Long-tailed Duck, Unst, 4th April. Gathering at freshwater lochs and starting moult before heading back north in spring.
#birdingshetland
3rd April back on Unst with a bit of a goose fest.
6 Taiga Bean geese at Ordaal with 6 Jackdaws in the same area. 3 Greenland Whitefronts at Buness, another single was seen at Uyeasound, single Pinkfoot at Buness as well.Migrant Song Thrush at Uyeasound & the LTD’s always good. #birdingshetland
A visit to Unst on the 28th March gave good views of this Black Redstart at Haroldswick, an Unst tick along with this Turkey at Valyie! #birdingshetland
Quite pleased with this juv Iceland gull flying through Mid Yell Voe this morning, as wingers have been very scarce this winter in Shetland. #birdingshetland
Cheeky little Tengmalm’s twitch this afternoon, over to Ollaberry. Inter island ferries played their usual part in lengthening a 3/4 hour journey into 3 1/2 hours! #birdingshetland
Great weather and a few miles covered in North Yell. 2 Pinkfeet, 1 looking more Likely to get back to the breeding grounds than the other!
Lots of Skylarks back in the last couple of days.
Best though was 4 Humpbacks heading west past Breckon, no photos 😢
#birdingshetland
Well after 4 days of trying I finally managed to see the Bonaparte’s Gull at Uyeasound, Unst.
Flew in late afternoon for about 5 minutes. Also present was the 2nd winter Glaucous Gull and nearby 2 Tundra Bean geese. #birdingshetland
Spent the day on Unst. Didn’t see the Bonaparte’s Gull but did see some good birds on a driech day.
2 Tundra Bean geese, 2 Whitefronts, 2w Glaucous Gull, Kumlien’s/Thayers gull, White billed Diver plus 100’s of Long tailed Ducks. #birdingshetland
Also around North Yell this morning were a few Whoopers a nice adult Russian Whitefront and I got a slightly better photo of the Coot! #birdingshetland
The amazing variation of the 2 Mute Swans I saw today at Kirk Loch on Yell.
A very dark 1st winter bird and a Polish type adult. #birdingshetland
Nice cold and calm day here on Yell. The sea had frozen and the tide gone out to leave some nice patterns.
Bullfinch was new for the year along our road and with Ravens gathering nest material last week and Hoodies defending their empty nests, spring must be close, joke! 😂
#birdingshetland
Yesterday shopping run to Lerwick. Managed a 6 goose species day ( Taiga, Tundra Beans, Greylag, Whitefronts, Barnacle & Pinkfoot). Waxwing, 3 Greefinch and a superb Bittern reducing the Stickleback population at Spiggie.
#birdingshetland
Weather back to normal today, although wind was calmer than the last 3 weeks!
A 3rd w/4th cy Glaucous Gull and a flock of 9 wintering Jackdaws in Burravoe, Yell.
Tried to get a photo of the Coot but it had done a bunk!
2 of the 34 TD’s showed some signs of Ring necked Duck.
#birdingshetland
Beautiful day in Shetland yesterday. 6 Tundra Beans, same as Unst the other day, at Cullivoe. 2 Whitefronts at Sellafirth. But best of all was a Coot on Kirk Loch, no photo!, first on Yell since I’ve lived here.
Always something to see when waiting for ferries as well!
#birdingshetland
More pics of the Kumlien’s/Thayer’s gull on Unst yesterday. Hopefully get some better ones when the snow blizzard’s stop.
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A couple of posts on the Kumlien’s/Thayer’s gull currently on Unst.
Here’s some photos of it from March 24 as a 1st w (2nd cy) March 25 as a 2nd w (3rd cy) and February 26 as a 3rd w (4th cy)
#birdingshetland
Don’t think I’ve ever seen so much white in the wing of a Tundra Bean goose before. Very broad and seemingly unworn.
#birdingshetland
Also on Unst today at Uyeasound. The Kumlien’s/Thayer’s gull, 1st winter male Common Scoter and Woodcock along with c500 Long tailed Ducks, in the snow. The sound made the spectacle even better.
#birdingshetland
Today on Unst managed 5 sp of geese, Tundra Bean, Whitefront, Pinkfoot, Barnacle and the ever present Greylag. To be continued..
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These 2 Common Seals had the good idea to haul out today as 6 of the 27’s pod of Orcas were around! Great day for seeing them as well dead calm after 2 days of gales, not that you would have heard of that because it wasn’t in souther England! 😂
GWE mid winter in Shetland! #birdingshetland
Taiga bean geese
Shetland joining in with a little goose movement. A little circuit around RSPB Spiggie, produced. A single Tundra bean goose, European White-fronted goose, and 3 Taiga bean geese, joining the lingering 20 Barnacle geese, 2 Pink-footed geese and in excess of a thousand Greylag too. #birdingshetland
A 1st year female Siberian Rubythroat in a Shetland @rspbscotland.bsky.social Species on the Edge winter cover crop this afternoon. #birdingshetland #birdingscotland
Taken very little time for birding this autumn, just too much work on, so not surprising not to find much other than Blyth’s Reed and Citrine over past month. Been nice to put in some time this week though, with Great Egret (also a house ✔️) & Firecrest with Mr P. #birdingshetland #birdingscotland
Views of the Siberian Thrush yesterday via vegetation and bodies in the way! Especially the bloke in the blue coat… #ukbirding #birdingshetland #sibethrush #twitchers
A phone-binned shot of the Sibe Thrush
Our final full day ended with watching the Siberian Thrush all to ourselves. Other bits today included 20+ Storm Petrels heading out of Muckle Roe, a Snow Bunting, a few Yellow-broweds and a Pec Sand. #BirdingShetland
A holiday!!! #birdingshetland
Rustic Bunting at Urafirth
Twite at Heylor
Whinchat at Heylor
Esha Ness geo which today hosted a Red-breasted Flycatcher
No vehicle as Steve went off for the Sibe Thrush, so I hiked from Ronas Voe to Urafirth via a few sites and struck gold at the latter by flushing an elusive Rustic Bunting. My Corncrake was again in its quarry, and the day ended with a Red-breasted Flycatcher in the Esha Ness geo. #BirdingShetland
… and here is the Otter, first spotted up the beach being kicked out of the surf by a Grey Seal, it ran along the beach and perched just below us, where Steve Wilson was able to get these awesome pics before it smelt our presence! #otters #birdingshetland