'Hotter and otter'

  Last Tuesday (17th April), I was heading along the shore-road on my way to do a small job at Burrafirth, when I noticed two Ravens behaving strangely by one of the roadside burns that leads in to Balta Sound. Getting to the small bridge I saw what the birds were being anxious about - an otter drying itself on the bank of the burn. Driving on past, I turned the car around so it was on my side of the car and coasted to a halt on the bridge. Fortunately it didn't hear or see me and carried on drying itself. Unfortunately as is often the case when shooting from a car, often, there is a fence to shoot through - as there was in this case. After taking a number of pictures through the wire (and getting an out of focus strand of wire through the image) I decided to try and move slightly for a better angle. This was a bad move as it obviously heard the car and decided to head back in to the sea - which meant it would pass right underneath the bridge I was on. It didn't panic, but just crept/swam slowly down through the shallow stream and under the bridge and out of sight. One thing I did notice about this otter that will be useful and that is it has one canine tooth missing, useful for future identification. Fortunately on this occasion there were no cars using the road for the few minutes I was parked as I would have had to of driven off......................

  A few days later, I was over at the community skip at Haroldswick when I decided to have a look at some near-by freshwater pools for migrants. As I coasted to a halt in to the passing place (plenty of room for two other cars to pass) I saw an otter in the pool heading for the bank. Quickly grabbing a shot, it climbed out of the water and in to the bushes. I could hear it - and occasionally got a glimpse of it - as it moved around inside and then it went quiet. Now I know that otters will rest for a while during the time it spends fishing - half an hour rest, fishing for half an hour etc etc - so I decided to wait for a while. Finally, it had just got to the 'I'll give ten more minutes' situation, when I heard it stirring. It then emerged from the bushes just a few yards away, oblivious to either me or the car and re-entered the water and carried on fishing................

Shame about the vegetation - still very nice to see though (all full frame)

  I spent most of yesterday afternoon (21st April) at home and in the late afternoon, I noticed a seal had hauled out on the rocks down at the shore. As I'd not see one haul out here before, I decided to get some 'record' shots. Carefully making my way down, I crawled up on to the shingle bank and got some photographs...................

   Whilst watching the seal, I noticed an otter feeding along the shore to my left and was working its way towards me through the wracks of seaweed and being very successful in catching small Butterfish.

 
  By now the seal had also seen the otter and was watching it intently - in all of my previous sightings involving otters and seals, the otter has always steered well clear of a seal. Looking at the direction the otter was travelling, it would surely either pass very close to the seal or change direction and head out in to the sound. What happened next was something I wasn't expecting. The otter deliberately swam straight up to where the seal was lying and seemed to want to have a good look - from around 3-4ft away. The seal stayed put and the otter didn't seem phased by the relatively large animal staring down at it. Several times the otter dived and when it did, the seal almost looked puzzled as to where it had gone. When the otter re-surfaced, the seal would move around on the rock to have a look. In all, I think this lasted for several minutes - although it seemed like ages....................

As the otter continued to fish a little further on to my right, I noticed a rabbit on an exposed seaweed cover rock, halfway between the seal and the otter. I've no idea where it appeared from as I didn't see it get there - maybe it had been hiding in the seaweed ? ................

 

  I don't know how (the wind was in the rabbits favour), but the otter then swam back along the shore some twenty feet, scenting the air from time to time and somehow knew there was a meal there. It went around the back of the rock and came up through the seaweed in an attempt to catch the rabbit - the rabbit however, was too quick and got away....................

  The otter then carried on along the shore, catching fish on every other dive.

  At lunchtime today (22nd) we all decided to go to Haroldswick for a bite to eat at the recently re-opened 'Northern Lights' restaurant (a lovely view out over the bay). Pulling up outside, Rona headed off from the car and then stopped and shouted (well not quite a shout) 'Look, there's an otter!'. Sure enough, led in the sun against a garden wall only 20ft from the road, was a sleeping otter. I don't know if it'd had one too many the night before, but it was in no hurry to move. I did wonder if it was either sick or injured, but when it did move away, there was no obvious signs and it disappeared completely........

