Day 6 Shetland. Soggy Redpolls & Little Buntings.

The weather has been truly horrendous but a clear window of windy but dry weather meant we could get out and about early morning. First thing on the agenda was the short drive to Veensgarth as Mark had never seen Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll. We soon located the bird with two Meally Redpolls and a Lesser Redpoll. Not as impressive as some of the Hornemann's I've seen on Shetland and I'm not entirely convinced!

Two Common (Mealy) Redpolls above and the Arctic below:

Whilst there news broke of a Raddes Warbler at Sumburgh and with Chris never having seen one we all drove south only to find the bird had been found moribund beneath a car and placed in a potato field. It was last seen staggering with its eyes shut and had probably died. A real shame as Raddes have got increasingly scarce in the last few years. A Long-eared Owl sheltering beneath a dry stone wall was small consolation. 

Deciding to try Wester Quarff, as we reasoned it would be slightly less windy, we went first to Boddam where another Little Bunting was showing reasonably well by the side of the road.

We found the bird easily enough and searched other likely spots in the area finding yet another Yellow - Browed Warbler before heading for Wester Quarff.

Our hunch appeared right as local gardens were full if Bramblings & Redwings along with a Willow Warbler & a few Blackcaps. Highlight for me was finding my own Little Bunting. That's my 5th this year including the Hilbre bird.

By now the weather had seriously deteriorated. It wasn't worth staying out to get soaking wet so early afternoon we retired back to our apartment.

Wester Quarff- the field where I found the Little Bunting is just to the right of the left hand white bungalow.