At last a few more nice days !

On average, this summer here on Unst hasn't been a fantastic one weather wise. At the beginning of last week, the wind dropped off which, for some is most welcomed. For others (including me) at this time of year it isn't, and for one reason - midges ! A couple of days last week, I was working at Norwick helping to put on a roof to a new house. The midges, they were ghastly ! At other times of the year, I welcome calm weather for several reasons one being it makes watching and photographing certain kinds of wildlife lot easier. I don't know why, but these little beasties seem to like my blood, but my blood doesn't like them and I end up looking like I've fallen in a nettle bed. Despite regularly covering myself in the Avon stuff, the little blighter's got through.

One big plus of the lack of wind, it makes sea watching for cetaceans much, much easier. After seeing a Minke on Thursday, I decided after finishing work early on Friday afternoon, to head of to Lamba Ness again. On the way over there, I met a visiting birder I know and he said that there had been a number of Minkes feeding in close to Lamba Ness that morning. This time I took the camera with me from the start and soon saw up to 3 feeding not too far from the shore ( It turned out there had been six that morning) I sat and watched them for over an hour before heading back home. The biggest problem is knowing where they are likely to surface next, so it does require quite a lot of concentration and fairly quick reactions.

 Minke Whale at Lamba Ness

Reaching home, I suggested we headed off over there again in the evening to try and see them again, unfortunately the whales didn't show but we did have a cracking sunset as a consolation. 

 Saturday 4th Sept

This morning I headed off to Skaw at around 8am to check if any birds had come in over night. There were hardly any small birds around (apart from the ever present Meadow Pipits) which was a surprise, I thought that there may at least be a Willow Warbler. Some weeks ago, I mentioned that I've seen a few birds with wool tangled around their legs. This morning I found a dead Oystercatcher which, I think, was a result of getting its legs caught in this way. One of the legs had a deep circular cut in it, the other leg had been almost completely severed by something that had been tangled around it.

Going on to Lamba Ness, I could see that the sea wasn't in ideal conditions for looking for the whales as there was now a small swell. After around 15 minutes I saw the first one and then another shortly after. In all there were three feeding for around an hour.

After this, I headed to Norwick to check for migrants at one of the hot-spots, 'Valyie'. Here I had a brief view of a Barred Warbler and then after a long wait, a Garden Warbler showed itself.

Garden Warbler

This was followed shortly after by a tantalizingly brief view of a Pied Flycatcher as it hawked for insects in the shade of the bushes. I had arranged to meet the family and relations at Lamba Ness at 1.30pm in the hope that the Minkes were still there feeding. Just after I arrived, I saw one some way off and then it went quiet for a long time. Then, just as my youngest arrived, a Minke came back past and she had good views of it. Unfortunately, the others arrived 5 minutes later and it wasn't seen again.

Sunday 5th Sept

Yet another clear fine morning - although a breeze had now got up - so I headed off over to Lamba Ness again. I wasn't really expecting to see any Minkes as there was a swell and also the tide was on the turn which creates some very turbulent water there (the North Sea and the Atlantic meet in this area). What the south east wind conditions did cause was the movements over Gannets right over the end of the head which in turn creates some challenging photo opportunities. Despite the fact they are flying into the wind, heck can they shift ! 

The problem is that, part of the time the action is over the sea and part of the action is overhead. For example, at the moment there are a lot of Bonxies around waiting for Gannets returning with food for their young at Hermaness. The Bonxies hang around the headland and take off after a Gannet to try and rob it of its food - by getting it to disgorge its fish. They will do what ever it takes to get the 'free' meal, even grabbing a wing tip or tail to force it down towards the water. 

 Diving for food

Bonxie attack

 

The result

The last picture is a large crop from last year, this often happens some way out from the headland.

The other photo opportunities occur when they (Gannets) pass over head often only 10ft over my head. It's at times like this I'd be better off with the 70-200 on the camera as even the 300 is too long. Suppose the answer would either have another camera body (that would be nice) or to just concentrate on one type of action.

