around in a big semi circle to do each flypast; the problem would be, being in the right place if they were to land. Also, as the sun was starting to melt the snow, I wouldn't have a second chance. One of the birds came in and landed some way away from me and went straight down in to its burrow. Shortly after, the 2nd bird landed some distance away to my left - to the south. Quickly moving nearer, I grabbed a few shots and then went around to the other side of the bird and got 4 frames before it went down below ground. The pictures are only 'record shots' but worth it for seeing something that is certainly not an everyday event here in the UK....................

 The following morning (6th) was clear and sunny and also the wind had dropped off quite a lot. I decided to go out for a couple of hours and then come back home to do some jobs and strim and cut the grass.

  My last 'port of call' so to speak was Northdale. Going up past the marshy area, I noticed a 'Whooper' Swan out in the marsh and I thought that there was something different about it. Taking a couple of pictures, I carried on up the road and was then stopped by Willie (the crofter there). He told me he'd seen a large bird of prey a couple of hours ago being mobbed by hoodies as it sat on a fence post by the marsh. From his description it was obvious he'd seen the Sea Eagle and I'd driven up the road to Skaw not far away at about that time ! Despite looking (by both Mike P and I ) we couldn't find the bird :(

  Loading the swan pictures on the pc later in the evening, I looked at the bird and thought 'that's not a Whooper, it's a Bewick'. Mentioning to Mike that I'd got a  'Whooper with a bill pattern like a Bewick', he thankfully went out to double check...................

Bewick Swan

  - only the fourth record since the early 70s, so not a common bird.

  The following morning was another fine morning and with little or no wind. I had to go to Haroldswick and as I drove past the pools and Rosa bushes, I couldn't believe my eyes. There, right on the end of the bushes next to the road was a LEO, out in the open and in full sunshine. Driving on past, I turned around at the next turning and went back rolling to a halt not too far from the bird. I was sure the bird would fly, but no, it just say there and stared at me. I was even allowed to move the car to get a slightly less distracting background, was this bird stuffed or what?.................

LEO (almost full frame)

 After what seemed like ages, it sprung up silently in to the air and flew to the other end of the bushes and sat on a fence post.

  The rest of the day, I spent at home fixing some guttering and also repairing my now ancient mower - which will eventually go to the place all broken mowers go to here - the community skip ! It's really annoying that often with mechanical things, the frames/bodywork etc wear out long before the engines. I have a cracking little 2 stroke strimmer that I can no longer get spares for, but the engine still runs like new and the mower will go the same :( 

One thing that did come out of being outside around the house, I got two more garden ticks for the list - 3 Tree Sparrows on the feeder and a fly-past of a Shelduck.

  Just after 7pm, I decided to go for a short drive to see if there was to be any sunset pics to be taken over at Lamba Ness. I didn't feel particularly inspired, so after a quick walk around the end, I drove back towards home. On reaching Haroldswick Pools, I felt I had to rub my eyes; there across the other side to the south, were two Common Cranes standing close to the waters edge. Surely I didn't miss them when I drove past just over half an hour ago ? - not that you could really miss a bird that stands over three and a half feet tall I suppose. Mike had also been past not long before me and they weren't there then either....................

  As we sat there watching them, the Long-eared Owl, was flying silently around hunting and at one point landed on the road sign around nine feet in front of me (I know that as it was too close for the camera to focus) If I could have reached my mobile I could have used the camera phone..............

Full frame, now that's really close !

 After half an hour I left. Slightly later someone came to look for the LEO and unforunately got out of their car at which point the cranes headed off west. I went out at 7 this morning and re-found them at Burrafirth at 7.30, unfortunately they had moved off again by 10am so I'm told.

Home Alone 2

  Well here I am again, 'home alone' so to speak - apart from the two cats that is. Catriona and the girls have gone away again for two weeks, this time to southern Ireland. It would have been nice to have gone as I've never been to either Northern or Southern Ireland but as I had/have, a lot to do here I decided it was best to stay home.

  After the initial 'rush' of migrants the other week, things have slowed down quite a bit to just a trickle of commoner migrants in ones or twos. Two species I was particularly glad to catch up with from a photographic point of view were Long and Short-eared Owls. There have been sightings of LEOs (Long-eared Owl) regularly over the last couple of months at several locations on Unst, but as is often with LEOs they are usually well hidden and then fly out at the last moment. On the 23rd April, I'd gone in to the PO, when Valerie (who runs the PO) told me she had an owl roosting in the back garden. Sure enough, there bold as brass, was a LEO siting in the hedge quite low to the ground. I took some record shots through the window, but due to the glass the quality was pretty poor. Returning later when the light was better around lunchtime, I went on the path around the side and managed the picture below before retreating and leaving the bird be............

LEO

  The same day, Brydon had seen a Great-grey Shrike just west of Baltasound so, as I'd not seem one on Unst, I decided to try and find it. Unfortunately the bird had done what GG Shrikes are very good at and that was to disappear ! I did see 8 Ring Ouzels feeding in a field over near Alma which was a pleasant surprise and did manage a picture of one of them - albeit quite a large crop.......

