Two weeks down and we'd not left Unst but that was about to change ...
Thursday
13 October 2022. Dave had been offered 7 hours of survey work on Yell and didn't like to turn it down. I'd not birded on Yell since looking for a Pained Bunting in July 1978 and thought it would be interesting to compare it with North Unst. Dave told me of some nice areas in East Yell and would drop me off on his way through. We just had time to drive down to Norwick and walk along to Valyie before heading to the ferry. In half an hour at Valyie we saw the juvenile
Whooper
Swan,
the ringed Chiffchaff,
Blackcap,
the blythi
Lesser
Whitethroat,
3 Bramblings
and 10 Greenland
and the Hornemann’s
Arctic Redpoll.
We drove to Belmont and caught the 08:20 ferry to Yell (Great
Skua,
Red-throated
Diver).
Dave had to collect his survey maps in Cullivoe and dropped me off at
the Black-winged
Stilt
on the way. It was distant and we were against the clock so no time
to get closer before Dave returned and then we had to be off. An
adult and 4 juvenile Whooper
Swans
were on Sand Water, most probably those we’d seen on a small pool
by the road north of Uyeasound a week earlier. Dave dropped me at
North Aywick on his way to Ulsta and I walked to the White Wife and back checking some nice looking gardens along the way. It was good for Shetland Wrens (I saw 7) but otherwise very quiet with 2 Blackcaps
and
2 unidentified Redpolls
(probably Lessers) in North Aywick, 3 Long-tailed
Duck
in Otters Wick and Great
Northern Diver
and Merlin
in Ay Wick. Dave finished his survey, I met him on the road and we made it
to the Unst ferry at Gutcher with 5 minutes to spare. Back on Unst we
had time for a quick look at Easter Loch (15 Whooper
and 8 Mute
Swans,
all adults, 20+ Tufted
Duck
and a Goldeneye).
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| Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll at Valyie |
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| note the clear white borders to the right tertials, unbroken white edges to the 4th visible left primary and dark heavily streaked upper-tail covers, the relevance of which will soon become apparent |
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| Black-winged Stilt distantly at Cullivoe, Yell |
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| Yell's White Wife, much too pious for me |
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| Great Northern Diver in Ay Wick |
Friday
14 October 2022.
With strong SW winds forecast and the prospects on Unst not looking hopeful Dave decided to fit in one of his
October surveys on North Mainland. This would give me a chance to look around Brae, where Nick had found a Red-eyed Vireo the previous autumn. We left again on the 08:20 ferry
seeing a couple of small flocks of Redwings
on the way down. About 20 Fieldfares
and 300 Redwings
flew south over Bluemell Sound as we were waiting for the ferry and
from it. Also from the ferry 4 Great
Skuas,
Black
Guillemot
and for Dave a Glaucous
Gull
I was too slow to get onto. Crossing Yell we saw the adult and 4
juvenile Whooper
Swans
on Sand Water, 400+ more Redwings,
some in fields but most flying south, and 2 Bramblings.
The crossing to Mainland added a Razorbill
and 7 Black
Guillemots.
Dave dropped me just south of Brae and returned to Sullom Voe for his
survey. He’d offered to pick me up and relocate me nearer to Sullom
at lunchtime but in the event I found enough to do in Brae, spending
over two hours in the Community Woodland failing to see a Great
Spotted Woodpecker.
I heard it calling, four times from almost directly overhead in dense
conifers, but only once caught it disappear out of the corner of my
eye. I did see 5 Collared
Doves,
Chiffchaff,
Goldcrest,
95 Fieldfares,
150+ Redwings,
Tree
Pipit
and some Redpolls
(some only heard, 7 together in flight and 3 single birds perched
briefly a Greenland,
a Mealy
and the other most likely a Lesser
– how dodgy is that!). Dave picked me up and we returned to Unst
seeing (and stopping for a decent view of) the 5 Whooper
Swans
on Sand Water, Red-throated
Diver,
3 Black
Guillemots
and a few Redwings.
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| Tree Pipit in Brae community Woodland |
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| disappointing it wasn't Olive-backed |
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| Whooper Swans on Sand Water |
Saturday
15 October.
We walked down to Norwick Beach and Vaylie being out from
07:25-11:00. The wind was SE (at last) and started off light but soon
picked up. There was evidence of the autumn’s first frost and it
was quite cold. There were 2-3 Long-tailed
Duck,
2 Guillemots
and 4 Razorbills
in the bay and the juvenile Whooper
Swan
was on the marsh. The weedy fields held more
finches with at least 40 Bramblings,
50 Twite
and 10 Greenland, 4 Mealy
and the Hornemann’s
Arctic Redpoll commuting the 200m between Leawart and Valyie. A Hawfinch
dropped into the pines (my view being awful) and a Chiffchaff,
2 Blackcaps,
blythi
Lesser
Whitethroat (another
poor view for me) and my first Robin
this trip were also noted. After an early lunch we visited Skaw from
11:50-12:50 seeing the Glossy
Ibis,
a Guillemot
and 2 Song
Thrushes.
