Fetlar 2021

This year was our 2nd annual trip to Fetlar. We couldn't go last year due to Scottish Covid restrictions but  this year we were able to get across and spend just over a week searching for scarce birds from our base in Houbie. The weather was pretty dire at times with gale force westerlies and driving rain. The birding was hard but when the weather was fine the scenery was adequate compensation! 

Leaving the house at 03.30 on a Saturday morning I picked up Jason on the way before heading to Glasgow Airport for the flight to Sumburgh. The flight was on time and we had no issues picking up the hire car and headed straight to Tesco's in Lerwick for a big shop. Meeting Chris in the car park we piled him and his bags into the car before heading north for the ferries from mainland to Yell and then from Yell across to Unst and finally Fetlar. By the time we arrived at our accommodation it was almost dark so there wasn't much time to do anything apart from admire the view and put some bird seed out on the drive! 

The Lodge, Houbie. Our accommodation for the week.

It soon became apparent there were very few common migrants around. Its the first year since I've been coming to Shetland (2007) that we failed to find a Yellow-browed Warbler or even a Goldcrest. We were basically seeing single figures of birds we'd expect to see in other years. Early in the trip the best bird we found was a Spotted Flycatcher that spent the duration of our stay fly catching around the pig pen near the shop. At least the pig was happy enough to see us and get a daily scratch behind its ears! 

Spotted Flycatcher coughing up a pellet

We got into a routine of walking Feal Burn before breakfast before heading up to Everland and working our way back to Funzie, checking all suitable habitat on the way, and then walking Feal Burn again before lunch. With birds were moving through out the day it was necessary to check prime habitat several times to ensure we hadn't missed anything! A case in point came a few days into our trip when, after waling Feal Burn twice already our third and final trip just before dusk, was rewarded with a Bluethroat that suddenly appeared! We never saw it again! 

Typically we'd spend the afternoons working around Tresta, The Glebe and Velzie before returning back to the accommodation before a final walk of the burn. Unfortunately the rarest bird we found was actually a common bird for us, but a major rarity on Fetlar, with local birders needing it for their Fetlar list! A Shelduck! Whilst at Funzie looking for cetaceans and admiring the 450 million year old geology, in the form of a conglomerate, a bird picked up flying in off the sea turned out to be a Shelduck that Chris managed a couple of records shots of as it flew over our heads.

Not quite the rarity we were hoping for! 

News of Orca passing round Unst on day had us scurrying the ferry terminla in the hope they'd come through the Bluemull sound in horrendous weather conditions. No Orca but we did see an Otter that, form the number of smashed shells on the breakwater, was feeding on Sea Urchins.The weather was so windy the only place I could hold the binoculars steady was by lying in the boot of the car.

One evening we also watched an Otter from our front window as it hunted for crabs in the bay below our house.

Many of the Greylag Geese seen on Shetland are Icelandic migrants and its always worth checking through the flocks for something rarer. Several Bean Geese had already been reported on other Islands and we found three Pinkfooted Geese among a flock of Greylags.

Its a hard slog walking fields and ditches in wellingtons and wet weather gear and by the time we got home in the evenings we were ready for Jasons superb cooking - Chilli, Dahl & a hearty stew were all sampled and heartily approved of whilst the occasional wee dram didn't go amiss either! 

One of the undoubted highlights of the week was the night the aurora showed over Shetland. We drove up to the the old airfield to enjoy this spectacle and spent several hours on a bitterly cold night watching the  lights dancing in the sky.