 

      

                      Robbie

Off to a good start ?

What I'm referring to in the title is Autumn, and going by the last  couple of weeks I hope it is. The weekend after I arrived back as I already have mentioned here, we went ringing petrels and then we had a couple of days away and we saw a cracking Minke Whale. During the time away on Mainland, Rory and Will found a Sykes Warbler at Burrafirth - a rather rare bird, only the 12th record for Britain and I missed it !

Two days later on the 18th August, I'd parked up by Haroldswick Pools and had just seen a juvenile Moorhen (nothing to shout about down south but a good bird here) and was waiting to try and photograph it. No pictures sadly, but as I waited, a small greenish warbler flew across the pools and into the line of wild rose bushes next to where I was parked. Fortunately for me, the bird didn't dive straight in to cover and so this enabled me to grab a few long distance shots of the bird which I saw straight away wasn't just another 'willow/chiff'. As soon as I looked at the pictures, I thought 'Arctic Warbler', however I needed to be sure. It was a further hour before the bird showed again and it was just as I was on the phone to Rory and telling him what I thought I'd got. Fortunately, it stayed visible for long enough (this time it was closer) to get a few more shots before it went into cover again. Some of these rare warblers are taking me out of my depth so to speak with regards to identification etc (although Arctic is fairly straightforward) so I was a little cautious about 'putting it out' ie phoning around to say it was there. Fortunately, Rory and Will (and others) getting to see it later confirmed my suspicions which was a relief.

Arctic Warbler

The following day, I had a few hours out with my friend Brydon. At Lamba Ness we had a Barred Warbler up by the radio mast which was a surprise for me considering the lack of vegetation there, maybe the bird had arrived during the previous night ? At Haroldswick, eagle eyed Brydon shouted to me to stop the car as he'd seen something. It turned out to be a Little Gull - minus its tail feathers which made it look quite odd. No apologies for the picture quality however !

Little Gull

Over the next few days, things picked up a bit with lots of Willow Warblers around, a juvenile Cuckoo and another Barred Warbler.

Willow Warbler

On the 24th August, I was on my way to Uyeasound doing the school run, when I got a phone call from Rory. If he'd phoned two minutes later he'd have not got hold of me due to the 'great divide' - ie one side of the hill getting an Orange signal and the other side being Vodaphone (I'm with the aforementioned) Fortunately he did and he asked if I could get to Haligarth asap as he thought he had a Paddyfield Warbler and he needed some pics if possible. Paddyfield' is another of those LBJs (little brown jobs) that can be extraordinarily difficult to i.d. if not seen well (no good asking me then !) so a picture would be of great benefit. Getting there quicker than I should have, the bird was playing hard to get and I/we were wondering if I'd get any shots at all. Fortunately for us, the bird flew in to another group of bushes and then did just what Rory said it would do if it went there, it climbed up an Angelica stem to feed on insects, so camera already focussed on it, hey presto !

Paddyfield Warbler

If you want a more detailed description is this bird you can go here

Last week, Rona and I took a walk to a headland and came across Shetlands, no probably the worlds first GANNET FARM ! There they were, almost 30 adult gannets in a cage and looking very healthy in deed ! See for yourself in the picture below.

Obviously I'm only joking, this is one of the downsides of salmon farms, these birds had somehow got into the cage - presumably after the fish - and were now trapped until they are released.

Whilst on the afternoon school run, we came across this Cormorant which had been fishing in Easter Loch. It had caught a flat fish that seemed far too big for its gape and spent ages trying to swallow it, after around 15 minutes it finally swallowed it.

Today (2nd Sept) I had a trip of to Skaw and spent some time there watching and photographing the Sanderlings. I've said it before these are probably my favourite wader and never get tired of watching them.

From there, I headed out towards Lamba Ness (as it was a beautiful still sunny day). Having only been in the car for a couple of minutes, I stopped to check a flock of around 20 birds sitting on the electric wires on the roadside. Slowing up, I then saw a Merlin was sitting right in the middle of them on the top of the pole. As I slowly drove past (to get the sun behind me) most of the pipits flew off, but the Merlin remained. Thankfully it wasn't too bothered by me or the car which enabled me to watch for quite a while and also get some shots. It was quite entertaining watching it, watch the pipits, buzzing around it.

