UNST Autumn 2023: part 2 Hornemann's, Pied Wheatear and Yellow Warbler (09-13 October)

This is the second of three blog posts covering a very enjoyable stay with Dave Cooper and Brenda Kay on Unst.

Monday 09 October.  Dave and I were out just before 07:30 and walked down into Norwick seeing a Waxwing by the main road. We continued towards Valyie where Dave spotted two white looking redpolls sitting together high up in the conifers behind the house. They looked very interesting and we hurried up the hill towards them, stopping regularly to take photos. We soon were close enough to confirm our suspicions that they were Hornemann’s Arctic Redpolls, dwarfing a nearby rather drab Lesser Redpoll. All too soon they flew off towards Leawart with a small flock of redpolls but although the flock returned the Hornemann’s didn’t. Shortly after we met two other birders who had seen the flock with them in it on the wires at Leawart but when they flew back to Valyie the Hornemann’s kept going. After a couple of hours, during which time they did not return, we left the area having seen 2 Waxwings (I only heard them), Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 blythi Lesser Whitethroats, 5 Goldcrests, 25 Redwings, 7 Fieldfares, 3 Ring Ouzels, 2 Wheatears, 12 Bramblings, Hawfinch, a Mealy, 2 North-Western (Greenland), 4 Lesser Redpolls and a Siskin. We returned to Millfield along the coast seeing 2 Knot and a Razorbill. After and early lunch we drove to Skaw and walked around the headland to check the Geos. It was very quiet, not helped by being caught out in a shower, with a fly-past Red-breasted Merganser our only notable sighting. Back at Skaw we could either try the Great Wall (where I’d not actually seen anything notable and we’d be exposed to the weather which looked threatening) or try NorthDale (where we’d had some previous success and would be in running distance of the car if the weather deteriorated). We chose NorthDale and as it worked out were very pleased we had. We parked in the usual place by the bridge and almost immediately saw a Waxwing in the nearby conifer. We walked up to NorthDale and wandered around seeing a rather smart male Mealy Redpoll. Back by the car were a Willow Warbler and blythi Lesser Whitethroat and Dave saw an interesting looking chat/wheatear way out on the marsh. While looking for it I saw a Northern Wheatear fly past. Seeing nothing further we returned to the car and very fortunately Dave drove further up the road to turn around. As Dave was doing so we noticed a startlingly bright wheatear fly past and land on a gate ahead of us – an absolutely stunning male Pied Wheatear. We followed the bird around a couple of fields to be sure we had decent images and put the news out, keeping tabs on it as others arrived. It worked its way along fence-lines and returned to the valley where Dave had first seen it. There were also two Northern Wheatears out there so my first Wheatear identification had been correct, although mistakenly thinking it was the bird Dave had first seen could have proved costly.

Waxwing in Norwick, starting the day with a Waxwing is always a good sign. We were soon to find out how good ...

a very good candidate for a Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll in the pines at Valyie

any doubts we might have had did not last

a typical snowball

make that two snowballs

with incoming Greenland Redpoll

                             

Hornemann's Arctic Redpolls at Valyie (photo: Dave Cooper). They flew off towards the weedy field near Leawart where two other observers saw them briefly on wires before they flew off west 

Greenland Redpoll at Valyie, the NW race of Common Redpoll (rostrata) that emanates from Greenland is large, dark and heavily streaked. Often a 'carrier' for Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll

