22nd October: Pie within a pie

I have just eaten an amazing Sausage Roll Pie a new creation by the very talented Kerrie. It would be unfair to rate this one as it truly is well off the scale. Basically it is a puff pastry pie filled with mini sausage rolls which are filled with a secret sausage mix- bliss.

21st October: Frozen Nads

After deciding not to go for the Flamborough Bluetail I did eventually venture out late afternoon. I decided to go to Pit-house West, near Rother Valley, and see if any Bitterns had returned. They hadn't and all I managed were a couple of Water Rails and due to ill fitting under garments, frozen nether regions.
Hot pie news from Shetland. My good friend Rob has uncovered a breafast pie containing Bacon, Sausage, Egg and Beans. This, it would appear, is the elusive holy grail of Shetland pies. Rob, being a well regarded pie sampler, has yet to eat this pie and has placed it in his fridge. Anyone wishing to view the pie should form an orderly que outside Sunnydell, Eastshore, Virkie. Please park sensibly at this sensitive site and respect the privacy of the residents. A charge of £1 will be made for viewing with all monies going to the Greggs rehab charity.

20th October: Cheer up you miserable git.

With the divorce papers, greeting me first thing, today was showing all the signs of being a great day! Bugger it I have decided that I have no control over this situation so there’s no point moping around and making me and everyone else miserable.
A planned shopping trip to Murderhall with Bethany and my mums store cards was the order of the day. I think I‘m getting too in touch with my feminine side as I’m starting to enjoy these shopping jaunts – god help me. There is a decent pie establishment at Murderhall – Crawshaws. Unfortunately, following the spectacular floods during June it remains closed. Do not be tricked in visiting the Pie King in the Oasis as it is shit and don’t mention the Chav pies from Greggs. Three full days have now passed since consuming any pies, though I did make a splendid Paella tonight, which half sounds like Pie!!

19th October. View from the afternoon

Following the aesthetically pleasing views last week the view from the office window can only be described as depressing. The only plus point is that the round thing in the foreground looks like a huge pie. With the days, getting rapidly shorter birding jaunts after work will be rare. The onset of a long dark winter is upon us though the thought of a return to Shetland in 71 days will keep me going.

18th October: Back to Reality

Back to work this morning although apparently I should have been back yesterday - oops. Rob phoned me last night to tell me he’d just found a White-rumped Sandpiper on the POV unfortunately his euphoria was short lived when I informed him that the Punks had just found a Blyth’s Pipit at Sumburgh. Keeping his finding streak going he then goes anb finds a Radde’s Warbler in the Toab turnip field. If only he’d put as much effort in last week! Anyhow, back to the important stuff – pies. That good old Rotherham lad (we have a nose for pies) Russ has come up trumps with an exclusive photo of a previously unknown pie a Cheese Burger puff no less which he has awarded a generous 8 points on the pie scale.

17th October: The big weigh in

After consuming a great deal of quality pies over the last eleven days it was time to take to the scales. With the morning ablutions out of the way I stood on the scales. Now my weight before embarking on this trip was 12 stone and 5lbs, to my utter amazement my new weighjt was 12 stone and 4 lbs. There you go it goes to prove that several gallons of Guiness and countless pies are good for you. As for the Lancashire Hotpot Pie. I ate that whilst waitng for the car park bus in a very wet Birmingham Airport. This however did not spoil the flavour and experience of this quality pie and I gave it the maximum cold rating of 10 on the pie scale. Arriving home at midnight I hit the sack and slept solid until 8am. With no work today my main plan was to go and the see the Slavonian Grebe that had been residing on my local patch, Rother Valley Country Park, for the last week or so. On arrival it was showing well infront of the duck feeding area but was then chased around by two lairy photographers who kept running after it each time it dived. After a week of sensible behaviour on the Shet's this was slightly annoying particularly as the Kevin Keegan type perm one claims to be a pro photographer! Anyway I'd already got some shots so I went home and with great sadness to eat my last Shetland Pie, a delicious White Sauce and Chicken.

16th October: Who ate all the pies?

A very wet blustery start to the last day didn't see Rob and I venture out until 12 though to our credit we did work the Sumburgh Head, Farm, Hotel and Grutness areas thoroughly, though via a refreshment stop with the very hospitable Mr Ellis. Early afternoon saw us head to the Sandwick to get a selection of fine pies. Bugger me on entering the shop it became clear that they had sold out!! Disaster. The only remaining pies were a couple of 'meat' pies so I popped them in the microwave and promptly consumed them. However I did manage to get a bakery carrier bag which I will give to the lucky person who can email me a shot of the elusive sausage and bean pie.
We then checked a few fields for Golden Plover flocks but spirits were low following the pie disaster. There was always a chance however that Mainlands would come up trumps and they did just that. Not only was there a selection of previously ticked pies but also a rather new phenomenon in the form of a Lancashire Hot Pot Pie. A review of this pie will follow as it's still festering in my hand luggage. A White Sauce and Chicken Pie was also purchased t this point.