 Now, I don't go out much deliberately looking for otters very often, but for chance encounters this past week has been exceptional - it's not like this every week, unfortunately.

  And as to the 'Hotter'? Well this week it has started to get hotter - there have been loads of migrants around. On Shetland as a whole, there have been several hundred Robins recorded along with lots of Chiffchaffs and other small migrants all due to the recent easterly and south easterly winds. Yesterday I had a nice Green Sandpiper at Lamba Ness and today I found a male Garganey at Haroldswick.

     Robbie

Big rollers

  It's still not making up its mind - the weather that is. It's been another week of '4 seasons in one day' - or even an hour. Most of the time however, it's been quite cool with a north easterly blowing. With this in mind, I took a look up at Lamba Ness during the week. There were some pretty big rollers coming in, the height of which I can only guess at being well over 20-25ft............

  Considering a Gannets wingspan can reach up to 5ft wide, that's some big splash!

  I started feeding the birds in the garden over 12 months ago and am very pleased with the bird numbers I get daily (but not number of species). Most days now I get 20 or more House Sparrows feeding and generally just sitting about. They bred in the roof of the cottage last year and several have now started going under the tiles of the main house - although I'll have to put up nest boxes once the roof has been re-tiled. The sound of them sitting about chirping takes me back to my childhood when back south, we had dozens in the small coppice at the bottom of the garden, feeding in a chicken run. When I go out to top up the feeder and to put some seed on the ground for the Rock Doves, they often just fly a few feet in to the small (6ft) Sycamore bush and wait for me to return to the house. Almost daily now, I see them bathing in any small pool of water on the drive, having a good chatter as they do so..............

Bath Time

  Another common sight (unfortunately) is seeing Hedgehogs that have been run over by cars. Judging by the numbers, I can only assume Hedgehogs are extremely numerous here on Unst. Only the other day I found one at Skaw out foraging in broad daylight which I took to be one that had recently come out of hibernation - due to how vigorously it was foraging and feeding...........

  Mid-week, I noticed on Spacew.com that there was an increase in auroral activity. Checking the first night, it produced a faint glow to the north through the clouds, but it was very windy from the north east. The following evening it was better but due to the wind direction, it made taking any pictures very difficult so I had to use one of the sheds as a wind break, not ideal.............

Last one of the season ?

  Just before midnight I headed up north to get away from the bright lights of town, it was still windy, but I thought I'd take a look anyway. By the time I reached Lamba Ness it had all but gone, time for my bed I think.

  One species I have been trying to get some half decent pictures of is Redbreasted Merganser. I was down in Uyeasound the other day and was fortunate to watch a pair at close range for a while by the old pier. As seems to be the norm' at the moment, the sky was grey and 'flat', not the best light for a bird on the water. Still a nice bird to see though..............

Male Red-breasted Merganser

  Yesterday (15thApril) we had a snow shower fairly early in the morning, so on looking out at 7.30am, I thought 'right, Hermaness it is then'. So leaving home at 8am, I set off and was up to the cliffs by 9am. The wind was now coming from the north and by heck was it cold. I went around the south side of the southern Gannetry (if that makes sense) and watched them for quite a while. There are now two nest sites fairly close to the top which gives a better angle, so hopefully when I'm there in better light I will get some nice head shots......................

  Shortly after these were taken, the sky darkened even more and it started to snow. Not very heavily at first but before long it was virtually a white-out. By this time, I'd gone back to start heading home which I now regret as in no time at all (less than 3/4hr) there was 2" of lying snow which would have made for some interesting shots. Halfway along the clifftop, I stopped to try and photograph a pair of Fulmars sitting on a ledge. In less than a couple of minutes, both me, my camera bag and tripod were covered in a thick layer of snow - and I don't think the birds knew what to make of it..................

