SHETLAND! Part 3 Days 7-10

Day 7

Another quiet day, at least for rarities. After yesterday's fall there had clearly been a clearout and only about 10% of the previous day's robins and thrushes remained. The rubythroat had finally gone. A small low pressure system brought N - NE wind and it was overcast with occasional light rain. Highlights included a YBW, 26 barnacle geese (over the house), tree pipit, 3 slav grebes and a peregrine carrying a small wader, probably a dunlin. It was clearly a brambling year, with plenty of small groups about.

Adrian Kettle, founding member of the Hoswick Grass Appreciation Society

George Cross 2 - Bandanaman helpfully looks on

Day 8

A small to moderate arrival of redwings today. What had come in with them though? It had been an excellent autumn in the Northern Isles for little bunting and OBP and we'd already found one of the two. We headed north to Voe and had a poke about the gardens.

After a while with not much seemingly around, the four of us converged on a garden where a spotted flycatcher was showing. As we were watching it, Young George suddenly exclaimed, 'OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT'! We were all very impressed by this quick call made without a hint of hesitation. The bird had snuck onto the lawn in front of us and instantly flew with a second (mystery) bird. We had very brief views of it as it landed on a wire, before dropping out of sight into long grass, still inside the garden. Things were looking up!

We spent more than an hour trying to get better views and trying to confirm the identity of the 2nd bird which we suspected was another OBP. We had a couple of glimpses but even after permission from the homeowners to go into the gardens we couldn't refind them. Eventually I was summoned back to the car over the radio. It was time to move on. Reluctantly I started along the road towards the car but after a few paces I stopped. I radioed to indicate I'd be another 10-15 minutes as I wanted to walk back the long way to do a final check of the gardens.

As I rounded the corner the two pipits lifted off the ground and went into the lower branches of a conifer. They were both behaving, and calling, like OBP's, rather secretive with a liking for long grass with small conifers. Fieldcraft was now of utmost importance to avoid flushing them. I dropped to the ground and alerted the others. The rest went according to plan and soon we all had excellent views of one bird as it tail-pumped low down in a pine, as well as confirming the second as being of the same species. We were delighted. George had made an excellent find and the whole team worked hard to confirm the second bird's identity. These two were even twitchable with a number of birders travelling to see them later that afternoon.

With news of a Western Bonelli's warbler at Scalloway, we headed back south, feeling rather positive. On arrival it was apparent the warbler wasn't easy to see. There was an extensive area of gardens with mature sycamores to hide it. But after a couple of hours we played Western Bonelli's call and Baggers to his credit, got straight onto it. It showed reasonably well but didn't respond to the playback, remaining silent throughout.

In the evening we met up with about 10 other birders and had a curry in Lerwick. Baggers sported his trademark headgear and when we stopped to ask locals for directions their first response on seeing Garry in the car was an astonished, 'Is that a bandana??!'

It was an enjoyable night and although I didn't discuss the warbler's I/D with anyone, it did become apparent that no-one knew anything about its discovery and doubt grew in my mind about the certainty of its correct identification. After the curry I told the others we should go back for another look in case it was actually an Eastern but my suggestion was met with apathy. Baggers was more keen on seeing shelduck and snow bunting as we had started competing with the Sumburgh-based Boozy Birders in the trip listing stakes. In true Baldrick fashion however, I had a cunning plan!

Day 9

For the second time this holiday, drastic action was called for. I started a Birdforum thread, highlighting the possibility the warbler might be an Eastern. My evidence may have been flimsy but it had the desired effect in turning attention on the bird. We returned to the site armed with orientalis playback, and it responded with the same call! Local birder Phil Harris even relocated it from its call round the corner to where we were stood. The call was never easy to hear, and was only picked up by about half of the ten or so people present, though some of us heard it more clearly later on in nearby gardens.

With the bird now MEGA'd as EASTERN BONELLI'S WARBLER, birders started arriving and a crowd of perhaps 30-40 people assembled. The bird showed on and off but remained stubbornly silent and was now wise to the playback. Paul Harvey turned up with some rather hi-tech-looking sound recording gear but the warbler wouldn't play ball.

