Day 2

After a half day of travelling and getting settled into our comfortable chalet at Baltasound our first full day of birding dawned sunny and windless. As soon as we stepped outside Andy picked up a ringtail harrier hunting in the adjacent field.  A rather dark individual with orangey under parts but hefty looking with broad wings it proved to be a Hen Harrier a new bird for me on Shetland. 

The plan for the day was to head north to Skaw then slowly work our way back south.  We were warned by Martin that the farmer at Skaw is a bit grumpy so with that in mind we stuck to the paths and decided against walking the burn.  As a result the only bird we saw was a Garden Warbler.
At Valyie, Norwick it was obvious that there had been a bit of a clear out with only one Yellow-browed compared to at least 5 the previous evening.  However a couple of Barred Warblers were new in and Andy picked up a couple of Rosefinch in the oat crop.

Returning to Baltasound we covered the immediate gardens and the Helligarth plantation. Again more evidence of an exodus with just a Willow Warbler and a few Chaffinches!
Having briefly caught up with the Black-headed Bunting at Belmont on our way north yesterday we headed back for seconds and eventually had good views of it among the local sparrows.

A return visit to Norwick produced pretty much the same birds as earlier and another ring-tail Hen Harrier was a more typical bird than the early morning one.

Unstable

So begins our ‘intrepids’ trip to Unst or Unstable as the predictive text would tell you. Flights went as planned and on time and we arrived at Sumburgh just before 11am. Picking up the hire car we called in at Rob’s for a quick cuppa, where Dave found the first Yellow-browed of the trip.
Tea drunk we headed north via Tesco after dropping Dave off at Cunnisburgh.  On our way through Voe a large grey warbler flew over the car – it was obviously a Barred Warbler and a quick U-turn proved us right.  Hanging around for the Yell ferry we received a call from Dave who’s team – who will from now refer to as Team Smurf (after the cornflower blue house they’re staying in) – rang to let us know they had just re-found the Alpine Swift!  Unperturbed we carried on with our journey northwards taking in the first pie of the trip a Johnson and Wood egg and bacon. 

Connecting easily with the Unst Ferry we soon arrived at our chalet in Baltasound where we immediately discovered two things; Vodaphone and O2 don’t work and the prearranged unlocked door to the chalet was not unlocked. After enquiring with the family next door who kindly took us to the key holder we finally got in, dropped our stuff then finally went and did some birding. 

The gardens around Norwick were our choice and an hour or so in the rain produced 5 Yellow-browed, 2 Brambling, Sparrowhawk and a Garden Warbler.  The lack of any sort of phone signal created an intense feeling or paranoia and worse still meant that we couldn’t contact each other if either of us had anything interesting.  Without the 21st century’s technology this really is back to basics birding!

24th September. The Week Before Shetland

The week before my Shetland trip came up with the goods once again with a cracking adult Sandhill Crane at Loch of Strathbeg, Aberdeenshire. With the last bird, on Orkney foiling my plans by departing, this was a welcome pull back.

Back on the patch things have been very quiet with no waders since last weekends Ruff. A couple of fugitive Ruddy Ducks paid a brief visit last week, a valuable patch tick of this now scarce duck.

21st September. Intrepid?

Apparently I'm intrepid! Not my words or the words of anyone that knows me but the words of LGRE who in his latest 'Scillies is rubbish these days' posting said "A few intrepids prefer the tranquility of Shetland or the Outer Hebrides in their quest for that dreamt-of find". Actually the reason that I go is because I hate the sight of hundreds of birders swarming over everything from Black Redstart* upwards. So with the swelling numbers of ex Scilly birders heading North next month Andy AKA The Leicester Llama and I have moved camp to the far north i.e. Unst. It's an experiment that might go hideously wrong - it might be a birding triumph. Whatever it is one thing is certain we won't have the crowds like last year - at one point there were at least eight of us watching the Issy Shrike ridiculous!

Bizarrely LGRE's comments have come following the biggest deluge of American birds to hit the archipelago this century!!

Being intrepid in 2007!