  On Sunday morning (15th April), I had to head down to Lerwick to meet Catriona and the girls from the Northlink ferry. It meant getting the 7.05 ferry from Unst which would enable me to arrive in Lerwick by around 9.30am. There was a little snow around but nothing to speak of on the road - until I got to Yell that is. From Gutcher in the north to Ulsta in the south of the island, there was snow on the road (which had been salted but before the snow had fallen). I was now wishing I'd taken the 4x4 as it wasn't particularly nice driving and a max speed limit of 40mph (any faster and I'd have been off the road) meant I was concerned I'd miss the next ferry (which thankfully I didn't). Picking the family up at 9.30, it was then off to Sumburgh so Catriona could catch a plane to Geneva for 3 days. We did go up to the head (hoping to see the early Puffins) but unfortunately the birds had gone back to sea again - no doubt the snowfall had something to do with that.

  Saying our goodbyes to Catriona; Sula, Rona and I headed back north only stopping off briefly at Mossbank to take a look at the 'Solitaire' - a rather large pipe laying ship,  in fact it's the largest of its kind in the world. It's laying pipe to connect up to pipe from a North Sea gas pipeline which will come ashore near Mossbank and then travel a relatively short distance to the new Total gas terminal at Sullom Voe. Rather than type out all of the facts here, if you are interested you can look here ...................

'The Solitaire'

  The girls decided to go swimming with a friend this afternoon (16th) as it was the last day before school starts. I took advantage of this and headed up to Lamba Ness to look for the 'Blue' phase Fulmar which has returned for the 4th season (assuming it is the same one - it is on the same ledge) For the 2nd year running, it seems to have a mate, maybe this year they'll breed ?.........

'Blue' phase Fulmar

      Robbie

100 'not out' !

  Firstly sorry for the late update, I had meant to do it last week but as I was busy most evenings (sampling some fine whisky) and then a virus/bug on the pc meant I couldn't get online. Something had got in to the program that runs the wireless side of things and had basically turned off the connection and no amount of effort would re-start it. However, it now seems to have been sorted by my antivirus scans - fingers crossed.

  Over the last week or ten days, I've had one or two days (or part days) out either on my own or with 'Dr Phil' - who left yesterday (9th April) and I hope, has a few good memories of staying with us and working on Unst for two weeks. The family have been away since the 30th March (and still are until Sunday) on a trip south to see friends and relations so I've been 'home alone' for quite a lot of the time which did seem strange - although the cats were here (and Phil).

  We've had a couple of days during the last week or so when there's been a fall of snow - not much and it didn't last - but it did get me to make 3 visits to Hermaness in succession to the gannets. The last visit was the best with a good covering but by lunchtime it had all melted. I set off from home at around 7am and was up at the cliffs by around 8am. It felt really cold in the wind and my guess was the temperature was somewhere around -5c but could easily have been less with the windchill factor. A few shots from the morning............

  Despite the weather, it seems like spring is finally here as some of the summer migrants are starting to arrive. The first Puffins have arrived down at Sumburgh, there have been Bonxies on Yell and I had my first Wheatear at Lamba Ness this morning (10th April).


  Well, as to the title of this blog. This afternoon I reached 100 species seen in, over or from Ordaal - all since Feb 2011. Back south in the North Cotswolds it took me over 40 years to get to 107. The bird that took the list to this milestone ? A rather nice male Gadwall down on the flood water just along the shoreline. Gadwall aren't particularly common birds in Shetland so it was nice to get one here.

  Robbie

  Here we are at the end of March and a couple of days ago it really felt like spring was here.  Down south folk were sweltering in around 20 degrees, while the temperature here was around 12 degrees and I was outside in just a jumper - I know which I prefer. I've been pretty busy over the last two weeks with different things so getting out and doing any wildlife related stuff has been lower down the list of things to do. I continued with making around the base of the shed watertight which is now almost complete apart from a coat of bitumen paint and also started to fit the two new wooden windows I'd made in to the porch. I also had work in the cottage to do as we now have 'Dr Phil' staying in it for two weeks as he works up here as a locum at the surgery.

   On the subject of the cottage, I had yet another example of the postcode surcharge rip-off. I ordered some blinds online, paid for them and thought that was that. The following morning I got a call from the company down south saying there would be a surcharge to send the parcel to Shetland by courier. When I asked why it couldn't be sent by Parcel Force (the package would have been 3 ft x 6"x6" or there abouts) she said 'but we don't use that courier company', 'so what's the cost?' I asked, '£50' came the reply. When I told her to cancel the order, judging by the silence, I think she was quite surprised. The following day, I found another online store that on their 'home page', stated 'Free UK delivery', great I thought and placed an order. When I got to the point of clicking 'buy', it then came up with ' UK Mainland only', no surprise there then !