I couldn't believe I'd had a tick!! The warbler went on to stay for another couple of days and was heard again by one or two experienced observers but in general it remained silent. I learnt it had actually been found by an old friend of mine who had heard what sounded like a YBW and followed it, only to find the Bonelli's. He retracted his original I/D, believing he had in fact originally heard a yellow-browed.

We drove to Hoswick where we had excellent views of a SIBERIAN STONECHAT, found just that morning. All too soon our holiday was at an end and we caught the evening ferry back to Aberdeen.

Day 10

We journeyed home via Norfolk to see the Steppe grey shrike, my fourth, but my first (in fact THE first) for this county. It was the seventh BB rarity of the trip and the 4th MEGA, and it showed like a dream. We went home very happy. Scilly V Shetland? No contest, I'm afraid!

SHETLAND! Part 2 Days 4-6

With the SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT still just down the road it would have been rude not to continue to pay our respects, especially as it was now somewhat easier to see. The storm was building but this spot was sheltered so it was worth a visit regardless of what the weather was doing. Consequently we popped in on days 4 and 5 of our trip, before it departed overnight, leaving a handful of long faces among those who had travelled up for it on our Day 6 (8th October).

Day 4 saw us visit Channerwick after breakfast. With little shelter from the blustery wind it was difficult getting decent views of anything put up. There were few birds, but one that did get up was a big grey warbler, clearly one of the two barred warblers present here the previous day. There was also a handful of blackbirds and song thrushes that were new in.

We checked out Boddam where as well as finding something good the previous day I had also lost something... my iphone. I tried to re-trace my steps but it was negative news - the phone wasn't showing. I had dipped, though I found a yellow-browed, and yesterday's little bunting popped up in flight only, to say a brief hello and offer its condolences. Maybe I'd lost the bloody phone at Veensgarth...it couldn't have been at the rubythroat garden, surely, as someone would have found it and put news out?



To keep my mind off the lost phone (which incidentally is still lost) I had to keep birding. We went back to Sumburgh where a small fall of birds had taken place, mainly thrushes, but with a couple of robins and a few goldcrests. Birds were coming in and they were from the east. Hopefully the rare stuff would follow.

A few bits and pieces kept us entertained - a long-eared owl sheltered in grass beside a stone wall at Sumburgh; a dozen or so long-tailed ducks were in evidence nearby, and a slav grebe popped up at Loch Spiggie. We soon headed up the west coast to St Ninian's Isle where at least 3 great northern divers and a few bramblings were located.

The weather was seriously deteriorating now and it was no longer possible to look for birds. We'd resorted to doing more and more from the car but eventually we threw in the towel and headed for home. Only I didn't quite throw in the towel, doing the odd scan of the bay opposite from the front door while the others set about cooking or putting their feet up.

Suddenly I spotted something just beyond the white surf, between the troughs, about 200 yards out. 'LEACH'S PETREL!' I hollered and the others joined me. To my surprise they all got onto it, perhaps because it was making slow progress in what must have been 40-50mph winds (gusting possibly to 100 at times). An hour's seawatch then ensued, and we were rewarded with a continuous passage of whimbrels and a couple of little gulls. Hugh Harrop turned up after hearing about the Leach's (a scarce bird up here apparently) and moved on to the point. Shortly afterwards we heard the petrel was still lingering off the point and in fact it (or another) was reported again there the following morning.

Day 5

A quiet day in terms of rare birds as we continued to battle the elements. The wind was still as strong but was now ESE, eventually turning NE. It rained for most of the morning but we didn't slack and continued to kick every ditch and patch of bushes we came across. One of the first birds we saw in our rather modest garden while it was still getting light, was a fieldfare. It was the only one of the whole trip, surprisingly, yet further south at Sumburgh, thrushes were arriving in much larger numbers to the previous day - mainly song thrushes with smaller numbers of redwings and blackbirds, and lots of robins, too. 3+ yellow-broweds were in the burn at Geosetter, with one particularly showy bird there, and we came across ring ouzel, whinchat, jack snipe, woodcock, black redstart and short-eared owl throughout the day. Oh yeah, we saw a rubythroat, too. Again.