Moving on to Lamba Ness, as I walked around the headland, I was sure I saw a fin out of the corner of my eye. I looked again for several minutes and finally thought I'd been seeing things. I was just about to leave when someway out, a fin broke the surface - it was a Minke Whale. I hurried back to the car to get the camera and long lens in case it came in close again. Sadly it didn't, but I did get to watch it for some time as it fed offshore in a totally flat calm, blue sea. Sometimes it's good enough just to watch................

      Robbie

Iceland - Day 7

Sunday 25th July

Well this was it, today we were starting our trip back south. Nine of us were to head for Akureyi and Ian and Elspeth were going to spend a few more days driving down the east side back to Reykjavik.

After breakfast, Sula and I took a last walk around the shoreline in front of the hotel. Another sunny morning and hardly a ripple on the water. Far out on the lake, a Great Northern Diver was calling and we could even hear the Whooper Swans calling on the other side of the lake which was miles away. The Slavonian Grebes were still around although again today they were a little further out. I don't think it was due to walkers as most days people walked the path and the birds weren't bothered by them.

 Slavonian Grebe

A little further along, we came across a pair of Whooper Swans with one cygnet. As we approached, they moved out to a distance where they felt safe and then continued to feed. The only estimate of breeding numbers in Iceland I have was for around 1986,  the number of pairs then were between 1500 and 2500. I wonder how many of these birds winter on Shetland ?

Whooper Swan and cygnet

Sula (my eldest) has already got the bug and loves taking pictures. Firstly with a very cheap digital camera and now with a better quality one. There are times when we go out that she uses my 40D - albeit under close supervision ! Today was one of those days and so she tried the 40D with the 500 - on the tripod of course! I'm glad to see that she's already developing 'an eye' for picture taking, when she puts her mind to it. When going through the images from Iceland, I was starting to think that the sensor was covered in dust spots, sometimes they were there sometimes not. I felt rather foolish when it dawned on me it was the dreaded Blackflies again.

A little further on, we came across a family of Red-breasted Mergansers. Again like the Whoopers, they moved out a little but came back in when we'd walked past. Time wasn't on our side today so we had to make the most of what was within distance as we walked along the path rather than being able to sit and wait.

Red-breasted Merganser

Returning back, it was time to pack the car and say goodbye to the hotel at Rekyahlid; it had been a fantastic place to stay and I'd love to go back there some day. On the journey back to Akureyri, we stopped once again at the waterfalls at Godafoss. This time we walked along the opposite side of the falls to get a different perspective.

Godafoss

 On the road again, we were nearing Akureyri. We decide to turn off and go and take a look at the 'turf farm' at Laufas. When I say 'turf farm', it is not a farm that produces turf, but rather farm buildings that are constructed out of turf. The large turf farm house was built between 1866 and 1870, but there are records of a church being there from 1047. The main frame work is of timber, with turf for the walls and roof. It was last occupied by a priest in 1936.

From the front

The back

Internal construction

The outside walls

Cutting the roof !

Time soon past and we had to head for the airport and drop off the car and check in etc. All of that went without a hitch and in what seemed like no time at all we were heading down the runway and leaving Akureyri behind. The first part of the flight was relatively clear of cloud and we had fine views down over the snow covered mountains as we headed south.

Arriving back in Reykjavik, it was a mad rush to get to the bus station for the journey over to Keflavik where we had a couple of rooms for the night. Thankfully Stuart had worked out the logistics of getting there from the bus station but as they were already at the station, we still had to find the station ! Fortunately for us, it wasn't that far to walk to but was still a bit frantic. As the flight the following day was early, we had to be up by four a.m. to allow us to leave at five. After a week of really nice weather, it had now turned cooler and was much cloudier with rain showers. Due to the early start, we turned in around 9.30pm.