  Last weekend on the Saturday morning, I got a call from a friend of mine to say there was young seal (a last years pup) on the beach at Norwick with some fishing net around it's neck. Going over a short while later with 'Dr Phil', we found the seal on the beach not far from the tide-line. My immediate thought was that if we tried to approach it, it would shuffle straight back in the sea and that would be that. I decided to try again later as the tide was dropping and then maybe it would be further up the beach and I'd be able to get between it and the sea.

  On the way back later, I met someone who asked me if I knew what to do with a seal caught in a net, replying that I was on my way over there, she said her partner was still there and she'd follow me over. Arriving at the beach the seal was nowhere to be seen and on asking her partner where the seal was, he said that when he walked down on to the beach with their dogs, the seal went back in to the sea - who would have thought that would happen ! I decided to go back again later when things had quietened down a bit and so went to Lamba Ness for a walk.

  It was a lovely afternoon, sunny, fairly calm and a clear sky. Walking around the end of the headland, I heard the unmistakable call of an otter cub somewhere down off the end of a rocky outcrop. Shortly after, I saw a female climb out with a very large Lumpsucker fish, joined shortly after by a very large cub. The wind was blowing from me to them but I thought I'd be ok as I was quite some height above them on the cliffs and also around 100 yds away. I was wrong however and she was very uneasy and kept sniffing the air and after only a couple of minutes slipped back in to the sea followed by not one, but two large cubs. They swam below me in the relatively sheltered water and fortunately they now wouldn't catch my scent. Then I saw something I've never seen before (and had longed to see for years) and that was an otter swimming under water - and not one but three! In the calm, crystal clear water, I could see them swimming through the kelp looking for food, leaving a trail of rising bubbles behind them. It didn't last for long but will be a memory that will last for ever. I only had my camera phone with me but they were in the shadow of the cliffs anyway so I would have been disappointed with the results.............

The left side of the red line marks the spot where they were.

  Returning back to Norwick there was no sign of the seal, so I will check again in the morning.

Sun 25th March

  The clocks changed in the night so one hour less in bed. I headed off to Norwick at 7.30am (6.30 really ) Arriving at the beach, there was no sign so I headed off along the sandy beach to the east. In the distance at the far end, I could see a dark object lying up the beach - it looked like a seal. Five minutes later and I was approaching it and had come to the conclusion it was dead, then its flippers twitched. Quickly throwing my coat over it, I managed to keep it still by sitting on it and holding the back of its neck with one hand. Despite this it still managed to turn and try and take a bite but thankfully it missed. It only took 5 minutes to cut the piece of net away but it wasn't easy only being able to use one hand with the knife and then carefully pull away the cut nylon. The net had cut in to the neck quite a way but hopefully the salt water will help it heal up quickly. I thought that monofiliment nets had stopped being used a while ago, but I suppose it could have been floating around for ages. Everyday this past week, folk have been checking the beach there and there's been no sign of it so hopefully that's good news...........

 Those teeth look sharp!

 The wound

The cause

  Also last weekend was the Sport Relief Mile here on Unst. There were a variety of walkers, runners and 'novelty' participants who undertook the 1, 3 or 6 mile course in aid of charity. This year they raised around £1500 pounds............

  Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to see something that possibly only a handful of people have seen (certainly here in the UK at any rate). It had been an idea that I thought of over fours years ago and finally the effort has paid off and I was rewarded with some close up moments. I'll keep you guessing for a bit longer as to what it was until I get some video - hopefully in the next week or so.

