24th Oct
  Well this is the first full day back home after our trip to the deep south and what do we get, a strong cold northerly and snow showers ! Winter is just around the corner.

  The trip south took two days including overnight on the Northlink and a night in Cardross to visit one of Catriona's relations. We left Unst on the Saturday lunch time and arrived in Tolox, southern Spain at around 9.30pm Monday, local time.

  The house where we stayed was high up on a south facing hillside but with views also to the other 3 points of the compass. For most of the week we stayed around the house and pool, with the occasional walk back from Tolox or had a lift in to either Tolox or Coin ( pronounced Coeeen - or something like that). The weather was mostly clear, sunny, and by Shetland standards, very warm at around  23c - 28c.

  All around the hillsides I could hear Crested Lark, Woodlark, Sardinian Warbler and Cirl Bunting. Daily over head I saw a number of raptors including Sparrowhawk, Peregrine, Kestrel, Buzzard, Griffon Vulture, Booted Eagle and a probable Bonelli's Eagle. Most mornings there was a passage of birds along the hillside made up of small flocks of finches (Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch etc) and also Hirundines such as Swallows, House Martins, one Red-rumped Swallow and quite a few Crag Martins. Both Great Tit and Blue Tits were fairly numerous. Other birds from the garden included Firecrest, Crossbill, Little Egret, Redlegged Partridge, Blackcap and Little Owl. During the spring and breeding season I would think there would be a lot more raptors, hirundines and warblers around.

  There were a few obvious insects around including grasshoppers, carpenter bees, a swallow-tailed butterfly and a small praying mantis that ended up in the pool (which survived after been fished out with a net).

   Much of the surrounding landcsape was dominated by olive groves and also almond, orange and lemon trees. Ther only thick vegetation really was down in the river valleys or in some of the small gorges that would have water in in them after any substantial rainfall.

  Below are a few pics from the week.......

Tolox

Looking north towards the house (arrowed in white)

Looking roughly south from above the house (again arrowed)

From the same viewpoint looking north

A couple of shots of the house after dark

Olive trees

Freshly picked olives that are going to be made into oil

 Female Sardinian Warbler

 Dragonfly

 Grasshopper

 Little Egret

 Praying Mantis

 Crested Lark

Swallow-tailed Butterfly

  The villa belongs to a friend of mine who I've known for many years and is available to rent for holidays. For more information click the link here

   Robbie

 Unst - and Shetland in general, has been pretty busy in the last couple of weeks with visiting birdwatchers/birders/twitchers - call them/us what you like. Unfortunately once again, like in many walks of life, there are a few who spoil it for the rest of us. This time it was down in Norwick last week. There had been a couple of rare birds found (Pechora Pipit and Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll) down in one of the fields. I wasn't actually there myself (I saw the numbers of folk and decided to keep clear) but from what I'm told there were quite a few walking through the fields, climbing fences and, so I'm told, leaving gates open. Eventually the crofter got fed up with the behaviour of some of them and asked everyone to leave. One (so I understand) even argued to say 'I can legally go where I like' - he may think so, but I bet there are a few crofters that would argue against that. I was talking to the crofter the other day and she told me, that just leaving that gate not tied up properly, could have caused her a whole load of problems. The gate concerned separated two fields with sheep in; one had ewes, the other had at least one ram in it. If they'd got together it could have meant the lambs were born two months earlier, which means they'd be lambing in the late winter.  Just one example of selfish, thoughtless behaviour by a few.

  Earlier in the week I had a parcel delivered which was a new book - 'Birds: Through Irish Eyes', it was written by Anthony McGeehan and Julian Wyllie. Anthony contacted me a while ago for a couple of pictures he liked and wanted to use them in the book, to which I happily agreed. The photographs were the Grey Phalarope - which I use as my blog banner - and the Woodlark from Skaw last winter. I must say it's a cracking book and will thoroughly enjoy reading it. The book is here on Amazon.

  One 'milestone' reached this week on Unst, was by Mike Pennington. Mike reached his 300 species seen on Unst - quite amazing and even more so that the all time total for the island is 333 species. That puts Mike in a very exclusive club up here in Shetland, so well done Mike for that. What was the bird, I hear you say? It was a Longtailed Tit at Skaw - the first for the island in 151 years ! The bird was discovered by Martin Garner and the group he was leading (For Brydon's Nature in Shetland). I think it must have been a bit strange for the group, they had come up looking for rare or scare birds and then Shetland birders getting excited about a LTT ! .....