Greylag Geese coming in off the sea at Everland

Male Siskin, Feal Burn

Brambling, Velzie

Curious Highland Cow - Funzi

Working the fields and dry stone walls around Houbie
          

Looking back fro mthe plantation at the top of Feal Burn to Houbie

Dramatic sky's over Houbie

Rainbow over Loch Funzie

Ultimately its all about getting outside and searching for birds. Even when the waether was bad we were out as soon as there was a small window of opportunity. On our last full day before travelling home we proved this point in style. We'd booked a late morning ferry to Unst to go and see a few good birds that had turned up there but still gave ourselves time for our morning walk along Feal Burn and Houbie. Whilst checking the garden of the health centre a small passerine popped up before promptly disappearing. We'd seen Blackcaps and a Garden Warbler in this garden but this looked different. Quietly walking each side of the wall and hedge the bird suddenly showed itself in front of Chris. A first winter Common Rosefinch. Not the most exciting of scarcities but still a good find! It was eating rose hips before flying to the road to pick up grit to aid its digestion.

Our quick trip to Unst took us up to Norwick where we met up with resident birder Dave Cooper whilst watching two superb Hornemann's Arctic Redpolls. Stunning little finches and I never get tired of seeing them .The best place to see them in the autumn is Shetland and they're almost annual in single figure numbers. I've only ever seen one away from Shetland.

Strong winds again hampered photography and the wind also made the birds very flighty and jittery. The nearby beach at Norwick had been hosting some very photogenic Long-tailed Ducks that, with a little patience, allowed really close views as they came to the edge of the surf to feed. 

A quicktour around Unst added a few more birds to our trip list with Easter Loch being especially productive with Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swans and a single Pochard.

Before returning to Fetlar we had time for a quick drive up to a loch near the ferry terminal on Yell for a male Ring-necked Duck that showed distantly along with a couple of Tufted Ducks.

The return trip home started early with a 6am alarm call as we had to be packed and out the house t oget the 07.50 ferry to Unst and then Yell before driving to Lerwicjk to drop Chris off at the ferry terminal. Jase and I had enough time to call in to the Orca Inn at Hoswick to see a Red-breasted Flycatcher before heading to the airport. A great trip with good company . We didn't find anything majorly rare this year but found and a couple of scarcities which we'd be extremely fortunate to see home in Cheshire. We're already planning next years trip and have booked the Lodge for the same dates. 

Wilsons Phalarope, Cheshire

We'd got back from Scotland the previous evening, after a long drive and epic journey round the NC500 taking on Orkney on the way, and  I was unpacking the car after breakfast when the news came through that Graham Jones had found a Wilsons Phalarope at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB just a few minutes away from the house. Abandoning the unpacking I grab binoculars, scope and camera and set off. Luckily the bird was on view, albeit distantly, when I arrived and  I was soon watching my 2nd Wilsons Phalarope for Cheshire - almost 40 years to the day as I saw my first ever and first Cheshire one at Frodsham as a student at Manchester University! 

There have been 11 previous records in Cheshire and this makes it 12. The last one was in 1991 so this was a very popular bird for a younger generation of Cheshire birders! I've seen 6 in the UK with the last one being at Seaforth Docks in 2009. In recent years they've become much scarcer in the UK. They're beautiful little birds and like our more familiar Red-necked and Grey Phalaropes will feed by spinning on the surface of the water to disturb invertebrates up from the mud on the bottom. They also feed on and and have a very distinctive feeding action - almost like a small egret chasing prey!

After almost 3 weeks away it was also good to catch up with a few friends I hadn't seen for awhile. Another good wader for the CAWOS recording area after recent Long-billed Dowithcers and American Golden Plovers.

A Curlews call

 Our Curlews are in trouble. The UK's breeding population us halved in the last 25 years. Once common in some areas of lowland Britain such as the Brecklands of East Anglia and in moorland areas such as the peak District and areas of  North Wales their haunting bubbling display call is becoming a less familiar sound. They are amber listed in the UK and classified as globally threatened across their range. A number of factors are thought to be playing their part in the species decline including agricultural intensification and predation. 

Their onomatopoeic 'curlew, curlew' call is still a familiar sound on our estuaries as UK numbers are boosted by winter migrants from northern Europe but our resident breeding population is in a downward spiralling decline.

