Thursday 19 September 2013

  During August and early September, on numerous occasions, there were literally hundreds of Gannets feeding in the large bays on the north east corner of Unst (Skaw, Norwick and Haroldswick). On the 2nd Sept, I was heading over to Norwick when I saw to my amazement, the view to the east from the beach was taken up by, what must have been, several thousand Gannets as they fished the bay. This time however, they weren't just out in the middle, they were also close in to the cliffs that go out to Lamba Ness. Apart from maybe some photo opportunities, I also liked the idea of being close to them as they dived - not having had the chance to witness this sort of numbers from a boat.

  Parking the car half way along the old road to Lamba Ness, the sight that greeted me as I approached the cliff edge was quite jaw dropping (and a couple of expletives!) The often cliched comparison to seabirds in a situation like this, is that of them looking like snow - or a snow globe - and this was one of those moments. The birds were in every direction and at times, the noise from the shear number of them hitting the water, was louder than the breaking waves on the rocks below; it was an occasion I'll never forget. Because they were so close to the bottom of the cliffs, not only did I get extremely good views of them diving, but I could then watch them swim underwater, often diving down out of sight.........


  In the picture above, there are lots of black 'squiggles' on the water, many of these are distorted reflections of other Gannets overhead. This link here is a short 1 minute handheld video of some of the birds from Lamba Ness. (you will need to turn the audio down on the pc). Judging by the number of Gannets that had been been feeding off the coast over the last few weeks, I was very surprised not to see any cetaceans feeding around there also.

  Over the following few days, there was a trickle of migrants starting to come through; not in great numbers (the wind direction had been wrong for that), no real rarities - which is what many folk are wanting - but still nice to catch up with. These birds included, Citrine Wagtail (found by Brydon and Mike), Arctic Warbler (Brydon), Yellow-browed Warbler (found by me and the first for the autumn) and a number of common birds such as Garden and Reed Warblers, Common Redpoll, Common Rosefinch, Black-tailed Godwits and Ruff.......

Citrine Wagtail

Garden Warbler

Common Redpoll

Reed Warbler

Willow Warbler

   Unfortunately the Yellow-browed' gave me the run around at Skaw and after the initial sighting, proved very difficult to get any images of.

  Early evening on the 10th, I took a walk to Hermaness. I knew it wouldn't be particularly nice, but sometimes it's good to leave the camera in the bag and just savour the place (I did have it with me though). By the time I reached Saito, the light was going so after standing there and watching the birds and the waves for a short while, I took the camera out and took a few pictures. The low levels was in this instance a bonus, as this gave me long exposures which in turn enhanced the feeling of the atmosphere.....


  Over the next five days, I had four more visits up to Hermaness, two in the daytime and two in the evening. On one of the day visits, I finally managed to get the ring numbers from one of the birds in the small colony 'down the bank'; it will be interesting to try and find out the details of the bird, as Gannets can live for 25 to 30 years old. One sad result of getting up close with these nesting birds is seeing the huge amount of debris and bits of fishing net and line that they use in their nests. The picture below is just one small section of the Hermaness colony, there must be tons of nylon net in Gannet colonies around the country..........


  I think I've mentioned it before, the Gannets that I visit on a regular basis now seem to have got use to me and don't really take any notice of me once I'm sitting down and keep to the correct distance. I used to think that the 'correct' distance was about 15 or 20ft. However through taking my time and consideration for them, I have now found I can be between 5 and 6ft. A couple of days ago I ended up using my 10-20mm zoom set at 10mm - one of the pictures below with a guga in it, was about 2ft 6" away (not pleasant kneeling in that mud and guano for several hours) ........

@10mm, uncropped




  The last two pictures were taken using the 500mm + two extension tubes to enable the lens to focus much closer, so I could then get closer to the bird. The last few pictures below are of the coastline in different light etc......






  Frequently when I go to the cliffs, I see a feral cat or two - or rather a fleeting moggie as it goes down the cliff-side. I do wonder how many nesting birds or chicks that they may take during the season and what impact they might have on the populations - however small. Returning along the clifftop the other day, I came across the small cat below, emerging from a Puffin burrow - thankfully the Puffins left weeks ago. I would imagine that it is only when the cats are small kittens that they can actually get down a burrow as the holes are quite small.......


  Well today (19th Sept), the family arrived back home after a week away down south on holiday. I'm going to have to behave like a family man again and not a single one, so spur of the moment decisions to go to the cliffs in the evening will end for a while :) However, not long after Catriona arrived home at lunchtime, I got 'the call' - Brydon had found a Baltimore Oriole in Haligarth ! It was/is an American passerine and it's a long way from home. Unfortunately for me and despite a lot of effort by many, only four (+ Brydon) have seen it, oh well, there's always tomorrow :) 

At least it was a nice sunrise!


   Robbie



2 comments:

Graham said...

excellent series of pictures Robbie and very very jealous.....but you knew that already !

MW said...

What a super selection of pictures you have here:-) Hermaness, very special place in my heart!
Also I have to congratulate you on the "photo of the month"! One Cracking image, Brilliant.
See you soon I hope
Mark