Waders and Whales

  Yesterday (18th Aug) I had a trip off island, firstly to pick up the Audi from the garage after a service (and even more work and an even bigger bill to come) and also to take my Subaru exhaust to the garage to be sent back to the suppliers as one of the baffles has broken down. As we waited at Ulsta for the ferry to leave, I had an email come to my phone from Birdguides with a notification regarding a picture I'd posted. 'Ah' I thought, 'must be a comment for the recent Gannet pic I posted taken at Hermaness'. Wrong ! It was a citation from the admin at Birdguides, saying that the picture of the Gannets over Muckle Flugga I had taken had been chosen as the Photo of the Week - blimey.
 
Here's the pic again .....

  Over the last week or so, the fields around the house - and village - have been cut for silage which has given rise to large numbers of birds (Curlew, Redshank, Lapwing, gulls and Starlings) coming down to feed. Amongst these birds have been one or two less common ones such as Black-tailed Godwit and Ruff. There were up to 12 Ruff feeding around Ordaal for a few days and the Black-wit' was a garden tick - No 108. Amongst the numerous Willow Warblers that past through the garden last week was a cracking Wood Warbler which was also a new one for the garden - No 109.

 Black-tailed Godwit

 Curlews

 Ruff

Wood Warbler

  I mentioned in the last post about looking for Minke Whales off of Lamba Ness as we have had a period of little or no wind. Well, I was over there again several times in the last week and have seen them (up to three) on every occasion apart from today (24th Aug). As it's been so still, the sound of the blow as it surfaces has carried for a long way and is easily heard from the clifftop over the noise of the waves on the rocks below. On occasions I had them pass within 100yds of the end of the low rocky headland where I go to try and get pictures. The problem is judging when and where they are going to surface, as a dive can sometimes last for ten minutes or more. It's fairly easy to get shots of the back and dorsal fin out of the water, but I struggle with getting the head. It is only visible for around a second or so and in that time I have to find it in the view finder, having the lens on the tripod does help though. It seems to me, the area they feed in depends on the state of the tide race coming around Skaw and Lamba Ness. If its a slack tide they seem to go further out, if the tide is running fast, they seem to feed either in it, or closer to the headland. I can only assume it's because the fish are also affected by the tide (I'm sure someone will tell me). Another good sign is of fishing Gannets, the other day there were hundreds of them just off shore and right amongst them were the Minkes.....

  With all of this fish around, it also attracts other predators such as Grey Seals and Bonxies. The seals can be quite inquisitive if they see someone on the rocks, but make a sudden movement and they dive like a shot; as for the Bonxies ? - they do what Bonxies do and that is harass the Gannets for food...

 

  Robbie

More Gannets and Puffins

  Well I suppose I'll start as normal with an Unst weather report ! The last two weeks generally have been good although not too sunny and warm - at least not much rain! The last few days have been very nice and now the wind is blowing from the south east and starting to blow a few migrants in.

   Last week I was over to Yell a couple of times and noticed a number of Gannets fishing close to the breakwater there. An opportunity not to be missed, I delayed my Bluemull crossing for a later one. Unfortunately the sky was pretty grey, but at least it wouldn't blow the whites and it would keep the 'midgets' at bay. When they dive from a height they certainly hit the water with a force and make quite a noise (the Gannets that is)..............

   Last Friday evening, we were going over to Yell for the evening to a 'Fiddle Frenzy' concert but had to go in to Uyeasound first. Driving past Easter Loch, I noticed a 'white-winged' gull standing at the edge of the water; my first thought was 'Glaucous' and that was that. The following morning (the concert was brill' by the way) I went down there again to try a get a shot of the bird. I found it 'loafing' around with a mixed flock of gulls in the centre of the village and managed a fairly long distance, record shot. Getting home later, I viewed it on the pc and thought 'that's not a Glauc', it's an Iceland' - wrong ! As it turned out, my original 'gut' feeling was right...

  For quite a few days now, I've been looking at the sea off of Lamba Ness in the hope of seeing a fin (or two?) as the sea has been pretty calm and the lighting has also been just right. Well on Saturday my efforts were rewarded with seeing a Minke there for half an hour before it headed south. Not particularly close, but nice to see none-the-less......