As such theres a lot of research going on as to what is causing this decline and eggs that would otherwise been destroyed on military bases in the Brecks are now being hatched in incubators and the youngsters being returned to the wild. See here for more information on the head starting project. When humans have to intervene in this way you know a species is in serious trouble.

The ECHOES  project is another project looking at Curlew populations  - ECHOES studies the effect of climate change on bird habitats around the Irish Sea. See here for more information. This includes the North Wales coast where the SCAN ringing group have been monitoring wading bird populations for many years. I was lucky enough to join them on a recent Curlew catch where a good sample were canon netted and as well as new birds ringed we caught a number of retraps giving valuable data on longevity and survival.

To no longer hear Curlew calling when walking in our moorland national parks would be a sad reflection on our society. Hopefully the research thats being carried out can help reverse the fortunes of this charismatic species. As a kid I used to visit my grandparents, who lived on the edge of Dartmoor, and listened to the Curlews calling in the meadows behind their house through the open windows. Now they're probably extinct as a breeding species on Dartmoor. It's sad to think this has happened in my lifetime.

American Golden Plover on the Wirral.

The day Chris & I returned from Bardsey expert rarity finder, Tim Kinch, found a juvenile Golden Plover at Hoylake. By all accounts it was showing pretty well! I've seen quite a few before on Orkney and Shetland, where they turn up almost annually,  but my only Cheshire / Wirral bird was a fly-over calling found by me & Al Conlin on 11th October 2009. There's only been 5 previous records in the county and only one (1987) stayed for more than one day. Luckily for Chris it was very close to where he lives so after dropping me off he managed to see it. I left it hoping it would stay until the next day. Luckily it did and  I caught up with it Sunday morning on the beach where it showed well with a flock of Dunlin & Ringed Plover in very blowy conditions!

A great find by Tim and another great bird for the Wirral this year following on from Melodious Warbler, Hoopoe, Long-billed Dowitcher & Pectoral Sandpiper.

Long-billed Dowitcher, Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB

Long-billed Dowitchers aren't particularly rare and are perhaps one of the commoner North American vagrant waders to make it to our shores. They're always nice to see though - especially one thats only 15 minutes from home! I've seen several over the years in Cheshire but this was an adult in its resplendent breeding plumage so well worth the trip. 

Long-billed Dowitcher was probably the 2nd North American wading bird I saw in the UK following a self-found Pectoral Sandpiper at Bury St Edmunds sugar beet factory settling ponds, Suffolk, when I was about 15. I could probably claim my first Dowitcher as self found as well. My maternal Grandparents lived in Hayle, Cornwall and we used to spend many holidays at this birding mecca. No sooner had I arrived then I'd be off birding for the day, invariably with a piece of grandmas fruit cake tucked in a pocket to fortify me & my old Alladin thermos in my rucksack along with my trusty 'A field guide to the birds of Britain & Europe' by Roger Tory Peterson, Guy Mountfort & P A D Hollom - a definite upgrade from the  Observers book of Birds! 

The lane virtually opposite their house led down to the estuary and my usual route took me down here, along the estuary to Carsnew Pool and then onto Copperhouse Creek. We'd arrived for Easter in March 1978 and as usual I spent most of my time either birding on the estuary or fishing off the quay! I was checking out the waders on Carsnew Pool when I came across a bird I didn't immediately recognise. By a process of elimination I came to the surprising conclusion it was my first Long-billed Dowitcher! After watching it for about an hour I carried on to Copperhouse Creek where I found a group of birders with scopes obviously searching for something. That something turned out to be a Long-billed Dowitcher............cue a sudden exodus as I announced I'd been watching it on Carsnew Pool! 

Anyway, I digress. The latest Dowitcher was probably the 5th or 6th for the reserve with the first being in 1993 when it was still Inner Marsh Farm. I've seen at least four in Cheshire with two together at Inner Marsh Farm in 2009. This latest one was hanging around with Black-tailed Godwits and although quite distant and in bright sunshine it looked stunning in its summer plumage.

 

A great bird and I even managed some shaky video.