Day 6

Back at base at close of play on day 5 the big news was that a probable PG Tips had been found at Quendale. We'd seen very poor photos on Twitter and had all expressed doubts regarding the I/D. In fact we all agreed it looked more like a lancey, and this sentiment was echoed later on Birdforum when pics were posted there. I couldn't see the bird being a Tips, yet there was nothing on the photos to stop it being an aberrantly heavily streaked grasshopper warbler. The finders stuck to their guns on the I/D, believing the bird to be too large and dark-tailed for a lancey. Another crew who'd seen the bird before it got dark had also had this impression. Whatever it was, we really wanted to see this Locustella!

We arrived at first light to find no-one else present. We worked the burn, kicking up 4 or 5 reed warblers (trying unsuccessfully to turn each into a Blyth's) and after a couple of hours' searching we found the Locustella. We were joined by other birders but nailing the I/D was tough on flight views. I thought the bird looked small and so did most of the others present. Then Andrew got a record shot of the bird in flight. The tertials looked good for lancey and it was rung in as such. Soon afterwards the bird landed in the open below a fence. I was quick with the camera and grabbed some record shots. The bird scarpered but I had evidence on my screen it was a LANCEOLATED WARBLER -  those tertials didn't belong to a gropper, and no one was in any doubt now.

By now Baggers was beside himself. He needed lancey and it was to be his 500th BOU bird. Everyone was happy with the I/D but it was only when the bird flew to a small iris clump then proceeded to show in the open on the edge that everyone got the views (and photos) they were after. It was smiles all round, particularly from the original finder(s). There was no shame in not making the right call the previous day as their views (and pics) simply hadn't been good enough, especially as they were of a wet, bedraggled bird in poor light. This is the reality of field identification of many elusive birds (particularly skulking, flighty warblers) and anyone who thinks otherwise probably spends most of their time on their computer, where the birds are easy to identify in photos. In the field at the time, it's not always quite that easy!

At least it WAS in Britain this time, Garry!

Chris Griffin finally nails his superb find with the camera

celebratory drinks at Quendale

It was a nice day by late morning, sunny and settled, with a light north-east wind. We had bagged 2 'SIBERIAN' CHIFFCHAFFS earlier in the quarry along with a blue tit - normally a Shetland rarity, but that day 17 were seen throughout the archipelago, clearly (given the winds and supporting cast) Northern birds from Scandanavia.

We headed off to Virkie where Andrew popped in to Rob Fray's to see some moth or other. Baggers and Young George stayed in the car stuffing their faces with pies and pasties. Drastic action was called for at this point - I'd have to look for some birds, so I worked the famous line of willows, then the ditch behind Rob's place. Eventually something decent got up ahead of me - a GREAT GREY SHRIKE! I'd left my radio in the car again, and had to go back to get the others. They all eventually saw it but it remained mobile and was generally distant.

I spent the next hour or so working more ditches and fence lines. I found a hedgehog in a ball, and a few jack snipe got up. A nearby pipit initially claimed as an OBP turned out to be a tree pipit. More woodcock were seen that day and more yellow-broweds. Most other birds had been frightened off by Baggers' T-shirt (yes, THAT T-shirt). Or maybe it was his cheesy grin which was still stretching from ear to ear!

In Part 3 there are more good birds and Garry commits further crimes against fashion. Will we stay the course or get chucked off the islands by traumatised residents? And could I really have been jammy enough to get a 'lifer' up there on this particular week? Standby for the final gripping instalment in Part 3!



The George Cross - a unique way of traversing a large Shetland ditch involving a long rest in the middle, typical of today's birding yoof who wear low-slung trousers to be cool. Only joking George!

Geosetter Burn - always smells rare (except last year when I dipped a thick-billed warbler there!)

The local twite sheltering from the gale force wind, while Andrew gives them a good grilling

not everything on Shetland that looks rare IS rare!

SHETLAND! Part 1 Days 1-3

Shetland is quite simply THE best place in Britain to see rare birds. Every year on Birdforum there is a thread comparing its birds with those turning up on Scilly. Every year (almost) there is no contest. During the month of October, Scilly was the traditional holiday destination for birders in the eighties and nineties. Now numbers of visiting birders have dropped off, as the islands have priced themselves out of the market whilst delivering fewer good birds. It's a viscious circle, with fewer visitors resulting in fewer rare birds found, which in turn puts off more birders from visiting. Shetland however is becoming increasingly popular and a similar process applies in reverse.