            Robbie

Yet more auroras

  As I mentioned in the last post, most of the last week had been pretty poor weather wise, I also said that we were due for a clear day/night.  Well on Thursday it happened, the sky had cleared and was due to stay that way for most of the night, fingers crossed. Keeping a close eye on Spacew, I waited for Catriona to come home and then I headed off northwards. I decided to go up to Saxavord first to see what it looked like towards Muckle Flugga lighthouse. There was a bit of activity but there was too much wind and also to much open moorland 'in the way'. I decided to go to over to Lamba Ness where at least the old RAF buildings could act as a wind break. I spent over two hours there and it was one of the best auroras I've seen - almost as good as last September. It wasn't that there was lots of colour, more the constant changing shapes of the curtains or veils. I'd not seen them swirling around quite so much before. It reminded me of maybe 'stage ice' being blow around or maybe a timelapse film of cloud movement except that this was in real time. I think on this occasion I'd have been better off leaving the camera for 2 or 3 hours doing a time-lapse rather than single images......................

Looking north over to Skaw from Lamba Ness at 11.30pm

  Despite it being quite sunny over the last few days, its been deceptively cold - which has been down to a wind chill. Checking the thermometer at the side of the shed the other morning, the coldest its dropped to has only been -3 degrees but it's certainly felt much colder. Yesterday morning I was very surprised to see a powder coating of snow on Setters Hill and Clibberswick, it didn't last and had gone in an hour...................

The old jetty - minus the sheep fence :)

  Last night (17th March) there was yet another alert for the 'Mirrie Dancers'. I looked out just before 11.30pm and saw the green glow to the north from the house. I took this one from the field to the south just before I headed up to the north of the island and away from the street lighting.......

  Getting up to Lamba Ness just before midnight, it clouded in, poured with rain for 10 minutes, then cleared up again,  but no aurora - time for bed I think !

   Robbie

  Well here we are at the end of the second week in March and it does now feel like spring is on the way. Oystercatchers are back in force with quite a few back in areas where I've seen them breeding over the last few years. Only today (13th) I saw one bird which has returned to the same nesting area for the fourth year - I know this as it is ringed (assuming it is the same ringed bird!) - and the pair were getting down to re-bonding and displaying etc. Also today, I noticed there seems to have been a large arrival of Common Gulls as there have been lots of flocks around the island feeding in the short grass fields. Lastly, today I saw my first Lesser-blackbacked Gulls of the 'spring' here in Baltasound, I'm happy to be corrected, but I think most leave Shetland during the winter months.

  At the end of last week, I went down to Westing as we'd had a bit of a storm. I was hoping for some gulls to be feeding there in the breakers and found a handful of Commons', 2 Icelands and a few Blackheads. One of the Blackheaded Gulls in particular looked rather splendid in that it had possibly the pinkest hue to its breast that I've ever seen on one of these birds...........

  Blackheaded Gull

  Inevitably, while I'm parked there, the local seal population will always come and inspect me - or maybe the car - depending on the state of the tide and how rough the sea is.

  A short way along the beach was a dead ewe on which at least a dozen Ravens were feeding when I arrived. These birds are so wary and as far as they're concerned the long lens may as well be a gun - it was almost 45 minutes before they first landed and then only briefly. If I turn up with the window up, they will often stay put, if it is down they are gone in seconds. From time to time a bird or two will soar or glide towards me along the beach, on reaching the car, they turn and go back to the far end of the beach again and perch - they are sussing me out..................

  At the weekend, I saw my first spring passerine for this year in the form of an early Reed Bunting at Haroldswick.............

Male Reed Bunting

  As is usually the case, it was the weather that dominated things here again. Over the last week, we've had a mixture of some ok days, a nice day and some pretty foul days. On top of this, the last week there has been quite a lot of auroral activity - but not seen here by me ! Some of the recent activity from one of the sunspots has apparently been the best for 5 years - in Iceland they've had almost 2 weeks of auroras. Just after sunset over the last two nights, Jupiter and Venus have only been around 3 degrees apart at sunset, it was something I was hoping to see but again it was cloudy. Looking at the local forecast we are due for a nice day and clear night at the end of the week - which will be a nice change..................