Male Ring Ouzel

  A couple of days later, the sun was shinning, the wind was slight so I took a look up at Lamba Ness - blue sky and a flat sea, good for looking for cetaceans off of the headland - no fins today though but I did get a cracking male Snow Bunting. After seeing a number over the winter in their fairly drab non breeding plumage, it looked totally foreign. It was a very difficult bird to get close to, even using the car as a mobile hide; and, the bright sunshine didn't help with the exposure of its brilliant part white plumage..............

Male Snow Bunting

  On the 26th (April), Sula was due to play at the Shetland Young Fiddler of the Year Comp' in Lerwick. The problem I had was that she was due to play at just after 9am, that would mean leaving Unst at 7am. and as Catriona was away, I had to make sure Rona was ok to get to school etc. For a couple of days there was anxiety all round as we tried to sort it out; fortunately, Sula's music teacher managed to re-schedule Sula's time and Rona was dropped off with friends in Uyeasound at 8am. Sula had the attitude that she knew she wouldn't win, but would still do her best - she did herself proud and I was too.

  Saturday (28th) was a bit hectic again, Sula was going down to Lerwick again for Singing Saturdays (music and dance) so I took her across to Yell where got picked up. Then after lunch, I drove Catriona and Rona down to Ulsta at the south end of Yell; to get the ferry then bus, for them to go to Lerwick and then meet up with Sula. They all then got the Northlink ferry to Aberdeen and the start of their two week holiday. Phew !

  Getting back to Unst mid-afternoon, as it was still such a lovely day, I decided to have a quick visit up to Hermaness. At this time of day, the light has moved around sufficiently enough to light up most of the north facing, south side of the gannet colony. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but during the last 4 years the colony has expanded further up the cliff so that now there are a number of nest sites that are almost at eye level from certain postions

  

 It looked like it was going to be a nice sunset and I wanted to stay there longer, but to be honest I was feeling shattered after several days of travelling about and wanted to put my feet up. So at 6pm, I set off back to the car which only takes around 30 minutes of steady walking now there is the 'Hermaness motorway' (boardwalk).

  Back at the car, I loaded the stuff in a headed off. Now, one of my general rules is that I always have the camera on the seat when I'm driving around. On this occasion I broke my rule as it was still in the bag from walking down from the cliffs - I hope I don't regret it. Crossing over the burn at Burra Firth bridge, I glanced to my left and couldn't believe it, there in the bracken by the burn was a Short-eared Owl. Pretending to ignore the bird, I drove on past and up the hill to turn around and get the camera ready on the beanbag with the  window down. Several minutes later, I rolled to a halt a few yards from the bird who was watching me with a fixed gaze. It was almost certainly the bird I'd seen last week just along the road at Ungirlsta. I managed to get 9 frames off before it sprung up and over the fence only flying a short distance away. Another one to add to my 'Shetland photo list' - a list of the birds I've seen on Shetland that I also have pictures of (no matter what the quality)...........

SEO

  At the start of this week (30th & 1st) I was down in Uyeasound fitting a new replacement staircase as the old one had seen too many pairs of feet going up and down it over the years. Doing this sort of job is often quite an anxious time as any mistake on the measurements up here could be quite costly to put right - I took the measurements and the stairs were made down south. As they come in kit form and are then glued and screwed together on site, if there is an error on the width measurement, that's not too bad as the stairs can be reduced in size. However, if it is wrong in either the going or rise measurement ( 'going' is the forward measurement between two imaginary verticals and 'rise' is the overall height of the stairs between the ground floor and first floor floorboards). Thankfully, after a bit of tight squeeze and pushing and pulling they fitted - phew - and everything was level and upright.

 

  While down at Uyeasound on Tuesday, Adam (the house owner) got a phone call which was for me (no Orange signal - and there had been no Orange signal in Baltasound  for almost 4 days anyway). It was Mike S, there was a Sea Eagle virtually over Ordaal ! As I had to go home anyway I set off, unfortunately by the time I got there - 10 minutes - the bird was nowhere to be seen, not surprisingly. The bird had been seen at the weekend heading north from Fair Isle and was then seen in south Shetland over the next couple of hours moving north.

  Wednesday (2nd) was a lovely day and if the forecast was right would be the last good one for  a few days. I was hoping that the Sea Eagle might be still around ( the last one a couple of years ago was seen several times over a week) so I decide to head up to Hermaness for a few hours. No Sea Eagle (there'd be pictures here if there was) but I did have a quality couple of hours watching gannets from a just a few metres and a very confiding Bonxie that let me sit less that 10 feet away as it rested by the boardwalk.......

  For those of you that know Hermaness, you may like me, be concerned with the news that SNH (Scottish Natural Heritage) are considering closing the visitor centre at the Shore Station and also after this year, no longer employing a warden during the summer months. The existing centre would be sold and a new un-manned one built in the upper car park. Personally I think it would be a bad move in the name of making savings, the idea would then be to bring in someone to do surveys etc. Watch this space as they say. Also, another of Unst's special places is the Keen of Hamar just to the east of Baltasound. Hamar is a NNR (National Nature Reserve) and has some of Britain's rarest plants growing there - the Edmondson's Chickweed grows nowhere else - and this reserve is going to possibly loose its NNR status. Why do I get the feeling its more about the numbers of feet on footpaths (or the lack of ?) than the wildlife coming first.

  Closer to home, I had number 101 to the garden list today, a Canada Goose down along the shore this afternoon during the rain......

    Robbie