I did Shetland in the spring of 1998 and had a week on Fair Isle in 2002. This was to be my first Autumn trip based on Shetland mainland. And so it came to pass that on the evening of 2nd October I was picked up at home by Andrew Lawson (hereafter known as Marcus just to piss him off) and in the company of George Kinnard (hereafter known as Young George or George the Younger) and celebrity birder Gary Bagnell (hereafter known as Baggers) we headed north in search of feathered waifs and strays that would hail from the far off land of Siberia - or so we hoped.

Day 1

The morning of 3rd saw us scouring the scoter flocks off Blackdog near Aberdeen. With no obvious surfers present we headed to the Ythan Estuary where a good variety of waders and wildfowl kept us entertained. Baggers found a Slav grebe and the stakes were upped further when we found a rather  elusive yellow-browed warbler on the north side on the edge of the Sands of Forvie nature reserve. A good start to the trip but we wanted those scoters so headed back South and tried again, this time off Murcar Golf Course. 

We scrutinised the distant bobbing dots on the water and after some time Marcus picked out a male SURF SCOTER. Nice! We closed down the distance and I eventually got some rather poor record shots. Well, it was about a third of a mile out! After prolonged observation it became apparent there was a female-type in attendance - an educational bird at that range, sporting a compact look when compared to the neighbouring velvet scoters, along with a squarer head shape and less concave head and bill profile. Job done. We left feeling satisfied and headed for the boat. Things were really looking up. Dan Pointon had just found a rubythroat about 3 miles from where we staying on Shetland. Thanks Dan, that would do nicely as a starter!

f/imm surf scoter

pair surf scoters

Day 2

It was an uneventful crossing on which for some reason I awoke at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep. On arrival we went straight to Levenwick for the SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT which was still present. Now to say this bird was a bastard to see would be an understatement. In fact it took me nearly 7 hours waiting to get a view and it rained the whole time. Luckily my waterproofs held out and we then had the luxury of a car ride as far as Tingwall Airport where a juv PALLID HARRIER was showing, often hunting around the runway. From there we returned to Levenwick and stuck it out until dusk by which time we must have been there about 9 hrs in total. All this for a bird I've seen twice before in Britain. But then a rubythroat isn't just any bird, now, is it?

 

 

Day 3

With a big storm approaching the wind started to get up on day 3 - a freshening SSW blow which gradually moved round to a southerly. We were becoming increasingly excited as the storm would bring SE gales, conditions sure to bring in good birds. The price we would pay for this would be a couple of days where the weather would be extreme enough so as to be 'unbirdable'; but for now we could get out into the field. We headed again to Levenwick where again we struggled to see the star bird. We were spread out around a garden with three vantage points that gave observers a chance of a glimpse. But when around lunch time we realised there had been no sightings for some two hours or so it was time to question whether it was even still in the same garden or not. We needed a break and repeated our move of the previous day, heading again for the PALLID HARRIER at Tingwall. This gave similar views to those of the previous day but this time there was an added bonus nearby - a HORNEMANN'S ARCTIC REDPOLL at Veensgarth.

Arctic redpoll race hornemanni (prob 1st wint f), Veensgarth

The redpoll was duly collected though it was considerably less 'classic' than the only other I'd seen, at Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Some people leaving as we arrived remarked on this and I too initially had doubts. My first view of it came when I put it up with two mealies round the back of the willows - it looked the same size as them! But it did have the distinct contrasting golden-buff hood so characteristic of 1st winter Hornemann's and it seems likely it's just a small one after all, rather than an exilipes as some of us had started to consider.

We were still after that second rubythroat fix and when the news filtered through it had been refound in another garden half a mile or so from the original one, it was with renewed optimism we headed back South to Levenwick. Here, after a bit of a wait, we had slightly better views but birders were tightly packed in at the bottom of the drive and it was difficult to be in the best place for viewing.

