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| Olive-backed Pipit |
I’m told that if you go to Shetland for a week’s birding in Autumn you can expect at least one weather wipe out day – ours was Monday! The clue to the average strength of the wind is the lack of natural trees. I would guess the wind speed during our week averaged around 20-30mph peaking at 60-70 mph. The lack of natural cover basically means there is no where to hide from the weather and when it rains in these winds the rain comes down horizontal and sandblasts your face – probably good for the complexion but not for birdwatching. Monday then was essentially a complete wipe out with 60 -70 mph winds most of the day and torrential stinging rain. We did manage to see two Red Grouse from the minibus but that was pretty much it.
On Tuesday morning we packed the car and headed generally south towards our base for the remaining 4 days of the holiday, Sumburg hotel on the south coast of the mainland adjacent to the airport. With no serious rarities to visit on route, apart from a failed attempt to locate a King Eider, various stops still generated a list of birds that would have graced any day birding at home. The first of several Merlins we would see during the week was spotted by Jeremy, small numbers of Pink Geese flew overhead, a solitary Brent Goose bobbed around lazily in a loch and a few Twite on fence wires kept us entertained.
On route we parked at the attractive Quendale Water Mill. The mill was built in 1867 and was in operation until 1948 grinding the crofters grain from a very wide surrounding area. From the mill we had a very pleasant hour or so walk up to an old quarry. Migrating Wheatear were busy in their normal modus operandi hunting ground insects from the fencing. Siskins were drinking from a water trough at the mill when we returned.
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| Quendale Water Mill |
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| Wheatear |
Come late afternoon we arrived at the picturesque Sumburg hotel; the former laird’s home built in 1867.
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| Sumburg Hotel |
Jeremy and I went on a predinner walk on the costal path outside the hotel looking for Purple Sandpipers. We, i.e. Jeremy, soon located a single bird standing precariously on the storm swept rocks seemly without a care in the world. They are very distinctive and different from the other species of sandpiper it is possible to see in the UK, appearing very stocky and large, which is quite lucky given their habit of perching on rocks that are being lashed with wave after wave of rough foamy water. They are mainly dark grey above and whitish below with a downcurved orange and black beak and short bright orange legs. They are mainly a winter visitor to rocky coast but one or two pairs do sometimes breed in Scotland.
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| Turnstone |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
After the traditional daily list update plus beer with the rest of our group in the bar, we sampled the three course delights on offer in the restaurant during a very sociable and soporific dinner. Dave told us that he was planning a return trip to Unst the following day as this was where the rarities were now concentrated.
Wednesday morning dawned wet but birdable and after a hearty cooked breakfast we set off on the ferry/Yell dash/ ferry trip to Unst on the northern tip of the UK for what turned out to be the best birding day of the holiday.
On arrival we headed towards the beach where a rare Citrine Wagtail was known to be associating with a flock of Pied Wagtails. Citrine Wagtails are widespread and fairly common over much of Asia but are much rarer in western Europe. They winter in South Asia, often in highland areas. The Colins bird bible reports it as a 2 star rarity equating to one or a few records a year. We scoped the beach from a raised bank quite some distance from the flock of Wagtails and soon found the Citrine, a UK life tick for me, jumping up and down catching flies. It was a first winter bird, i.e hatched this spring. Breeding males are spectacular and unmistakable with a bright lemon yellow head and body and contrasting black collar. Juveniles have that same cheek pattern but are dingy greyish overall without yellow tones. All plumages have very conspicuous white wing bars. In truth the bird was too distant for photos and if we had been on our own we would have certainly tried to get a little closer.
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| Very ropey record shot of distant Citrine Wagtail |
We relocated a short distance away from the beach to a garden hedge where a Marsh Warbler had been reported. There are three very similar warblers that are found from Spring to Autumn in the UK, the very common Reed Warbler and the much rarer Blyth’s Reed Warbler and Marsh Warbler. Singing birds in Spring are easy to tie down. The common Reed Warbler has a rather discord churring song. The Marsh Warbler is a master mimic imitating other species it hears both in the summer in Europe and the winter in Africa. I once heard one doing a passable imitation of a gull! Blyth’s Reed warbler also impersonates other birds but its main song is slow and repetitive punctuated with scales and whistles. Silent autumn birds are much harder to tie down and the Unst Marsh Warbler was the subject of great debate and much peering at subtle feather features on photos over dinner during the week before it was finally tied down by much better birders than me as being none other than a common Reed Warbler!
Reed Warbler masquerading as a Marsh Warbler
A smart looking very mobile Lesser Whitethroat feeding in the same hedge was a new bird for our weeks list.
The Shetland rain was never far away but we very motived to keep birding and next moved a little bit further up the track to try and tie down a Little Bunting that had been seen earlier. The Little Bunting breeds across the far north-east of Europe to the Russian far east and migrates to the subtropics of northern India and Southern China for the winter. It is a rare vagrant to western Europe with Colins rating it as a 1 start rarity equating to an annual vagrant in some numbers They are, at least to my eye, very attractive small birds with a heavily streaked brown back and white underparts with fine dark streaking. A chestnut face, black crown stripes, a white eye-ring, and a fine dark border to the rear of its chestnut cheeks all add up to make them very easy on the eye.
We eventually saw the bunting in the middle of a rainstorm associating with a mixed flock of other birds. It was alternating between feeding on what appeared to be a seeded wildflower patch and resting in the hedge. Almost immediately a Little Bunting was seen much further up the path so we strongly suspected that there were in fact two present.
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| Little Bunting enjoying the Shetland downpour! |
While trying to locate a Yellow-browed Warbler a little further down the hedge I heard someone say Bluethroat and I manged to get a quick glimpse of it in the bins before it disappeared into vegetation in an adjacent field and was not seen again while we were there. So here is a picture of one I took earlier!
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| Bluethroat - obviously not in Shetland as it is not raining! |
We were scoping the hedge to see what else we could find when a loud shout of “OBP!” came from behind us and we watched a Pipit fly over our heads and land in the wildflower patch, OBP being short for Olive Backed Pipit, a Collins 2 star rarity. After a few moments the bird did a cameo on a somewhat distant spade handle allow us to see its features clearly and grab a few rainy shots. This is the fourth of these little gems I have seen following two that Jeremy and I saw in Wells Woods in Norfolk a number of years ago and one I saw in Cornwall in the Spring.
Now at this point a shout went up that had us all in hysterics and that was much repeated and laughed over during the rest of the week. A guide was trying to get one of his tour party on the Pipit giving him instructions as to where it was without success. He eventually resorted to the now legendary location phrase ….
“Its on the spade handle you Tw*tt!”
As an aside, and I sh*t you not, there is a village on Shetland called ….. yes you’ve guessed it!!
Unst was certainly living up to its reputation as a rarity hotspot and our visit delivered the kind of bird laden Shetland experience we were hoping for.
On the way back we stopped at a rather unpromising looking neglected walled garden which had history as a very rare Pallas’ Grasshopper Warbler had been there a year ago. The best we could find, however, was a hyperactive Goldcrest darting in and out of the vegetation. Dave noticed a Common Rosefinch briefly on a wall behind us to round off a fantastic days birding.
To be continued …..
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