The single-track Holsens Road was in the worst condition we’d seen
it thanks to ongoing inadequate repairs to the damage caused by the constant use by commercial trucks delivering gravel/rocks for the
Spaceport. By now the wind was gusting gale force and not ideal for
the very exposed Brewery Marsh. We saw 2 Song
Thrushes
and 2 Bramblings.
Burrafirth offered little more shelter and produced 2 Grey
Herons,
15 Redwings
and a Wheatear.
We finished back at Valyie again where a Goldfinch
and similar numbers of Bramblings,
Twite
and the three types of Redpolls were seen.
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| Greenland Redpoll at Leawart |
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| Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll in the field at Leawart |
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| Greenland Redpoll at Valyie |
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| Twite at Valyie |
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| the juvenile Whooper Swan from Holsens Road |
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| Mealy Redpoll at Valyie |
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| Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll again on our return to Valyie |
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| showing features mentioned against 13 October sighting |
Sunday
16 October.
What turned out to be a very good day didn’t start well with heavy
rain around dawn delaying our departure. We left at 07:50 and walked
down to Valyie. A Long-tailed
Duck
was in the bay and the juvenile Whooper
Swan
still on the marsh. The weedy fields at Lewart were virtually empty
and Valyie held about 50 Bramblings
and 40 Twite
but no redpolls at all suggesting a significant clear out. No Hornemann's was disappointing but we had seen it twice the previous day. A
Yellow-browed
Warbler,
our first for over a week, was a new arrival and we saw the ringed
Chiffchaff,
4 Blackcaps,
a Fieldfare,
40 Redwings
and 2 Goldfinches
by the beach. Back at Millfield at 11:00 where another Yellow-browed
Warbler
was in the garden. We were out again from 11:40-18:00 visiting
Norrhdale (2 Blackcaps
and 4 Goldfinches),
Burrafirth (Black
Guillemot,
the blythi
Lesser
Whitethroat,
10 Redwings,
5 Twite
and at the Shore Station allotment a Greenland
and another Hornemann’s
Arctic Redpoll).
Buoyed by our success at Burrafirth we visited Ungirsta pine
plantation, with low expectations on my part as a Goldcrest was the best I'd previously seen there. We walked around three sides without seeing anything and I decided to try and work my way back through the plantation while Dave continued around the outside. I was about half way pushing myself through the plantation when I heard loud crossbill calls. Not being able to tell from which direction they were coming I assumed it was Dave playing recordings on spec, until he called Parrot Crossbill! I had disturbed a Parrot from almost directly above me without seeing it. It had flown and perched along the edge in view of Dave. By the time I emerged it and another had flown round the plantation calling and disappeared behind it. I walked back and looked from that side but was beginning to despair when the 2 Parrot Crossbills came flying back, looking massive. They did another circuit and landed on some distant telephone wires before returning and diving back into the wood. A bit of judicious taping by Dave attracted one to the edge where it fed on pine cones directly above our heads. 450 photos later we headed to Haroldswick and finished the day walking our usual loop. That was better than usual too with an almost summer-plumaged Great Northern Diver, Barred Warbler, 15 Redwings and 15 Bramblings. A brilliant day, the best of the trip, the only downside being the number of photos to sort out. Almost 1100 for me today, mostly of just two species!
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| Twite at Valyie |
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| Yellow-browed Warbler at Millfield |
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| Goldfinch at Norwick |
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| Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll at Burrafirth |
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| this individual showed a more clearly defined white band across the forehead, in the Valyie bird the black above the bill appeared more extensive and almost faded into the red |
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| the white right tertial edges almost being broken, the small break to the white edge of the 4th left visible primary and whiter less streaked upper-tail coverts also differ from the Valyie bird |
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| Hornemann's with Greenland Redpoll |
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| Greenland Redpoll |
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| Goldfinches at Burrafirth |
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| blythi Lesser Whitethroat at Burrafirth |
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| Barred Warbler at Haroldswick (photo: Dave Cooper) |
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| Great Northern Diver at Haroldswick |
Monday
17 October.
My last day on Unst. We woke to a light SE wind and a fairly clear
sky although rain and an increasing wind was forecast for later. We
left Millfield at 07:45 to make the most of the decent weather and
walked across the fields to Norwick. The juvenile Whooper
Swan
had moved to the burn with 3 Long-tailed
Ducks,
2 Guillemots
and a Razorbill
in the bay. The weedy fields at Lewart and particularly Valyie were
still attracting finches with at least 55 Bramblings,
50 Twite
and 6 Greenland
and a Mealy
Redpoll.
