Fair Isle 2026

Our long anticipated annual trip to Fair Isle started at 1 am with me picking Jason up from his house and driving through the night to Edinburgh airport for the 6.50 flight to Sumburgh. From there we caught s taxi to Tingwall and, for a change, the Airtask flight to Fair Isle was on time. The number of times we've been delayed due to bad weather or mechanical issues is incredible and surely the Shetland Islands Council can set up a more resilient system for these outer islands that rely on air transport more than any other form of transport!

Steve Holgate met us at the airport with our packed lunches ready for us to start birding but we opted to go back to the Obs first and get our wellies and wet weather gear on. 

It's very much a matter of luck whether or not your stay on Fair Isle coincides with good birding weather. Our arrival didn't! One of the highlights of the first few days was an American Pipit (Buff-bellied) found by a tour group on their last day on the island. My 1st on Fair isle but my 6th overall in the UK.

American Pipit twitch

A good start to our trip but there were slim pickings elsewhere. Despite covering huge amounts of ground we struggled to find any new birds but did catch up with the long staying Common Rosefinch and Barred Warbler at Burkle. The latter proving surprisingly elusive! 

Common migrants were thin on the ground and it took us into mid week before we saw our first Blackcap. There were enough birds to keep us occupied though and Alex found a superb autumn Marsh Warbler in the over grown jungle of a garden at Setter. Although elusive and not giving protracted views it occasionally perched up long enough to get all the salient identification features.

Birds were appearing in dribs and drabs. An unfortunate Water Rail seen in the swampy garden at Chalet was unfortunately picked up dead a couple of days later. A reminder of how dangerous an undertaking migration is for some of these birds

Similarly a newly arrived garden Warbler at The Haa looked completely knackered and fluffed up sat in a Rosa hedge.

We were scratching around for new birds despite the hours in the field. A Black Redstart in South Raeva, a few Jack Snipe, very small numbers of commoner phyloscs and the lingering American Pipit, Common Rosefinch and Barred Warbler and a handful of Common Redpolls were the sum of our endeavours. Still, the weather remained good if not a bit windy at times but we were beginning to wonder if we'd spend a week on Fair isle without seeing a Yellow-browed Warbler. The ubiquitous Siberian sprite thats been a feature of our autumn trips. We did add Black-tailed Godwit to our Fair Isles lists though! 

Common Redpoll

Luckily AW Tom found one a few days before we left but it remained uncharacteristically elusive in its preferred small garden at Field.

Finch numbers were also uncharacteristically low with a few Siskin being seen every day and a small group of Linnets hanging around with the resident Twite. The main influx of Brambling hadn't arrived yet and we only saw two all week. The same with thrushes. One Blackbird in Burkle was the sum of our winter thrush totals for the week.

Above and below: Siskin

Linnet

Aboe and below: Twite

It was great to see Rob Hunton and Andy Bunting from Spurn who were staying as guests of Alex and Jonnie. The Obs is a fantastic place to stay and the food is superb. All the staff are really friendly and Steve & Ruth run the place with a smile and clockwork precision. The housekeeping and kitchen staff are superb and the ornithological staff are brilliant and we had some good laughs in the bar in the evenings.

South Light

The Obs viewed from Vaasetter

Ragged Robin

Fair Isle Starling

Me and Jase near Sheep Rock

Sheep Rock

Oat 'stooks' at Quoy cut to make traditional Fair Isle chairs using the straw to weave the seat bases.

Our last day dawned with a tinge of sadness to be leaving  - especially as the wind was supposed to be switching to the east. Ideal conditions for rarities! We did manage a quick Little Bunting before having to catch our plane to Tingwall and then from Sumburgh to Edinburgh. Sure enough no sooner had we arrived back in Cheshire the news broke of an Eye-browed Thrush and lanceolated Warbler being found on Fair Isle! 

We'll be back next autumn and have already booked our rooms in the Obs. 

10. Our last morning in Malaysia. Blyths Frogmouth and a very special Kingfisher

We were both up ear packing our bags ready for the return flight later in the evening back to the UK before loading them into Raymonds car and heading off to a fairly urban site he had for Blyth's Frogmouth. Another bird Fred had heard buy not see non previous trips to Asia. This small frogmouth has a wide range occurring all across S E Asia.

We could hear Blyth's Frogmouth responding to playback calls but couldn't see them. Even the thermal didn't help pick anything up apart from roosting passerines.  As dawn began to break we thought we'd missed our chance but suddenly a shout from Raymond somewhere deep in the jungle off the path had us following his torch beam to where he stood. He turned the torch round and there, sat on a branch only a few metres away was a Blyth's Frogmouth! Success! 

We birded the track for a while picking up Rufous Collared Kingfisher and a surprise Rhinoceros Hornbill. A bird Raymond said didn't usually occur in the area.