One of the nicer days at Skaw  taken with the camera phone

  Work around the house etc continues with the main focus last week being on getting the stables more water tight. I think I may have mentioned it before, but the stables were built directly on to the concrete without a course of bricks first. This has meant that when it rained (which it does very frequently) the water just ran straight under the bottom timber sole plate. Hopefully with work I've now done it will prevent that happening. Also the boards need painting with some timber treatment as when the rain is combined with a strong wind (most of the time) you can stand inside and see the water soaking through the 1" boarding as though it was a sponge. The stables are now my workshop as I manged to persuade the girls to give up their 'den' which was in one of them (I've made them another one in the other shed) So, by taking out the timber dividing wall, I now have one shed around 12ft x 20ft which is great for working in. The other jobs I have on the go at the moment are getting the cottage ready for renting out (having a gas cooker fitted etc) and starting to organize having the roof re-slated this summer - scaffolding, slates etc etc. It's going to be a busy year - but I'll still find time for the wildlife - I hope.

Up Helly Aa and auroras

  Last Thursday (1st March) was a rather nice day weather wise and the evening was set to be good also. In the late afternoon we had a friend come round who had walked along from Baltasound. Just as she got near to our house, a helicopter landed in the next field to the house and the pilot got out and ran up to the road to where Helen was - he was after directions ! At around 6.30pm I took her over to Haroldswick and on the way back it was one of those magical evenings that could have been mid summer (apart from the temperature). The sun was setting, there was no wind and down in the bay at Haroldswick an otter fished silhouetted against the orange reflection of the sky on the water. There was another aurora forecast, not a strong one, but one non the less. I missed the strongest part which was around 8pm, but managed to get out a bit later; the moon was shining but not too brightly. However, at the pier across from our shoreline, there was a fish-farm ship tied up with all its lights blazing. I decided to head off up north to try and get some shots from either Lamba Ness or Skaw. By the time I'd got there the aurora had subsided and was just faint glow, so I headed down to Skaw and try some moonlit beach pictures. In theory, digital makes taking this sort of picture much easier but I'm still not particularly good at it so it's a case of practicing when the opportunity arises....................

 Skaw beach - 63 seconds @ f5.6, ISO800

  Leaving Skaw sometime around half midnight, I headed home. Had I used my 'give it another 10 minutes' way of thinking, then I'd of had some better pictures; as, on arriving back at home, the 'light show' picked up again..................

1am looking north to the pier.

  Saturday (3rd) was to be Norwick Up Helly Aa. During the day, the wind picked up, it poured with rain and it looked like it could be cancelled. Fortunately early evening the wind dropped very slightly and also the rain. Going on the forecast (and 'live' conditions) if Catriona hadn't been in a squad, I think I'd have given it a miss; however, in the end it wasn't too bad. A few pictures from the evening............

Sula and Rona - the shield Sula designed is on her left side

  After the burning of the boat, most folk go to the hall for the acts etc and then the dance. We left at around 11.30 as Catriona was off away in the morning and had an early start, but many folk didn't leave until 3am!

  Catriona left early on Sunday to go to Zimbabwe for a 2 day meeting ( + 2 days travel each way) so I was at home with the girls. I made most of the time by doing some work in the sheds and then later on going for a fish and chip supper in the village hall - very civilized as there's a bar there as well.

  Yesterday (5th) was another of those sort of days when (if possible) you just have to get out. Now I've taken down the fence at the jetty, I thought I'd have a go at the Redbreasted Merganzers that often feed down there. Previously when the fence was there, they'd have to swim out and around it at high tide (which is when they are the closest) so now I hoped they'd stay nearer. Unfortunately on this occasion they stayed quite a long way away from the shore and all I had was a couple of Fulmars...................

  Back in the garden, the almost resident Rock Doves ( they don't visit quite so much in the summer) were either sitting around waiting for some food or strutting their stuff trying to impress the females. Down south, folk would be complaining about the 'dirty, messy, pigeons' but here these are the 'real McCoy' wild birds from which all town, feral and racing pigeons have descended so I'm only too happy to have them in the garden.............

Rock Doves

  Yet again, there was another aurora forecast, however the moon was now almost full so any show would be watered down somewhat - if it was visible at all. The two websites that I have been using for aurora alerts were not showing the aurora maps but one did have a link to another site that is in the testing stage which is here . I think the overall view is better than the others but I prefer the colour bar on the other ones as it is immediately obvious what strength the aurora is.................

 Faint glow, 11pm March 5th

       Robbie