UNST Autumn 2024: part 3 (11-16 October)
Friday 11 October. Overcast with a moderate north-west wind. We walked
down to Valyie seeing what was to be my only Woodpigeon of the trip, Sparrowhawk,
and the familiar cast of Yellow-browed
and Greenish Warblers, 2 Common and a Siberian Chiffchaff, 6 Blackcaps,
2 Goldcrests and a Brambling. We’d not been back long when
Brydon Thomason phoned Dave to tell him about what he thought most likely a halimodendri Lesser Whitethroat he’d found in Hunter’s Field. He’d recorded it
and hearing the call Dave agreed so we headed there and were soon watching the bird. It showed
the indicative plumage traits, the bill appeared very small and the tail
quite long although it was flightly and hardly vocalized, at least within my
earshot. Dave was sure the recording matched that of a DNA accepted bird on
North Ronaldsay but currently DNA is a requirement so plans were made with
those on South Mainland to come up and ring it if it stayed and the wind dropped. We continued to a large kale field past Clingera where an interesting Yellow Wagtail had been present, but
not very visible, for a few days. We flushed it from the edge of the field and
it landed, back on, well into the crop before dropping out of sight. It called
once rather inconclusively although perhaps more like Western than Eastern. An Otter was close inshore as we were
driving back via Haroldswick but almost immediately dived, it was the only one
I would see during my visit.
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| Greenish Warbler showing well at Valyie |
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| Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat at Hunter's Field, an excellent find for Brydon |
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| Yellow Wagtail near Clingera |
Saturday 12 October. Strong north winds with heavy showers so definitely
not a day to catch a Lesser Whitethroat. Dave had BBRC work to do so I walked
down to Valyie seeing the Greenish
Warbler, Siberian Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcaps, Goldcrest, 2 Redwings and
a Twite. Heavier rain for most of
the afternoon kept me in labelling photographs.
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| Blackcap at Valyie |
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| Greenish Warbler being uncooperative in the wind and rain |
Sunday 13 October. A cold morning with moderate-strong north-west winds
and a short hail shower followed the coldest night so far. We walked down to
Valyie where, between showers, we saw the Greenish
Warbler, Chiffchaff, 2 Blackcaps, Goldcrest, 2 Redwings
and a Red-throated Diver in the bay,
The focusing wheel on my binoculars had become very stiff, particularly for
closer distances, possibly exacerbated by the recent cold and wet weather? An
attempt was to be made to catch Brydon’s putative halimodendri/Central Asian
Lesser Whitethroat at Hunter’s Field and returned to Millfield before
heading down. We arrived just as Phil Harris caught it, the in hand
measurements pointed towards halimodendri without being conclusive as were vocalisations so it would now rest on DNA. Good to see Paul Harvey
amongst those who had come up from Mainland to see it. We came back by Brewery
Marsh, Ungirtsa and Burrafirth seeing 9 Twite
at the latter. My focusing wheel became stiffer and stiffer as the day progressed and stuck leaving
me with a focus range of about 30-200m. Far from ideal but realistically
covering most of the distances I was likely to want to look. It didn’t stop me
from constantly working at it and realizing that the focus on both barrels was
slightly different which made for uncomfortable viewing - close left eye if further and right if nearer ...
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| Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat at Hunter’s Field. Its DNA came back as halimodendri |
Monday 14 October. Moderate mainly southerly winds, dull with a few
showers. I awoke to find the evenings fiddling had left me with a pair of
binoculars that only focused on my feet. I borrowed the kitchen pair which took
a bit of getting used to as we walked down to Valyie. Dave saw a Bluethroat
skulking in the first potato patch but with unfamiliar binoculars I failed to
get on to it. The Greenish Warbler
was still present with 2 Blackcaps, 3
Redwings and a Brambling. Dave messaged Brydon to ask if he had a spare pair of
binoculars that I could use for the rest of my stay and we drove down to
Baltasound to collect them, a very nice pair of Swarovski EL 8x32s. While there
a family party of 6 Whooper Swans
flew past providing an early opportunity to try out Brydon’s spare bins. It was
very good to see the Whoopers had been so successful (the two other pairs I’d
seen this visit had one and no youngsters). Dave had a slow puncture and we
called in at the garage at the Final Checkout where he was told to come back
and have it looked at at 2pm. We returned to Millfield for lunch then had a
visit and long chat with Paul Harvey. While the tyre was being repaired I
wandered around Hagdale for an hour seeing a single Redwing. We returned via Burrafirth (13 Ravens, Chiffchaff and
12 Twite) and NorthDale (nothing).
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| Greenish Warbler still at Valyie |
Tuesday 15 October. Light southerly winds and mainly sunny start to the
day which became progressively duller and windier reaching almost gale force by
dusk. We walked to Valyie finding the Bluethroat
I’d missed the previous day. A very striking Siberian Chiffchaff was in the crop at Valyie and the Greenish Warbler again in sycamores
along the burn. Four Chiffchaffs and
4 Blackcaps were probably birds we’d
been seeing for a while being a bit more showy in better weather. Fifty Redwings, a Ring Ouzel and a Stonechat
suggested a small overnight arrival but the only finch was a Brambling and I only heard it. A Little Bunting on the road to Millfield
was another good find by Dave and gave better views than the one we’d seen near
Haroldswick at the start of my visit. After an early lunch we went to Skaw
seeing a Greenland Wheatear and for
me Tree Sparrow near the farm but nothing
on a blowy walk around a very exposed headland. After a visit to the shop, in
worsening weather, I saw 3 Long-tailed
Duck in Balta Sound. Trying my binoculars again I managed to get the focus
range back to about 30-200 and decided to leave them at that. At least I’d have
something reasonably useful for my journey home at the end of the week.
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| Bluethroat at Valyie |
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| being seen off by the local Robin |
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| initially we thought this was the long-staying Paddyfield Warbler that we'd not seen for several days but it wasn't even an acro |
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| Siberian Chiffchaff in the weedy field at Valyie |
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| Greenish Warbler continuing to perform at Valyie |
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| Valyie |
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| Little Bunting in Norwick |
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| Wheatear at Skaw |
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| Shags at Skaw |
Wednesday 16 October. Strong south-east winds persisted all day although
it was mostly dry with scattered showers in the afternoon. We walked to Valyie
where there was very little shelter and only 2 Blackcaps evident on the warbler front. A flock of 15 Bramblings were new, as were 2 Fieldfares in the fields on the way
back to Norwick but otherwise it was very quiet. The same was true of Inner
Skaw and Skaw. In the afternoon I walked up onto East Hill and eventually found
a loose mobile flock of 19 Snow Buntings.
I was due to come off on the Friday night ferry from Lerwick but with winds forecast to be 50 mph the sailing might be in doubt
putting catching my EasyJet flight to Gatwick on Saturday afternoon at risk.
With a room available at the cheap hotel in Aberdeen I’d used in similar
circumstances in October 2021 I decided to leave Unst the following morning, a
day earlier than I’d originally intended. There being few birds around and a
very wet day in prospect helped me come to this decision. I’d had a very
enjoyable stay with Dave and Brenda who had looked after me very well. I been
in on the find of some excellent birds, although mostly in a supportive
capacity. It seemed sensible to quit while I was ahead. The main down side was
that my already long journey home would be stretched from the best part of two
days to three.
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| Spaceport from Inner Skaw |
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| Spaceport from Norwick |
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| Lamba Ness |
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| Norwick |
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| Long-tailed Duck at Norwick |