Buoyed up by this success we moved a couple of hundred metres up the track to a small stream surrounded by clumps of bamboo and low vegetation where Raymond said a Rufous-backed Pygmy Kingfisher visited to fish. This vibrant Kingfisher, although not particularly rare, is a stunning little bird and is probably one of the most beautiful Kingfishers. Sure enough within an hour we heard one calling and it suddenly appeared before grabbing a fish and promptly disappearing only to return and give prolonged sightings about 30 minutes later.  It really is a living jewel and we were  quite happy to spend time in its company.

It wasn't until the Kingfisher finally flew off that Raymond told us we'd been extremely lucky as one hadn't been seen in that spot for 6 months! Our luck had continued. 

By now we were both shattered after two weeks hard birding, early starts, little sleep, poor diet and heat! Even though we tried for a few other species of birds nearby the past two weeks were catching up with us. Much to Raymonds surprise we suggested having lunch and then he drop us off early at KL International Airport where we could pack our camera gear up, get changed and showered in an air conditioned lounge! 

So ended our highly succesful Sumatran and Malaysian odyssey. All target species seen well and a big thanks to Fred for suggesting I join the trip and for his excellent company and humour throughout. I'd never really birded in Asia before this year as most of my visits were work only with very little free time for anything else. I ended up with around 90 lifers but, more importantly, a lifetime of memories and new friends made. 

9. Back to Malaysia. Mountain Peacock Pheasant & Malaysian Rail Babbler

A leisurely breakfast in Pedang, for a change,  before taking the mini bus to the airport and catching our Air Asia flight back to Kuala Lumpur where we'd go our separate ways. Mika was heading to Borneo whilst Tony & Steve headed back to Southern Sumatra & Dan was heading back to Brisbane and a well earned few days rest before continuing his research into Plains Wanderer! 

Fred & I were spending a few days with a guide in Kuala Lumpur as he had unfinished business with a couple of species he'd missed on previous trips. Namely Malaysian Rail Babbler and Mountain Peacock Pheasant. Our guide, Raymond, had booked us into a 'spa retreat' where he'd arranged to pick us up in the morning.  Given we had a few hours to kill before it got dark we got a taxi to take us to the same spot we'd visited two weeks previously where Rail Babbler had been reported on eBird! No sign but it turned out we were in almost the right spot!

With Raymond picking us up in the dark, and driving us in his magnificent 30 year Toyota Landcruiser for breakfast (rice and chicken again!), we were full of anticipation when we arrived at the Japanese Gardens at Bentong Pahang. A short walk through some dense undergrowth and we came to a small blind set in a clearing where the pheasants and Ferruginous Partridge were coming to a feeding station. 

Settling in for the duration we were kept amused by the antics of the local Oriental Magpie Robins, White-rumped Sharma, Buff-breasted Babbler and Orchraceous Bulbuls coming in to feed. 

All nice birds but not what we were waiting to see. Suddenly, and with no warning, a Mountain Peacock Pheasant appeared and started feeding in the clearing whilst we held our breath and started taking photos. Those blue peacock-like markings on the back were stunning making the bird look like it was liberally sprinkled with little sapphires. 

Success! All we needed now was the Ferruginous Partridges to show up. After sitting for almost 2 hours we both felt the need to stretch our legs and go for the inevitable 'bush wee'. Just as we sat down again the partridges appeared to be joined by the pheasant for an encore.

We continued watching for another hour before all the birds just melted back into the undergrowth. We carried on birding the area before going for lunch and making a plan for the afternoon. Raymond wasn't keen on going for the Malaysian Rail Babbler in the afternoon as he said it was better early morning but, with nothing else planned, we took a punt! 

We drove up the track that Fred and I had previously walked twice and stopped at an area that I'd looked at and apparently commented ' that looks ideal for Rail Babbler! We were that close to finding the bird ourselves! 

Settling in the chairs Raymond had thoughtfully provided we watched whilst he baited the area with mealworms and started playing the Rail-babblers call. Something we were very familiar with after listening to it ourselves and trying call back on our previous visits. 

We only had to wait for 20 minutes when Fred noticed a movement behind a clump of greenery and in walked a Malaysian Rail-babbler. The only species of the genus Eupetes and a shy and reclusive species not seen very often! This one bucked that trend. We didn't even have to use a blind.

An absolutely stunning bird and a surreal experience. I was pleased for Fred as he'd managed all his target species on the trip so far. One more to go in the morning! 

Happy Rail Babbler observers with Raymond our guide

After a bit more birding in the area we had dinner before Raymond dropped us off at th hotel arranging ot pick us up at 6 am the following morning to try for Blyth's Frogmouth.

Footnote: It turns out we were extremely lucky with the Rail Babbler. Raymond didn't see it on three subsequent visits and a mate of Freds dipped it twice and spent a total of 10 hours waiting for Ferruginous Partridge to appear.