Battle Cairns near Leawart

Ring Ouzel at Leawart

Knot at Norwick

Royal scarecrows

Waxwing at Norwick

Fulmars at Skaw

presumed blythi Lesser Whitethroat at NorthDale

Waxwing at NorthDale

Willow Warbler at NorthDale

male Pied Wheatear at NorthDale

a really smart bird and one of the best finds I've been involved with

Tuesday 10 October. The rain and strong SW winds arrived earlier than forecast dashing our hopes that our walk to Valyie would be a pleasant one. An Otter swimming and diving in Norwick Bay came up with a crab which it brought to shore and proceeded to eat. It then found an auk corpse on the tideline which it carried off. We spent a couple of hours at Valyie, initially in the wood and then sheltering in the barn. The fields were rather exposed although the few finches feeding in them included a single Hornemann’s Arctic Redpoll.  We didn’t linger and I only saw it in flight and perched back on and assumed it was one of yesterday’s birds. Also at Valyie were 2 Woodpigeons, an almost continuous westerly passage of about 150 Herring Gulls, 3 Goldcrests, 5 Redwings, 10 Bramblings, a Greenland Redpoll and 3 Siskins. We returned to Millfield at about 11:00 and after an early lunch I headed up onto East Hill to look for Snow Buntings while Dave caught up on some admin. It was still raining but the strong SW wind was mostly behind me as I made my way south and east along disappointingly birdless stone walls and up towards the clouds. With visibility no more than 150m I noticed bits of 4 partly hidden Snow Buntings disappearing over a brow 30m above me. Continuing a few paces further the 4 became 8 and a few paces more caused a bird to their right flush and land on a fence maybe 30m away. Before I could raise my binoculars to look at it the Snow Buntings flew off left, I concentrated on them and counted 11 as they disappeared into the murk. Looking back at the fence the other bird was still there. Fully expecting it to take my Snow Bunting count to 12, as that was what I'd assumed it to be, I was quite surprised to see it was a large, very pale redpoll which, despite the poor visibility, appeared to be Hornemann’s Arctic Redpoll. Panic ensued as I struggled to extract my camera from a plastic bag inside my shoulder bag. The bird flew as I was doing this but fortunately I saw it land on a rock although it was further way. I took some images of it on the rock (many it turned out with its head turned away), in flight (well out of focus) and back on the wire (but not as close as originally, in worse visibility and all with it’s head turned away). I looked down and changed my camera settings to hopefully obtain some brighter images but while doing so the bird vanished. I spent a couple of hours wandering around my side of the fence in the hope of seeing it again. It had flown that way the first time and the Snow Buntings had gone that way too but I had no success despite improving visibility. I had almost come a cropper on the fence the previous year and chose not to risk climbing over it again - it was high tensioned and barbed-wire topped, too high to step over and then, as now, too windy to attempt to climb over. Last year after removing flappy over-trousers I then ripped my trousers on my first attempt and only just managed a very wobbly climb over in underpants. Not something I wished to repeat! On East Hill I did encounter another flock of 18-20 Snow Buntings, Merlin, 2 Fieldfares, 30 Redwings and a Wheatear. After a quick pitstop at Millfield I walked back down to Valyie for the final hour of daylight. It was still raining but less heavily and I was already wet. The wind hadn’t decreased making birding difficult. Most finches appeared to be roosting in the conifers and sycamores behind the house. I saw 20 Brambling mainly in the sycamores and in the conifers at Valyie a distant front view of what I assumed was most likely the less streaked of yesterday’s Hornemann’s Arctic Redpolls. Had the Hornemann's on East Hill been the more heavily streaked of yesterday's and if so why had they not stayed together? It certainly behaved more as I would have expected of a new arrival, finding somewhere rather inhospitable and quickly moving on.

sheep at Vaylie enjoying the wind and rain as much as we were

Otter with crab at Norwick

it found a dead Guillemot on the tideline

one less Guillemot for Dave's next Beached Birds Survey

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll on East Hill 

image brightened somewhat to show two rows of prominent flank streaking

head turned away but giving an impression of its bulk and clean white underparts with flank streaking

incoming snowball

blurred flight shot of its extensive white rump

back in the gloom

note the long tail contributing to its impression of a big redpoll

Wednesday 11 October. A day of relentless gale force SW winds and prolonged showers with shelter hard to come by. We walked down to Vaylie at 07:45 seeing a blythi Lesser Whitethroat attempting to feed on the ground in Norwick. Twice we dived into the Bus Shelter but as the wind direction helped the rain come straight in through the entrance it didn’t give the hoped for refuge. The Valyie barn provided much more shelter but, if I’m picky, no seating. The Hornemann’s Arctic Redpoll gave good views on the sheltered side of the small conifer copse between its visits to the weedy field near Leawart. Otherwise, apart from Dave’s first Grey Wagtail of the year, birds were similar to recently days with 2 Blackcaps, 3 Goldcrests, 20 Redwings, 10 Bramblings, 2 Hawfinches, a Greenland Redpoll and 2 Siskins. After a lengthy period at Millfield catching up on sorting images while waiting for a break in the weather we spent 14:00-17:00 on East Hill failing to find yesterday’s Hornemann’s Arctic Redpoll in as strong a wind as I can remember birding in on land. At least it was mostly dry and visibility was fair. We tried both sides of the fence, the far side reached by following it to the top of East Hill and crossing on a stile 5m from the cliff edge – closer than I was particularly comfortable with in winds of over 60mph! We saw a Peregrine, 5 Redwings, 2 Song Thrushes and 2 Snow Buntings. The latter near the trig point where there was no shelter from the wind and impossible to hold binoculars, let alone a camera, steady.