It was now time to say my good buys to Rob and the two Andy's and depart for the airport.
Once gain with a heavy heart I said goodbye to the wonderful Shetland, however this time I will be back much sooner 10 weeks and 4 days exactly.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this trip the best yet: Rob, Helen, Andy, Andy, Rachel, Katrina, Hugh, Pete and Ken and anyone else I might have missed.


I came for the birds but stayed for the pies

15th October: From bad to worse

A walk around Exnaboe and Toab this morning produced very little except for a Garden Warbler and a single Yellow-browed. To make things worse the Toab shop had no pies and the weather turned yucky. With all these things in mind I returned to Sunnydell and went back to bed. Rob tried to get me to go to Quendale with him but I was by now far too comfy. I got up, after a very refreshing two hour kip to see Rob and Sparky walking down the lane! Where was the car? Well my former trusty chariot had broken down halfway between Fleck and Quendale. Rob had managed a lift by charming the pants off some single grannies. What with rain, no birds, no pies and no car could the day get any worse? I'm sure it can and probably will I wonder if they make a Prozac Pie!!

Secret Piedaphile ring uncovered at Virkie

We recovered the car from Quendale and after towing it for a while got it started. A visit to Mainlands produced no pies and worse still I was almost tempted towards the dark side for a Chicken Tikka Samosa. The evening improved with some nice people in the Sumburgh and beating the Punk Birders at pool - finally we can beat them at something.
Last day tomorrow so a visit to the Sandwick bakery will be in order to clean up on the pies.

14th October: And On The Seventh Day

A bit of a lie in this morning, after another late one. First port of call was for yesterdays Bluetail. Fortunately things were a little friendlier here today and the bird was showing down to just a couple of metres and we spent a good half hour photographing it.

Red-flanked Bluetail (M N Reeder)

A report of an unidentified Locustella at Quendale was intriguing enough to go and have a look. After an hour there we had had enough the fact that it had changed from being a possible PG Tips to a Lancy filled us with a bit of sceptism. As Sparky had been sat in the car all mornng we thought it only fair to take him for a walk in the Exnaboe areea where we saw absolutely nowt. We returned to Sunnydell for refreshments though again being Sunday pies were not on offer, although there were two catergory D Pork Pies in the fridge. Whilst entertaining the local tour guide we were alerted to a Dusky Warbler at Sumburgh Farm. On arriving the bird was feeding in the sheltered garden before becoming very mobile and elusive.

Rob needed fags at this stage so a trip to Mainlands Stores was required. On arrival I headed straight to the chiller cabinet and caught sight of a couple of savoury chicken pies - bonus pie on the sabbath. As there were two Rob and I were able to share them and gave them a joint rating of 7 on the Pie Scale.

Following the pies we headed for Boddam. We took time to cover the gardens, shoreline and fields but had bugger all and decided that the fat lady was well and truly tuning up.

The run of finding things beginning with 'P' continued

A Request from Toab.

Could birders visiting the Pechora Pipit park safely and not climb on the walls or vice versa.

Oops (Helen Moncrieff)

13th October: A Bad Choice

Despite not drinking last night I still woke up with a hangover!! Perhaps I am now starting to sober up. Despite this I went for a wander around Toab scoring a couple of Yellow-broweds and even better views and photos of the Pechora.


After returning for breakfast we decided to have a quick look in the Quendale area for the Hornemanni Arctic Redpoll and if any new migrants had dropped in. There was very little apart from a couple of Yellow-broweds and the odd Chiffchaff. We only had flight views of the Redpoll flashing its very striking snowy white rump. A quick visit to Noness failed to produce the Woodlark but gave us chance to visit the Sandwick Bakery. An amazing array of pies was on offer and I chose to go for the Cheese, Bean and Tattie. An excellent choice a good weighty pie with a generous layer of quality beans and mashed potato topped with cheese. Heated up in the microwave for 1 minute 20 seconds and consumed in no time at all a full 12 points on the Pie Scale for these two hot beauties.

Hot Pie on Pie Action

Pies consumed we decided to head for the plantations of Kergord. Both Upper Kergord and Kergord were disappointing only producing single Yellow-broweds at each. Our visit was cut short by a pager message of a White's Thrush at Sumburgh followed by another of a Red-flanked Bluetail at Scatness. To make things worse those bloody punks had found the latter leaving us slightly vexed. A frantic drive to Sumburgh resulted in crap views of the Thrush and only a very brief view of the Bluetail at Scatness.

Spangled F*** Thrush

The crowd at the latter were getting argumentative so we decided to go and have another look at the Thrush. Better views were obtained so we returned to Sunnydell and I took Sparky for a walk in to Toab.
A phone call from Bethany (my daughter) informed me that the Lada (see post 6th Oct') was coming round which thrilled me no end!