Fair Isle 2026

This years trip to Fair Isle with Jason was slightly different in that the new Obs was open and we were staying there for the first time. Setting off from my house at 12.00 midnight on a Sunday night I picked up Jason at his home and we had an uneventful journey to Edinburgh and onward to Sumburgh. We pre-booked a taxi from Sumburgh to Tingwall and were soon boarding the short Airtask flight to Fair isle, in beautiful weather, passing over the North Light as we came in to land.

Met at the airstrip on Fair Isle by the new hospitality manager, Steve Holgate, we were driven back to the Obs and shown to our very comfortable rooms before being given a packed lunch and setting off to bird around the island.

With storm Amy approaching at the weekend we were keen to make the most of the weather and get out as much as possible so after breakfast each morning we collected our packed lunch and headed out for the day and returning in time for dinner in the evenings.

Birdwise the week was relatively quiet. Liz Riddiford had reported a large pipit coming into land near Skaden. Steve Arlow followed it up and found  Richards Pipit. Jason and I headed that way and met up with AW Luke only to have a Richards Pipit fly over our head calling. We put the news out but Steve replied saying he and AW Tom were still watching a Richards Pipit in the crop field at Skaden! We'd found a 2nd bird! 

We walked down to Skaden where we eventually saw the pipit distantly as it mooched around the crop with the occasional flight onto adjacent rough grassland.

Good birds were few and far between but we managed to see most of what was on the island including several beautiful Mealy Redpolls, Hawfinch, Yellow-browed Warblers, Common Rosefinch and Little Stint - the latter is a scarce bird on Fair Isle and had been ringed by the Obs staff before we arrived.

Mealy Redpoll

Non- birding fun included three Hummingbird Hawkmoths that provided entertainment and camera practice at Kennaby Croft. Incredible to see these migratory moths so far north. 

Twite were common in the various crops that had been planted around the island. A very rare bird in Cheshire it was good to get reacquainted with them here

Commoner migrants were generally scarce with very few of the commoner warblers. Several Redstart and Whinchat were seen almost daily but these were the same birds and not new - in. There wasn't the big influx of winter thrushes we've seen in previous years and it wasn't until the weather changed for the worse towards the end of the week that we started seeing Whoopers, Barnacle, Greylag and Pink-footed Geese in any numbers.

Whinchat

Me birding the geos 

Crops, geo's, ditches and dykes were walked daily but nothing new was turning up. Brambling numbers did increase throughout the week and often gave good views perched up before diving back into crop fields to feed before continuing their onward migrations.

Brambling

Skylark

The medical centre at Chalet is an overgrown wet garden with lots of rosa and often attracts good birds. Fellow guests Tom and Ben perervered with a very elusive pipit that they found skulking in the dense undergrowth. Alex eventually got  photo proving it to be an Olive -backed Pipit. We saw this bird several times but never on the ground in the open for more than a couple of seconds at a time! 

Evenings were spent in the Obs comfortable lounge and bar where Alex called the log every evening. Shattered after long days in the field (walking an average of 23,000 steps a day whilst carrying a rucksack with waterproofs, drinks and sandwiches and also carrying binoculars and camera and wearing wellingtons) we both took early nights after a couple of beers.

Storm Amy hit us with a vengeance and by the end of the week the winds were picking up reaching a crescendo over the weekend. Birding was virtually impossible with driving rain and winds gusting at 85 mph. Despite this we still managed to get togged up in waterproofs and get out. It knocked out the communications at Sumburgh Airport which meant flights from Tingwall were cancelled even when the weather abated. Apparently they need Sumburgh operational as a 3rd emergency airport in case they need to divert. Even before, in the preceding couple of days, poor visibility and high winds meant Tingwall flights weren't operating so there were no flights on or off Fair Isle for three days. With our flight scheduled for Monday afternoon it soon became apparent that we weren't going to get off so plans were made to change our flights from Sumburgh to Edinburgh once we'd got a confirmation as to when we could leave Fair Isle.

During all this Simon Nichols had found a 1st winter male Siberian Thrush on Shetland mainland. A bird  I desperately wanted to see. With no way of getting off Fair Isle I was resigned to missing yet another one. Surely there was no way it would stay until we got off?