We headed off and decided to check Boddam. We'd done enough twitching and it was time we started to find our own birds. We split up and I left the road, heading up a short track which came to an end just before some houses. What took me up that path I'm not sure but it was a good move. Near the end, a small bird came out of the long grass and circled round behind me. It didn't call but it looked like a small bunting!! Luckily it landed on the path 30 - 40 yards behind me and I raised my bins. A little chestnut face met my gaze and I thought I could even just make out an eye-ring. A LITTLE BUNTING!  A good find for so early in the trip, I knew the others would want to get a look at this. I'd left my radio in the car and found to my dismay my phone battery was dead. Luckily Young George was approaching along the road and I signalled to him there was something good on the path. Within minutes all 4 of us had converged and had good views. We put out the news and as a few birders (filthy twitchers!) started arriving, we headed south with a new-found confidence. What else was out there still to be found was anybody's guess. 

Little bunting, Boddam (photo Paul Hawkins)

Little bunting, Boddam (JH)

We spent the rest of the day working various sites near Sumburgh and seeing a few noteworthy birds including great northern diver, YBW, merlin, jack snipe, barnacle goose, arctic tern and brambling. Then it was back to our (somewhat cramped) digs at Sandwick for a relaxing evening and speculation on what the coming weather might bring in.

Would Premiereship twitcher Baggers be caught off-side for a rarity down south? If there was a fall to remember the next day would it be Scandanavian migrants or Baggers coming off worse after taking on a barbed wire fence? Or would the only productive winds here be those originating from Marcus? And would being with three ol' codgers talking about the good old days eventually drive George the Younger insane and cause him to give up birding for good? To be continued...

 

Ghostly Blonde Brock Shock and a Bat Extravaganza

 I only have time for a quick write-up but here are some pics from an epic night catching bats of several species during a swarming survey – we worked from dusk through til around 4am and caught something like 170 bats of nine species. I didn’t get home 'til 6.15am! But the biggest surprise came on the way back, when I had a glimpse of a most unusual mammal disappearing into roadside vegetation – it appeared to be a ‘golden’ or albino badger! Just wish I had seen it for longer, my tired eyes having been slow to pick up on it crossing the road. But I definitely wasn’t hallucinating. Just minutes later I slammed on my brakes to avoid a fox. Had this have been a weird colour I would have been questioning my eyesight but it looked pretty regular!

 



Above from top: Brandt's, Bechstein's & Natterer's bat





soprano pip

Next outing the following weekend was another one for bats. I really have done a lot of bat stuff this year. And so far this autumn it's been mainly at the expense of birding, though there has been little in the way of temptation, with only one big bird (masked shrike) managing to draw the masses.

 

I didn't go for the shrike and the day it was found I was checking bat boxes at Southey Wood. It was a still, murky day brightened up by the sound of a raven passing over (still very scarce in the county though less so in this particular corner of it on account of breeding birds just over the nearby Northants border), and we moved from tree to tree checking on the occupants of some 50 bat boxes in the wood. The expected soprano pipistrelles were found but I was really hoping for a Leisler's. I was in luck. Around 30 boxes into the check, a pair of these 'lesser noctules' were pulled from a box. Twice the size of the pips and clearly noctule-like but a little smaller with drabber, less silky fur, this duo provided with me first close-up views of Leisler's, my 13th bat species this year. 

Leisler's bat

Birds, Bats, Bugs & Butterflies

The Mid-Summer Lull? What’s that? The few weeks between the two main migration periods can be a quiet time for birders, but not if you’re into other forms of natural history. It’s been a few weeks now since my last post but plenty has been happening!

THE BIRDS

Rarest bird I've seen recently has been a BLACK-WINGED PRATINCOLE on the Ouse Washes. This bird has been tracked down the east coast and everywhere it has been erratic and unpredictable in its appearances. So too in Cambs, and it was only on my second attempt that I saw it. I waived the 5 mile round walk in favour of a 50 yard one to and from my viewpoint on the other side of the washes. It was more distant, but all the features were visible.

 

BLACK-WINGED STILTS have had an incredible year with successful breeding at multiple sites. One was just half an hour from home (assuming this was the actual breeding site, must try to find out) so after the first pratincole attempt I dodged the thunderstorms and headed to Cavenham Heath where I saw the whole stilt family – both parents and 4 juveniles. Awesome stuff.