  Last Monday (8th Oct) there was a fantastic aurora - as said by those lucky enough to see it. I stayed up until midnight and by then it had clouded over and was spitting with rain, so I turned in. Later around 1.30am, it all kicked off and as I was told by one person who saw it, it was as good as any you'd see on the tele - blast! There's another one forecast for around the 14th/15 but unfortunately I'll miss it as I'm going to the very deep south. We're off to visit a friend of mine who I've known since 1989 but have not seen for almost 20 years; Linda and Innis now live in southern Spain. After months down there with no rain (which resulted in wild fires and one fatality) they have now had severe floods in places - it almost sounds biblical.

 A couple of nights ago, we had a lovely clear, cold night. There had been a prediction of low auroral activity, but I took a look anyway. There was a very faint glow to the north at midnight, but I liked the mist on the water and, on this occasion, the harbour lights helped the picture.....

North over Blatasound from home

As I said, I'm away for a short while so I won't be posting for a week, after that it may well be pictures from a more warmer climate.

       Robbie

Visitors

  Firstly, sorry for the late update, the time has slipped by since the last post. One really great piece of news for us and Unst as a whole, is that at the last minute, the school was removed from the proposal for closure by the council - for the time being anyway. Everyone realizes that the council has to save money, but to severely cut education is the wrong end to start at. However, the battle for Baltasound may have been won (thanks to the hard work of lots of people and some common sense by councilors who voted against closure) but the fight goes on for the number of other primary and secondary schools in Shetland that are threatened.

  So what else has been happening up here? I have had a couple of more days working, fitting a window at one house and a new door and frame at another. On the wildlife front it has been both quiet and exciting - if that's not a contradiction. On the 12th Sept, I had a walk around Valyie in the afternoon and didn't really find anything. I didn't look in the bushes behind the house as, despite just having my bins' overhauled by Zeiss, they now don't focus less that 30ft away - which is pointless in the close confines of the shrubbery at Valyie. Heading home, I then got a call from Mike P an hour or so later to say there was a Red-eyed Vireo there - a first for both Unst and Shetland ! How that could have been me that had found it, such is life ! Quickly getting in the car at 6pm with Rona, we were soon over there and, luckily in a very short time, saw the bird in the conifer trees on the west side. I fired off a few frames in the now fading light..........

Red-eyed Vireo

  The Red-eyed Vireo is one of the more common vagrants from North America to hit the UK shores - but, as I have mentioned, not Shetland - until now. The following day I had to go off island and didn't get back until 2-30 in the afternoon. It was a horrible wet and windy day, so hopefully the bird would stay put as there would certainly be a few folk coming up from Mainland to see it. When I arrived there were a few folk there that had been looking for almost 5 hours in the wind and rain and only got a few glimpses of it as it flitted through the bushes. Shortly after I had arrived and not long after the others had left, the bird showed quite well just in front of me, which allowed me a few more very high ISO pictures.

  Friday came and, just as forecast, the weather was much better, so I headed up to Valyie again. After quite a while of fleeting glimpses, I did see it well although it was very active and didn't stay still for long..............

  I had to have another couple days off island getting the Audi sorted for an MOT, firstly for a new windscreen (thankfully the insurance paid for most of that) and secondly for the MOT - which it past. While the screen was fitted, I had around fours hours to wait while the adhesive went off. As the garage was in the middle of nowhere (well almost) I spent the time walking the coast and up on some nearby hills.I did see a few Red Grouse (introduced to Mainland) and also a Mountain Hare as it sped away.............

From Brunt Hamersland towards south Bressay

One of the cruise ships designs in Lerwick Harbour

  Last Friday (21st) I bumped in to Brydon and Mickey who were just off out to check out a warbler in Baltasound so I tagged along. After many frustrating glimpses, they agreed it was a Blyth's Reed Warbler and so the next task was to try and get some pics of it - not an easy task as it was so elusive in the vegetation and shrubs around a small walled garden. I managed to get a few record shots but they weren't good enough for 'confirmation pictures', so, as I had to pick up the girls from the leisure centre later, I went for another look. This time I managed to get some great views and one or two better shots but not a full on side view as I was hoping for :( ..............

Blyth's Reed Warbler

  The following day (22nd), the girls and I headed off island to Sumburgh to pick up Catriona and also a birding friend of mine called Tim, who was coming to stay for a week. It was a fairly straightforward trip, but on the way back I got 'the call'. Brydon had left a message to say there was a Great Reed Warbler at Valyie so, once the car had been unloaded, we headed off. Fortunately this bird was much easier to see compared to the Blyth's..............

 Great Reed Warbler

 Also there was a rather nice flock of Common Redpolls, some of which, were very confiding....