 Another sighting at Lamba Ness that got my heart racing for a moment was leucistic Starling. There had been several Rose-coloured Starlings on Shetland last week and when I first saw this one flying around, I thought I'd found my own - still nice to see though.....

A big crop - for the record

  A few nights ago, there was a meteor shower due but unfortunately on the first night it was cloudy. The second night was clear so I headed off outside after midnight to take a look, it was a cracking night but with a gentle wind blowing. There was a prediction of up to 100 an hour later on in the night, but as I'd promised Sula a day out the following day, I only stuck it out until 2am. During that time I reckon I saw 30 or so which was still pretty special. I did try and get some shots but as my interval timer release wasn't working (battery contacts were dirty as it turned out ) I failed in my quest. I did take a few at the shore earlier on though.......

12.40am across the sound

  The following day, I'd promised to spend the day with Sula at Hermaness. She is starting to use my 40D (when I'm with her) and, it has to be said, is developing an 'eye' for a photograph. Once she's grasped the basic technical stuff, I think she will do alright. We spent most of the day up there (from 9-30 till 5pm) and then went back up again for a sunset ! We were so engrossed in what we were doing, that we didn't even see the 100 or so White-sided Dolphins going north not far off shore between Saito and Muckle Flugga................

 

...she's getting the idea....

  ..... and a couple of Sula's..........

  Yesterday, I was out working in my shed (and enjoying having the new window open) when I noticed a dog Otter down at the shore drying itself on some exposed seaweed that was not yet covered by the rising tide. I watched it for almost half an hour before it slipped back in to the water.; as the wind was right, I fetched the camera and returned to the shore. Reaching the high wall at the noost I couldn't believe it, there on the shingle above the jetty, was a mother and two half grown cubs. Thankfully they hadn't seen me so I retreated and thought about my next step(s) as they could quite possibly come towards me through the grass and then I'd be rumbled. Thankfully they re-entered the sea and mum started fishing in between a bit of play. Mum brought a small fish out and dropped it by one of the cubs in the seaweed - the fish jumped about, which the cub then tried to catch. Even though the wind was well in my favour, I think she must have caught my silhouette or something as she retreated a short way out and kept hissing in my direction - a least she hadn't confirmed it was a human hiding not far away as she'd have taken the cubs away and I'd not have seen them again......

 The family

 Cub

Mum

  This morning (16th) I was due to go and do a job at the Shore Station and as the wind had been blowing from the south east for a couple of days, I took a look over a Skaw first. On the way however, there were a large number of Gannets fishing close-in to the shore at Haroldswick, so I stopped for a short while and took a few pics....................

 

  Over at Skaw, there were at least 7 Willow Warblers, a Garden Warbler and 4 Sanderlings on the beach - nothing to get too excited about................

 Sanderling

Turnstone

                  Robbie

  It's been another busy week again with visitors and also the final week of the Unst Fest. Last Tuesday I had a trip down to Lerwick for an X-ray on my knee and also to do a few shopping chores; I also had to go down to the airport to pick up Stuart and Lyn (my brother-in-law and sister in law). However, early afternoon, I got a message to say their plane from the Isle of Man had been cancelled due to fog down there. Oh well, back down again tomorrow then. One other good result for the day (as well as paying for the roof tiles) was that I bought a new pc. All I can say is that it is 'turbo charged' compared to my other one - although Windows 7 is taking a bit of getting used to. The big job now is copying a lot of the stuff across or backing files up to an external hard drive. My old pc was getting beyond a joke, sometimes it would take an hour for it to load after a number of re-starts etc and sometimes it would take a minute or more to load one raw file.

  So, the following day, I set off again to the airport and thankfully this time they did arrive. The weather here was great and we even got to see an otter at Toft. The evening was spent in the Baltasound village hall listening to live music - which was brilliant by the way. Over the next few days, we had time out around the island in what was mostly, fine and sunny weather.