Monday 26th July

Just minutes after 5am, the airport taxi took us too the airport for the first leg of our journey home. To say the flight back was uneventful would be a lie - as it was the day of Rona's birthday (my youngest). As we boarded, Catriona past one of the stewardesses a note - I didn't know what was on it, but had an idea. Around halfway through the flight the captain (whose name was Capt Bruce Dickinson) announced ' Good morning, I'd just like to say that we have a VIP on board today, her name is Rona Brookes and she is 8 today'. Rona crept under the seat with embarrassment ! Each time we travelled on a different mode of transport, we sang her happy birthday - taxi, plane, train, lift and bus ! Hopefully it was a birthday she won't forget in a hurry. For those who don't know (and we certainly didn't at the time) Capt Bruce Dickinson, is also the lead singer with the rock group Iron Maiden and in his 'spare' time, he is a commercial airline pilot - a man of many talents. On landing at Gatwick, Rona went and met him briefly in the cockpit.

Even though we were now back in the UK, it was going to a further two and half weeks before I'd be back up north again to Unst  - I was now looking forward to it ! We then had a week in Oxford and then I stayed on in the Cotswolds for a further ten days for a wedding.

 

Iceland was a fantastic trip and was everything I'd expected. As I said previously, it involved an awful lot of planning etc, so thanks again for Ian for organizing it and to Elspeth for wanting her birthday there in the first place.

       Robbie

Iceland - Day 6

Saturday 24th July

As I've mentioned previously, there is a huge 4X4 'culture in Iceland and given the terrain, quite rightly so. As well as the adventure tourism industry, just getting around in some parts of Iceland during the winter probably wouldn't be possible with out one. From small Suzuki jeeps right up to huge monster trucks there is a size and type to suit everyone. Just across the road from the hotel was a fuel station/supermarket where lots of the off roaders would call in. The picture below is of just one of average size which was there filling up as we going out for the day. I wouldn't want the bill for filling up the tank !

 
Today we were off to Husavik around one hour north of the hotel for a whale watching trip organized by Ian - it was a trip I'd been looking forward to ever since the trip was mentioned.

Once out of the village where we were staying, the road soon turned to a gravel road - but much better than the one we travelled on a few days previously. Even though the landscape was still pretty barren, there were now a few more hills.

Husavik was a nice mix of both being a working town and having attractions for tourists. Whale watching is obviously a big draw as there were quite a few companies offering trips out in seach of the 'gentle giants'. We were due to go out just before midday so there was time to have a wander around and also get a few pictures etc.

 - and this sort of 'graffiti' I don't mind !

I think that there was an eager anticipation by all on board as to whether we'd see and cetaceans today. Someone suggested that if none were seen, then you get an alternative date to go out - not much good for us as we would be driving back to Akureyi tomorrow and then flying on to Keflavik. Well the crew must be pretty confident when they offered this as, within minutes of leaving the harbour our first cetaceans were seen in the shape of 3 Harbour Porpoises (or Neesicks as they're called here in Shetland). My own experiences with them here in Shetland is that you have to be pretty quick with the camera as they only surface for a couple of seconds and then they can disappear for ages. Whether these animals were slower or on this particular day my reactions were quicker I don't know but I managed a number of shots while they were in the area.

Harbour Porpoise

Ever though there were quite a number of people on board, the boat we were on didn't feel too overcrowded - except when the animals were in front of the bow ! On these occasions, the skipper would position the boat side on to give more people a better view.

A boat similar to ours

Very shortly after this, we had our first sightings of two bigger whales - these were two Minkes  and were fairly close to the boat. Minkes are one of the commoner larger whales that are seen in the north Atlantic, certainly around Shetland anyway. These animals would surface for air 3 or 4 times and then dive for ages and it was anyones guess where, or how far away, they would surface again. I've seen a few off of Shetland but only once as close as these were.

Minke Whales

It wasn't just cetaceans we were seeing, there were also lots of birds around - if there is food for large mammals then you would presume that also there would be food for fish-eating sea birds. We numerous Fulmars, Gulls, Puffins and Skuas - mainly Arctic Skuas but also one or two Great.

