A somewhat wet and windy week on Shetland with the excellent Paul French produced some great birds ...
The stand-out bird in terms of good views was this Red-flanked Bluetail at North Roe on 6th October ... a day that was also memorable for its absence of rain ... the bird perched obligingly on a twig only a few meters away ...
... before flying a short way ...
... revealing the blue tail ... then perching in thicker twigs to reveal the flank and tail colours together ...
... not every bird was as showy as this one and unsurprisingly the Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler at Collafirth on 1st October was one case in point ... it lingered in a dense iris bed and sometimes moved through grassy tussocks to give obscured views ... and then performed several flight circuits of the small valley when the cinnamon underparts, rufous rump and white tips to the tail feathers showed well in the last few minutes before the heavy rain arrived ... it was admired by a fair crowd ...
... after arriving at Sumburgh on 30th September , a wander around the farm area produced Goldcrests and Bramblings and a warbler in the quarry was attracting some attention from the possibly over-enthusiastic birders ... we were on Shetland so it MUST be a Blyth's Reed , or was it ?
... no supercillium on front of the eye, too great a primary projection and emarginations extending only to P3 showed on the images and gave three final nails in the coffin of Blyth's ... it was a Reed Warbler ... but an educational bird nonetheless ...
... such was the level of expectation that birds that normally attract welcome attention hardly warranted a second look ... Twite were all over the place ...
... sub-species are always good though and Shetland Wren certainly did not disappoint ...
... T.t.zetlanicus ... a much darker and longer-billed form than the nominate race ...
A Great Grey Shrike was at Dale of Walls on 1st October ... while never giving very close views, it was constantly active ... having caught what looked like a shrew, it lardered the prey in some wire ...
... then immediately resumed foraging ...
... we all need a little luck and as we drove into Melby as the rain came down a Rustic Bunting was feeding on the side of the road ...
... hopping right out in the open ... we hardly got wet at all ...
... a small group of Common Redpolls were in some trees as we continued around Mainland Shetland ...
Before heading for the ferry which would take us onto Yell and then to Unst we ventured out to the far NW point at Esha Ness ... it was a truly wild morning with frequent showers coming through on the force 10 gale ... quite remarkably a Little Stint was feeding in some small pools ...
... and a single Snow Bunting flitted by the edge of the cliff ... several Ruff foraged and flew around ...
... and a faeroeensis Snipe kept low ...
... some Greylag Geese looked edgy against a dramatic backdrop of sea stacks ...
A putative Siberian Oystercatcher had been reported at Sandwick ... the tide was right in leaving no exposed beach and the small Oystercatcher flock was on a nearby hilltop ... the bird showed an increased amount of white in the closed wing but the nasal grooves were hard to assess as the gale buffetted us around ...
... it certainly had a brownish cast ...
Some Crossbills started to be reported and after waiting a while in the lea of the pine plantation at S.h.e. a female perched obligingly on a top branch ...
... later on a lovely male finally showed as it fed quietly among the lower branches ...
The headland at Skaw offered little shelter and a Red-throated Pipit there gave brief views among the tussocks ... a Lesser Whitethroat showed a brownish cast to the mantle - probably a blythi ...
... and a small number of Bonxies were still around ...
... a single juvenile Sanderling fed on the beach ...
At Halligarth a sheltered spot provided nice feeding for some common migrants and nice viewing for us !
... Spotted Flycatcher was confiding ...
... as was a female Redstart ...
The fields at Norwick near to Valyie were attracting birds among which was a flighty and elusive Little Bunting that would often fly over calling and disappear into deep vegetation ... it did eventually perch on a building just long enough to give some nice views ...
Ever-present were Shetland Starlings with their tantalising calls that seemed to mimic almost anything ...
After a few sightings of elusive Snow Buntings we found one in a small quarry - a lovely male of the nominate race ...
At Mossy Hill another of the seemingly ever-present species cavorted in typical Raven style ...
And on the choppy waters of Easter Loch a female Ring-necked Duck associated with a group of Tufted Ducks ...
... while out at sea in a sheltered bay there was a very distant Slavonian Grebe along with Black Guillemot ...
With our time on the islands running out we fruitlessly searched a pool at Gruness for a Buff-bellied Pipit that had been present earlier ...
... a dark grey-brown Continental Song Thrush perched among the rocks ...
... and a Chiffchaff fed out in the open on the short turf ...