  I was also lucky to get some time out on my own and also a trip out with Brydon around Muckle Flugga one evening (27th) on the 'Julie Rose'. When he called, it looked like it was going to be a good sunset;  however, by the time we got out there, it had clouded in a little but all the same just being around the Flugga at sunset was enough in itself. I'm sure we all have particular memories from each year and that evening will be one of them for this year. Just the light on the rocks, the hundreds of swirling gannets and also the noise was enough ! The last time I was out there with Brydon, I took some shots of him 'in action' so to speak and one of the shots was recently used in the latest RSPBs 'Birds' magazine advertizing Paramo clothing. So a big 'thanks' to Brydon and the crew of the  'Julie Rose' Below are just a few pics from then.....

   Friday 27th was as virtually everyone will have known (even if they aren't interested - the media sees to that),  the day of the opening ceremony for the London Olympics; here on Unst, some of the comunity was taking part too. At 12 minutes past 8 in the morning, bells would ring out throughout the country and here on Unst it was going to be at the beach at Skaw. We arrived in rather damp conditions to see around 30 folk plus Radio Shetland and Shetland Arts who were going to record the event for radio and possibly television. Finally the count down and then several minutes of bell ringing with folk using all kinds of bells, led by (appropriately enough) Belle Spence.............

The Unst ringers  (Belle Spence is in white)

.....the following day was far nicer weather

  Later that day I went off up to Hermaness for a sunset. I didn't have anything particular in mind but if the opportunity arose then I did want to get a picture of the setting sun shining on a Gannet. At the top of the boardwalk by the cliffs were a couple of guys lying in wait for (I assume) Puffins so I headed off south to Saito and the Gannetry. Further along the cliffs was a tripod and camera bag on the cliff top with no owner in sight. I don't know why but in situations like this I always think the worst and that maybe someone had slipped. Fortunately, a short while later the owner appeared having been led down further along the cliffs photographing Puffins with a wide angle. Getting to the spot I wanted to be at, there were a few Gannets high up which was great. The sun was dipping fast but I had just enough time to get some pictures.....

Dunlin at Hermaness

  Once the sun had gone down, I returned back along the cliff top past the photographer who was also packing up. Introducing ourselves, it turned out he was Danny Green, a well known and successful wildlife photographer.

  One thing that I have mentioned before, is that of wool getting entangled around birds feet.  For some reason, I seem to have seen more of it this summer than previous ones. It is usually Lapwings, Curlews and Oystercatchers etc (ie waders) but also occasionally gulls. This is obviously due to their feeding methods - foraging in grass fields where there is also sheep. During the last week I've seen 4 or 5 birds with varying amounts of wool around their legs. One bird was a young Oystercatcher over at Lamba Ness which hadn't long started to fly. I noticed it limping and then saw the wool around one of its ankles. I pursued it and after several short flights it became tired and I managed to dive and catch it before it found refuge in some stinging nettles. It had cut into the leg quite some way, but wasn't bleeding and looked quiet 'clean'. It took at least 5 minutes to carefully remove the strands of wool and apart from the quite deep mark, the bird was ok - but it still wasn't grateful as it constantly tried to peck me. I did think at the time that if I was going to either kill or eat it (not that I'd have done that) I'd have done it within seconds, not held it in my hand for such a long time - but the bird obviously didn't know that !................

...after the 'operation'

  and an adult that would be impossible to catch.................

  When ever I go across Bluemull Sound on the ferry, I almost always have the camera ready on the seat (if the weather is being kind to me that is). Coming back across yesterday - after a trip off island to take Stuart and Lyn to town - it was a gorgeous calm, sunny, afternoon. Half way across, I noticed a Bonxie having a go at a Gannet fairly close to the boat so I grabbed a few shots. The downside was that it was into the sun so the images could have been better.....................

  The season is moving on and at the moment, fields are being cut for silage and then later on, hay. Each time I walk down the field to the shore, I get hassled by either the Tirricks or Redshanks as they both have fledged young around. The terns have fledged at least 3 young along the shore which is 3 more than last year so I suppose that is a 100% improvement. Another summer memory will be of the Tirricks hunting over the grass fields after sundown looking for insects, hovering momentarily, then either swooping down or moving on a few yards only to repeat it. Last night (31st July) was especially atmospheric as there was a mist over the fields and the Sound at 10.30pm................

 Tirrick or Arctic Tern

Redshank

31st July 10.30pm

             Robbie