Essential supplies were picked up at Tesco's in Lerwick. Other major supermarkets, apart from the Co-op, are not available! Another quick stop to pick up the necessary bag of bird seed we always get to try and attract birds onto the gravel path in front of our accommodation.
Before even stopping at The Lodge I drove quickly to Funzi Willows where Paul Macklam had earlier found an Olive-backed Pipit. This proved to be very elusive and even though I'm pretty sure I had it in flight in failing light it was a quick view before it promptly disappeared. Despite searching a relatively small area for another 40 minutes I couldn't relocate it. The Slavonian Grebe was a bit more obliging if distant!
Returning to Houbie I stopped to admire the view and sunset before parking in front of my home for the week and unpacking the weeks supply of food and clothing before showering and setting off up the hill to the Community Centre where it was fish and chips night and where I'd arranged to meet Paul.
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| Leagarth House with The Lodge just visible below it |
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| The Lodge. Home from home. |
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| Sunset over Lamb Hoga |
Finally getting to bed I woke bleary eyed to find it still dark outside. I'd forgetten how late it gets light in these northern lattitudes - were actually 62 degrees north which is the same lattitude as Bergen in Norway. The first of several mugs of tea to kick start the system before breakfast was drunk sitting by the window checking the birds coming down to the seed I'd put out. I'd also forgotten how much colder it was up here this time of year compared to home and left the house to find there'd been an overnight frost. As always the first place we check in the mornings is the nearby Feal Burn and Feal plantation.
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| Feal Burn with the plantation at the top |
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| Feal plantation |
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| looking back down Feal Burn from the plantation |
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| Redwing Feal plantation |
Theres something slightly incongruous about seeing Yellow-browed Warblers flitting about on barren ground devoid of trees when they should be wintering in the lush forests of south east Asia. They're still scarce enough to be an exciting, if not expected, part of the bird-scape on Shetland in the autumn. One at Everland looked particularly lost as it substituted a verdant tropical tree for an upturned metal cattle feeder. A female Ring Ouzel was flushed from the nearby dung heap and promptly disappeared 'chack, chakking' into the distance.
A Shetland Wren looked more at home as it busily moved across and through a drystone wall. These photos show how much chnkier and darker Shetland Wrens are to their mainland counterparts and are of the race zetlandicus. The photos also show how the dark barring on the wings of this bird follow the imaginary line of the folded wing bones showing that this birds flight feathers all grew at the same time meaning it was born this year. An adult bird would have moulted and re-grown its flight feathers sequnetially so the dark bars wouldn't line up.
Unlike Fair Isle, Fetlar can't really be worked on foot. The birding sites are spread out at opposite ends of the island so some form of transport is necessary. Driving between the various sites often requires pulling over to the side of the road to check flocks of Golden Plover and Lapwing for something rarer. Using the car as a hide you can get quite close but step outside and they're gone over the next hill! One day there will be a Buff-breasted Sandpiper or American Golden Plover in with them. However, all there was this trip was a returning Grey Plover that thinks it's a Golden Plover. Apparently its been returning every autumn for the past three years.
Hope is what keeps you going when out birding looking for rarities. Hope, luck and making your own luck by being out in the field looking.
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| Grey Plover |
Tresta, the scene of past glories (see here ) is within walking distance and the daily routine became - Feal Burn, walk to Tresta and check the crofts and The Glebe. Check Papil Water for wildfowl and then make the return journey checking Feal once again before lunch.
You tend to forget, when you're used to birding back home, how relatively common species can be scarce up here. Grey Wagtail is one of those species and I was lucky enough to have one land in the road in front of me as I was beginning my morning stroll up to the start of Feal Burn. Even humble birds such as Brambling, Chaffinch and Siskin take on new meaning when you realise all the ones you see here are migrants and from Scandinavia.
Even the Chiffchaffs seen up here have probably migrated from Scandinavia and are always worth checking for Siberian. This one spent a few days in Feal plantation and was voraciously feeding on flies to fatten up before continuing its southerly course.
This one was so pale and brown looking I initially thought it could be tristis but the yellow in the supercillium was to prominent as was the slight yellow tinge to the breast. It certainly has some Scandinavian, if not Siberian, genes though and is probably an abientinus type. The photos show clearly how the background and light affect the look of the bird.
Checking the large flocks of Greylag Geese is always worthwhile as occasionally they can attract other species such as these Pinkfooted Geese that arrived midweek.
By Wednesday the winds had picked up and the driving rain had arrived. Birding was virtually impossible without getting either soaking wet or blown over. It was virtually impossible to pick out a small passerine in vegetation that was moving in time with 40 mph winds using binoculars. I've sung the virtues of thermal imagers in this situation before and this trip has been no different. They're in invaluable tool for picking up birds that would otherwise be almost impossible to find. You've still got to see it through binoculars to positively identify it but at least you know where to look!
The thermal proved its worth when Paul found a stunning Long-eared Owl at Funzi willows. He'd inadvertently flushed it and it landed in the mires. I went straight down but we couldn't find it again. The weather was appalling so we guessed it wouldn't go very far that night so I got up early the following morning and picked it up roosting on the ground at a base of a willow before it flew up onto a fence post and posed in the early morning sunshine. Probably some of the best views I've had of a Long-eared Owl.
With rare birds being found on Shetland Mainland and on nearby Unst it was hard not to leave Fetlar and go and twitch something but unless it was a bird I haven't seen before I'd decided beforehand that I'd stick it out and try and find a rarity myself. It makes for a far more relaxing if not frustrating trip rather than rushing from island to island.
Unfortunately I missed what was the bird of the week. Both Paul & I had been scanning Golden Plover flocks hoping for an American Golden Plover and on my final day, literally two hours before I had to get the ferry Paul found a beautiful juvenile at Funzi. I was at the top of Feal burn working the plantation for the second time that day when he broke the news but despite racing back to collect the car I missed it by a couple of minutes as it flew off with a small group of Golden Plover. Despite walking several fields where we thought it might have landed there was no further sign.
So what of the bird seed I put out every day?
What did it attract besides the usual House Sparrows, Starlings and Rock Doves?
A Woodpigeon........a different bird from the one in Feal plantation as that was an adult and this was a juvenile.
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| Yellow-browed Warbler in more usual setting, Feal plantation |
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| Twite |
An uneventful journey home saw me staying at the Sumburgh Hotel Friday nigt for the early morning flight to Edinburgh and the long drive back to Cheshire.
