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.
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| Above and below: Siskin |
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| Linnet |
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| 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.
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| South Light |
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| The Obs viewed from Vaasetter |
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| Ragged Robin |
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| Fair Isle Starling |
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| Me and Jase near Sheep Rock |
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| Sheep Rock |
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| 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.
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