Hawfinch at Leawart

Brambling at Valyie

Starling at Valyie

Siskin at Valyie

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll at Valyie showing feathered trousers nicely

and very clean underparts (unusual in Dave's experience)

in some poses the peachy face, neck and upper breast of this bird appeared to be more extensive than is shown in our distant images of the less streaked of the two birds at Valyie on 9th. That bird may have had some limited underpart streaking too although our images are not good enough to be sure.

Thursday 12 October. A nicer dry morning with moderate SW winds. We left at 07:30 and walked down to Leawart and Valyie and then on to Skaw seeing a Moorhen, 2-3 Chiffchaffs, 2 Blackcaps, Goldcrest, Song Thrush, 20 Redwings, Fieldfare, Robin, Pied Flycatcher, 85 Bramblings (a big increase), 3 Hawfinches, Greenland, Lesser and Hornemann’s Arctic Redpolls and Siskin. Approaching Skaw from around the coast just after 10:00 we heard that an American Yellow Warbler had been found at Hoswick on South Mainland. It was a new bird for both of us and one we had missed previously so we were keen to see it and immediately set off up the road back to Norwick where Brenda was waiting with the car. Dave broke the Skaw to Norwick Beach speed-walking record with me a reasonably creditable second, a minute or so behind. A quick stop at Millfield and we were on our way to Belmont for the 11:35 ferry which was on a reduced schedule and not taking bookings. We arrived about 15 minutes before the ferry was due to depart and joined the queue behind a big articulated lorry, 3 cars and a transit van. Fortunately we, and 3 cars behind were fitted onto the ferry. We were quickly across Yell arriving at Ultsa a few minutes before the 12:15 ferry to Toft. At Toft it was a tense drive in worsening weather south, around Lerwick and on to Hoswick. We arrived at 13:30 to be told that the Yellow Warbler hadn’t been seen for almost an hour. Ray O’Reilly suggested to us that the garden he’d seen it in twice might be the best place to look in the hope/expectation it would return regularly. We took his advice and after 20 minutes or so we were watching the Yellow Warbler. It was very active mainly in sycamores and willows in an enclosed rough garden with limited viewing but we saw it well if always fairly briefly and usually partly obscured. Dave managed some reasonable photos, my attempts were abysmal as I was mostly trying to see it. We left at 15:30 after the bird had gone missing for a while and the rain intensified. We stopped at Lerwick Tescos and Frankie’s in Brae, the latter for the best Fish and Chips I can remember. We arrived at Toft just before the 18:00 ferry, Gutcher in time for the 19:00 ferry and were back at Millfield soon after 19:30. What a day.

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll at Valyie

my hopeless attempts at Yellow Warbler photography

Yellow Warbler at Hoswick (photo: Dave Cooper)

Friday 13 October. A much quieter day birdwise with none of the recent excitement, still moderate SW winds with some heavy showers as the day progressed. We left at 07:20 and walked down to Leawart and Valyie seeing Merlin, Blackcap, Goldcrest, a few Redwings, Pied Flycatcher, Wheatear, 65 Bramblings, Hawfinch and Lesser Redpoll. We walked back to Millfield seeing a blythi Lesser Whitethroat on the way and with a break in the weather drove to NorthDale (several Redwings and Dave rescued a sheep with its head stuck in a fence), Unst Heritage Centre (blythi Lesser Whitethroat) and Ungirsta (several Redwings, 2 Bramblings) before returning for lunch. We left Millfield again at 14:30 on a tour of central Unst. After a brief return to NorthDale (nicer weather and more Redwings) we visited Houlland (3 Goldeneye on Loch of Cliff, more Redwings), School pines (nothing), Health Centre garden (ditto), Setter’s Hill Estate (2 Goldcrests) and Clingera (3 Wigeon and 3 Red-breasted Mergansers). We returned soon after 17:00 with the wind picking up and the light going to find 2 Waxwings in Wilma’s rather windswept Rosa.

Shetland Pony at NorthDale

Brambling at Ungirsta

Wigeon and Red-breasted Mergansers from Clingera