Orcas and Eels

  A few weeks ago, Catriona took the girls on a walk over to Woodwick beach on the west side. Woodwick is well known for the flotsam and jetsam that gets washed up there and due to there being no nearby road (3/4 hour walk) there's an awful lot of stuff that gets washed up there and left. Below is a picture I took there a couple of years back...................

Woodwick

   As they were looking around in the rubbish thrown up by the tide, Catriona found what at first looked like a large marker pen. On closer inspection it had some writing on it with 'Reward 60 Euros' plus some other info on it. It turned out that it was an eel tag, put on by a group based in Lowestoft UK and has involved releases in Sweden, Ireland and France. This particular one was tagged in Sweden in November 2010 and dropped off the eel on Jan 9th 2011. Inside the tag is data recording electronics that records it's movements etc, incredibly they can even tell if the animal has been eaten ! In the past they have discovered that eels have been eaten by sharks and whales due to the different temperatures that have been recorded - ie a shark has a higher temperature than an eel and a whale has a higher temp' than a shark and this is recorded by the tags electronics. They tag eels from 1/2 metre in length and larger and use either internal ones or (like the one below) ones that drop off after a certain period of time...........

An eel tag

  Catriona is away for three weeks at the moment and so last Friday (15th) I drove her down to Sumburgh airport. We had little time to spend so we took a quick look around up at Sumburgh Head. There were very few Puffins around, possibly due to the windy conditions on the cliff top. I was just about to start the car, when I looked out seaward and thought I saw something, I did, it was four Orcas feeding offshore just to the east about a mile away. We had a quick look before heading back to the airport and dropping Catriona off. I then quickly returned - just in time - to see them heading north east past the head and out of sight........................

Full frame 500+1.4ex - the silver patch on the water to the right is probably fish oil

 

Quite a large crop

  The following day, Unst had its first uncommon warbler of the year turn up at Burrafirth, unfortunately for this bird - a Subalpine Warbler (eastern race) it came to an untimely end by either being hit by a car or flying in to electricity wires. It was - or would have been - depending on how you look at it, the earliest date for the species in Shetland - by one day....................

'Eastern' Subalpine Warbler (ex)

  During the day time when the kids have been at school, I've been doing jobs at home and outside. One important job this week was to get a small trench dug for a power supply for the out buildings - not an easy task given the nature of the ground below - so the electricians could connect it all up. I must say its nice to finally have power for my power tools in the workshop and also lighting at last. Another couple of jobs involves fencing. Part of this is for when I plant the willow cuttings in the next week or so and also for when a crofter brings some sheep in later in the summer. These 'woolly maggots' will eat anything including the saplings, so prevention is better than cure. The grass needs to be cropped as it's now just tussocks - not much good for anything, especially birds.

  Way back in the 80s and early 90s, I used to submit pictures to magazines and also to a photo library and from time to time, I'd get some sales and in return got a few 'beer tokens' for the effort. Nowadays I don't have the time and would happily admit there are many far better photographers than me out there so I now only sell locally. Therefore it's nice when I get contacted in person by someone for a picture to be used in a publication or whatever. This has happened a couple of times recently, one was for two pictures for a book on Puffins and the other was for an identification book on Reed and Bush Warblers. in the Helm series .................

Marsh Warbler, Northdale Unst 2009

........and a picture similar to one due to be used in a book on Puffins................

 Puffin digging a nest burrow, Sumburgh Head

  Migrant birds are still a bit thin on the ground - or in the air for that matter, although in the week I did see my first Arctic Skua of the spring over the house. I did spend an hour this week down at the shore after doing the school run as it was just after a hight tide and I was hoping for a another chance at the R B Mergansers. I did see a couple but I'm still not happy with the distance they were from me - and I was using the bag hide as well. Unfortunately they'll be moving off to breed soon, so this coming week may be my last chance for a while.........

Male Redbreasted Merganser

Below are a few other pics of birds I took this week around Unst.............

 Common Whitethroat at Skaw

 Pinkfooted Goose at Ordaal

  Redwing at Skaw

  One thing that has concerned me (and also my friend Brydon ) is the lack of sightings of otters around Unst. Until today (24th April) I'd not seen an otter around Unst for almost 3 weeks when often I could see one without trying every few days. We saw one today (Sula saw it first) fishing at Haroldswick and it was a most welcome sight. Brydon has been wondering if the spell of bad weather earlier in the year has taken its toll, lets hope not.

   This week has been quite nice as far as the weather goes, quite sunny and at times warm (10 or 12 degrees). The last couple of evenings have been rather nice with relatively little wind and lovely sunsets, many more to come hopefully !..........................

 8.45pm looking west along the shoreline at Ordaal

                      Robbie