Also seen at Valyie were 3 Chiffchaffs,
2 Blackcaps,
a superb Red-breasted
Flycatcher
and a Tree
Pipit
with a Siberian
Chiffchaff briefly
in Norwick. We walked back to Millfield for an early lunch at 11:15,
heading out at 12:15 before the weather closed in. We were partly
successful regarding the weather visiting Skaw and almost making it
back to the car ahead of the rain. Birdwise it was hardly worth it
with 55 Golden
Plover
and 8 Redwings
best. We drove to Northdale and looked from the car seeing 3
Blackcaps
and a Redwing
through misty binoculars. We returned via Haroldswick and were back
at Millfield at 15:15. Thoughts I had of walking up to East Hill were
soon dismissed as the weather showed no sign of relenting.
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| Whooper Swan still at Norwick |
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| Red-breasted Flycatcher at Valyie |
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| Tree Pipit at Valyie |
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| Mealy Redpoll at Valyie |
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| Long-tailed Duck at Norwick |
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| Fulmar at Skaw |
Tuesday
18 October.
My last day on Shetland and an early departure from Unst. I said a sad goodbye to Brenda, who had been a brilliant hostess, and Dave who took me
to Saxa Vord for the 07:45 connecting bus. There were two others on
board, going to a hospital appointment in Lerwick. There were at
least 20 swans on Easter Loch but from a moving bus I only managed to
identify the closest 2 as Whooper
Swans.
A single swan on Lock of Snarravoe was almost certainly a Whooper
too. I saw a Great Skua from the Belmont-Gutcher ferry and 5 swans on
Sand Water on Yell, presumably the adult Whooper
Swan
with 4 youngsters seen there on 14th. Another Great
Skua
and 10 Black
Guillemots
were seen from the Ulsta-Toft ferry but little from the bus down to
Lerwick where I was dropped at the Northlink terminal at about 10:30.
I put my larger bag in Left Luggage and walking through the town to
Clickmin Loch, gravitating to the roads off Westerloch Drive where I
saw Chiffchaff,
3 Blackcaps,
2 Goldcrests
and a Robin.
I headed to Voe of Sound and walked around Sound Ness seeing my first
Oystercatchers
of the trip, 13 Black
Guillemots,
5 Twite
and on Pullars Lake 2 female type Long-tailed
Duck.
I bought some supplies in Tesco and continued around the coast past
the Knab seeing a flock of 20 Knot
feeding
on rock pools with Turnstone.
Continuing into Lerwick I added 2 male Long-tailed
Duck
and 4 more Black
Guillemots.
I retrieved my bag, boarded and sat on the upper deck as the light
went.
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| Black Guillemot from the Ulsta-Toft ferry |
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| Black Guillemot with food? |
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| Toft-Ulsta ferry |
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| Hooded Crow at Clickmin |
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| Oystercatcher at Sound |
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| Ness of Sound |
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| Kirkabister Ness, Bressay |
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| Brei Wick |
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| Long-tailed Duck on Pullar's Lock, Lerwick |
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| Lerwick from the south |
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| Common Seals in Lerwick |
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| Knot in Lerwick |
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| Black Guillemot in Lerwick |
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| mainly argentatus Herring Gulls in Lerwick |
Wednesday
19 October. After a good nights sleep in the lounge we docked at 07:00. Despite the Northlink ferry terminal having a large left luggage room I was told it was only for departing passengers and I, as an arriving passenger, was not allowed to leave my bag there. No reason was given and my being told it might be possible to leave luggage at the Premier Inn if booked online wasn't helpful (back home, looking for future reference, I found the Premier Inn was 2km away and their website made no mention of such a facility). As my flight wasn't until 16:10 I took my bags out to Girdle Ness with a couple of lengthy rest stops on the way. Once there I seawatched for an hour or so before slowly walking back. I saw 10 Eider, 2 red-head Goosanders, 11 Ringed Plover, 42 Purple Sandpipers, a Guillemot, 3 Red-throated Divers, 40 Gannets, 75 Shags, 3 Rock Pipits and in the harbour entrance 6+ Bottle-nosed Dolphins. I walked back at Union Square I caught a bus to the airport. My flight was on time and I was home before 21:00. A day or two later I received an email from Northlink 'As a valued customer, we would really like you to tell us about your experience ...' . My reply was along the lines of 'not valued enough to let me leave my bag in your left luggage room'.
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| Aberdeen Harbour from Torry |
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| Goosander in Aberdeen Harbour |
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| Aberdeen from EasyJet |