Two of Britain’s most elusive birds breed in Cambs and I was lucky enough to see both this summer. Singing quail regularly occur within a few miles of my home, but I’ve never seen them, until this year! Persistence paid off with sightings of 2 different individuals (one was actually in Herts). Corncrakes are also shy and retiring but I joined a trapping session at the Nene Washes with the RSPB and we got lucky. We spent 2.5 hrs working a stretch of overgrown bank making lots of noise and eventually herded no less than 8 into the traps. The best catch this year apparently and half were wild born birds – a single juvenile and a female with 2 chicks, the latter 2^nd generation wild corncrakes. With the releases now over, they’re on their own, but it’s great to see successful breeding taking place.

common quail

 

BATS

I joined a couple of harp trapping sessions and among the selection of pips and Daubenton's were a couple of rarer bats – a female whiskered and a well-hung male NATHUSIUS'S PIPISTRELLE. The latter species is the subject of a national survey this year. Though it was only discovered in Britain in the nineties it is now thought to be so widespread it has been recorded from almost every English county and has an affinity for large water bodies. It is a migrant, probably most numerous in the autumn but there appear to be resident populations too and some which hibernate here which may have travelled from the continent. A recent ringing recovery of a Somerset-rung Nathusius' was made in Holland! This particular bat had very large swollen 'bits' so was in prime breeding condition. The bat regulars got rather excited by his inflated genitalia – oo er, missus! 

whiskered bat enjoying the joke we'd just told it

Nathusius's pipistrelle

BUGS

I rarely show too much interest in anything smaller than a butterfly but a few interesting bugs caught my attention during the period. One is a tiny mayfly, not more than a few mm long, which landed on my hand one evening while I was watching the stilts at Cavenham. I fancied it might be something new to science and thought about naming it Hanlon's Flying Fish Mayflything – see the resemblance from the photo? (to a flying fish, not to me). It turned out to be Caenis horaria, certainly a little beast I've never noticed before!

Violet ground beetle

golden-bloomed grey longhorn Agapanthia villosoviridescens



Caenis horaria (photo by Lee Gregory)

BUTTERFLIES

Since last year strange things have been happening in the butterfly world. There has been a remarkable influx of long-tailed blues (some staying to breed) and this year a colony of maps were discovered in Dorset. A meadow fritillary was recently seen near Milton Keynes and gorganus (Continental) swallowtails invaded the south coast in 2014 and also appear to have bred. Many of these are likely to be the result of releases from captivity but not all. The highlight for many has been an unprecedented influx of (undoubtedly wild) SCARCE or YELLOW-LEGGED TORTOISESHELLS, continental butterflies which recently colonised Finland and have only been recorded in the UK once previously. They appeared this year for the first time in Holland, in their hundreds. After reading about this I suddenly remembered seeing a couple of reports of large tortoiseshells in East Anglia earlier in the day and remembering they were very similar in appearance I tweeted the staff at Minsmere raising the possibility that their 'large tort' might be something rarer! The following day they checked photos and saw the butterfly again – it was a scarce! More east coast sightings followed but the Minsmere individual had disappeared by the following day when I headed up to Breydon for the great knot. The wader it turned out had departed and I found myself just short of Norwich wondering where to go.

As it turned out I was just 10 miles from Costessey, where another of this species had been identified the previous day. But being just 2 miles from the site of a mass release of butterflies during a funeral the previous week, the possibility of a wild origin had been 'written off' by many, including me. But with more turning up around the coast it started to dawn on me that the release may have just been a coincidence.

I headed to Costessey and after an hour or so of searching, relocated the tortoiseshell, which proceeded to sit up on a tree trunk for the best part of an hour. A few locals managed to twitch it and it was eventually seen by around 50 people, most of which had turned up on spec hoping for a sighting. It would have been seen by more had the butterfly stuck around but it soon headed off towards the large pond nearby and despite further searching, was never seen again. For now the sightings of scarce torts has died down but I don't think this is the last we'll see of this species in the UK.

scarce tortoiseshell

scarce tortoiseshell