Heading a little further out of the bay we past Puffin Island where there are normally tens of thousands of Puffins nesting and as we past, hundreds were wheeling around the island over our heads.

Moving off again, we had another sighting of fins breaking the surface, this time it was 3 White-beaked Dolphins. Despite being much larger than the porpoises we'd seen earlier, these animals were also very quick at surfacing and then diving again. It became a bit hit or miss as to where they would surface and also whether or not I'd got the camera pointing in the right direction. Our guide on the boat told us that more often than not, they would be quite inquisitive - even playful - when any boats were in the area, not much of a consolation for us as today they were not being 'co-operative'.

White-beaked Dolphins

After around three and a half hours we returned to the harbour, for me at least, it had been a great trip out. Back in Husavik, a festival had started and there were hundreds of folk around the harbour and on the streets.

As we left, there were still whale watching trips out on the bay, I then thought of those peoples anticipation and hopes for seeing the whales and dolphins just I had when we left the harbour earlier in the day.

Back at the hotel and after dinner, we took a walk in the pleasant evening sunshine; however, I forgot to put on the Avon stuff and was plagued by Blackflies for most of the walk. Despite this, it was a cracking evening with virtually no wind and the sun was still quite warm.

Cotton grass

 Looking back towards the hotel

                           Robbie

Iceland - Day 5

Friday 23rd July

Last night I had decided to try and have an early start and go back to the Laxa River and see the Harlequin ducks. Well, after only being in bed for around 5 hours, I got up at 4am to another sunny morning with the sun already well above the horizon.

It only took around 20 minutes to reach the parking place by the river and in the early morning light it looked rather moody but nice .

Shortly after leaving the car, a solitary Whimbrel stood on a small hillock and although it was totally aware of my presence, it didn't seem too bothered by me being there and just walked away casually.

Whimbrel

As soon as I reached the river, I saw a Harlequin' , this one was then followed by several others feeding in the torrents. I could have spent all day just watching these lovely little ducks without even taking a picture, so I decide to look for something a little different. The first picture below is taken using a shutter speed of only 1/4 of a second to try and convey a feeling of movement in the water, the problem then is hoping the bird doesn't move during the exposure. It was a pity that the water wasn't moving a bit faster but sometimes you can't have it all.

Returning back towards the car just before 8am, I stopped by a fast flowing stretch of water to play around with the long lens and slow shutter speeds. A couple of pics are below ............

1/2000 second @f5.6 ISO400

1/8th second @ f45 ISO 100

After returning back to the hotel for breakfast, I headed out again around the shoreline by the hotel. It was now mid morning and was starting to feel rather warm - to be honest it was probably only about 20 degrees, but by Shetland (or Iceland) standards it was ! Again I saw at least a dozen or more Slavonian Grebes but most of them were a little further out today and many of them were just resting on the water. I did manage to get one closer but it was then disturbed by a walker coming past.

I had intended to walk much further around the lake but for some reason a Redshank had decided that it didn't like me being there. Despite walking quite a distance from where it had first started calling, the bird didn't let up, I gave up and walked back towards the hotel. All I can say is that the bird must have had one heck of a territory !

Back nearer the village, I came across a family of fledged Redwings and also a resting Blackheaded Gull that was quite approachable.

Later on in the afternoon, I returned to the Laxa river with Ian as he wanted to get some video of the Harlequin ducks. I also got some more shots of the ducks plus some closeups of a Rednecked Phalarope. It was one of those situations when a good zoom would have been ideal as the birds were more often than not, too close. The camera bag that I used to fly to Iceland with (Lowepro Flipside 300), only takes my 500 + 1.4ex and the 40D with battery pack (plus spare batteries etc) - no room for a spare lens etc but the plus side of this is that it a neat small bag to carry around on a day to day basis when all I need is the kit mentioned above.

Rednecked Phalarope

 Sunset 11.40pm

                      Robbie