Kittiwake at Belmont

  The forecast for this week was supposed to have been east or south easterlies for most of the week - brilliant for migrant birds at this time of year. It was in that quarter for a couple of days, but it has now moved in to  a more northerly airflow. We were also supposed to have rain on Tuesday, but that seemed to stop at Orkney and then track back south. So while the southern half of the UK were having floods and travel chaos, we (for a change) had some fairly nice dry weather. It did bring a few migrants here, but not the numbers some were expecting. Another rarity was found by Mike, Micky and Brydon and that was a Greenish Warbler at Valyie. Tim and I went up there the following morning and spent several hours looking before it showed itself.........

Greenish Warbler

  As Tim was only here for a week - and also that he is a very keen birder, we were out everyday from around nine to three thirty in the afternoon. I don't really consider myself as a serious twitcher (a term I really hate) but I will go and have a look-see at birds around Unst, Yell or Fetlar. I'd already seen a Blyth's Reed Warbler a few days before but as another one turned up in Haligarth, Tim was keen to see if we could see it. We did eventually get it after a total of several hours but the bird was much more difficult to see than the one at Hillsgarth a few days before. While we were there, there was also a 'flyover' of a Rough-legged Buzzard that had an unusual plumage pattern below, the 'jury' is still out trying to age it...............

Rough-legged Buzzard over Haligarth

  Below are a few other shots from the past week..............

 Booted Warbler at Clibberswick

 Goldcrest at Northdale

 Starling at Valyie

Yellow-browed Warbler at Valyie

Another Redpoll, this time at Skaw

Redshank at Buness

 Robbie

  It's been a busy week or so again with both friends and visitors coming around and also staying. I had a slightly unusual photo assignment last week which was very weather dependent. I had been asked to photograph the runway lights (or rather the illumination) of the now semi redundant Baltasound airport. The suggestion had been made by some folk from way down south that they possibly weren't bright enough for a helicopter to land at night. Only had a week to do it and for most of it it was either raining or blowing a right hoolie - or both. Fortunately there was one evening where the wind dropped down below F5 and it wasn't raining! The best view would obviously be from an elevated position but obviously there aren't many of those directly inline with a runway - and as a helicopter wasn't available, I had to make do with standing on the roof of my car.

  Despite the good weather down south, summer seems to be over here with the departure of many of the summer breeders. Most of the terns, Arctic Skuas, Whimbrels and Red-throated Divers seem to have gone, Fulmar chicks have left their nests and also quite a few young Gannets (Gugas) can be seen around the place. Last week we had two friends from the Cotswolds were staying for two nights. One one of the better days we took a walk to Hermaness and on the way up, we came across a young Gannet flapping around in one of the Bonxie breeding areas - quite a long way from the sea and gannet cliffs.If we left it, it would soon tire and become Bonxie food and as it seemed OK I decided to catch it and take it to the cliffs at the top of the board walk. It had probably come down in the previous nights gale (F8-9) and as it was in heather, it probably found it difficult to take off. Despite its protest (and trying to peck me - but keeping its beak well away from my face and eyes) I carried it up to the cliffs. Laying the bird down on the grass, it perked up and after a brief look around, flapped off the edge and joined the hundreds of others soaring around in the strong westerly wind..............

  Finally last week I managed to catch up with the pale (leucistic) Starling down at Lamba Ness. It's not a particularly rare plumage type, but for me I think it's a lovely bird. Starlings are normally quite approachable but for some reason this flock have been particularly flighty.

                                                  
One evening just over a week ago, my girls had friends around and had been having a water fight outside (in the rain!), they hadn't been in long when they started running around the house shouting 'otter, otter'. As it turned out, they had seen one come up the field close to the garden wall to the west side of the house. It climbed over the wall into the pony field (the ponies then made it clear they didn't want it in their field) so it climbed over the wall and on to the lawn. It then disappeared for awhile into the Rosa bushes before emerging by the bird table. At first I thought it was eating something but then realized it was just lying in the grass - which it did for 6 or 7 minutes. Then, to my surprise, another otter appeared coming up the field following the same route as the first one. The second animal was a lot smaller and slimmer than the first and was obviously following the scent of the first one. As the 2nd one climbed over onto the lawn, the other one disappeared from view, we saw them a short time later going across a field to the east, the slimmer one some distance behind the first. Now had the 2nd one been bigger than the first, you'd have said it was a male on the scent of a female 'in season'. However, it could have been a big female and a small male - we'll probably never know.

  It's a bit of a short blog this week as I've been WORKING for a change over a Burrafirth and also as the weather hasn't been particularly good (wind in the wrong direction etc) there hasn't been too many birds around. Probably the best during the last week was a Peregrine over Baltasound.

  We did have a nice family walk on Sunday along the coast south of Skaw to Inner Skaw. The most notable photograph of the day has to be this one ...........

                                                       ........ for my birthday!

       Robbie

(I don't know what's going on with the formatting on Blogger tonight, but it's acting strange)

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