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29 June 2019 Leaders: Craig Round & Tim Drew

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29 June 2019 Leaders: Craig Round & Tim Drew Holiday Highlights Shetland 222222 --- 292929 June 2019 Leaders: Craig Round & Tim Drew Guests: Linda & Paul Hobbs, Paul Bennett, Sue Hosack, Judy & Neil Hopkins, Sandra Bourne Day 111:1::: After all meeting at Aberdeen Airport we are soon boarding our flight to Shetland and bizarrely we have the whole plane to ourselves! There is great visibility during the flight and we get some great views of the Orkney Isles and Fair Isle as we fly north. We come in to land at Sumburgh Airport on Shetland and after picking up the hire vehicles are soon driving north, seeing our first Great Skuas, Arctic Terns as well as Oystercatcher, Lapwings, Fulmars and Redshank. At Toft we have time for some lunch before we catch our first ferry of the day across to Yell, around the ferry terminal Arctic Terns are flying overhead and we also see a smart Arctic Skua and another Great Skua as well as three Red throated Divers out in the bay, two Red Breasted Mergansers, Common Tern, Razorbill, Shag and Black Guillemot, welcome to Shetland! During the ferry crossing we see a good selection of birds including a few Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Gannets and Kittiwake as well as another dark morph Arctic Skua, before we land on Yell and drive across the island to board the next ferry across to Unst and onwards to our Hotel on Unst at Saxa Vord for the next few days. As we cross the island we pass a single Whooper Swan on a loch near the road and a little further on we make a stop alongside a roadside pool. Common Snipe fly overhead and we also see at least four Dunlin here, along with Oystercatcher and we get nice views of a Golden Plover in summer plumage near the road. Moving on again we find a stunning Red-throated Diver on another roadside loch and pass many Curlew in the fields as well as nesting Common Gulls, Rock Doves and a smart Redshank perched on a fence post before we arrive at Saxa Vord and settle in at the hotel, as Curlews call from the sur- rounding meadows and Great Skuas fly overhead. Day 222:2::: Today is a stunning warm and sunny Shetland morning! Our first stop is a short distance down the road at an idyllic Norwick beach, where we see a smart dark Arctic Skua that flies through, as well as Arctic terns, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Shetland Wren along the beach. A Quail is heard calling from the meadows nearby and a few Painted Lady butterflies flit about whilst offshore a few Puffins and Shags are seen as well as two inquisitive Common Seals. Walking up the road towards the gardens at Valyie we find a Chiffchaff calling, as well as a Tree Sparrow and Wood Pigeon and lots more Painted Lady and a few Red Admiral butterflies, before we drive over to Halligarth plantation after we get news of no less than a Blyths Reed warbler and Nightjar from there! At Halligarth we find another two Chiffchaffs in the gardens here and we get some amazing views of the Nightjar roosting at the base of a wall right out in the open and only a few feet away! As we watch the Nightjar the Blyth’s Reed Warbler is singing close by at the same time and after some patient scanning get a few glimpses of this rare migrant Warbler singing its amazing song and also mimicking other birds. You really do never know what you’re going to see next on Shetland! From here we head to the lighthouse shore station at Burrafirth, for some lunch with numerous Bonxies already circling overhead, before we begin our walk out to the seabird cliffs on the boardwalk that crosses the open moorland. The walk takes us through the Great Skua colony and the sky is full of calling and displaying Bonxies. In fact there are Great Skuas just everywhere! The more you look the more Skuas you can begin to see, dotted around on their nests on the moorland, some with small chicks. From the cliffs the views are stunning to Muckle Flugga the most Northerly point in the British Isles, as numerous sea birds sweep past, around and below us and we see yet more Painted Lady and Red Admiral butterflies flitting around the cliffs, they really are everywhere! With the sun out we take our time sat on the cliff top and taking in the views, with the azure blue sea below us and a sky full of seabirds, it really is an incredible spot! Walking on further around to the dramatic 'Saito' cliffs, the views are staggering and we are greeted by the sights sounds and smells of a 'blizzard' of thousands of Gannets wheeling around and below us. There are literally thousands of birds nesting on the sheer cliffs and birds are seemingly filling every available ledge below us and we take some time here taking in this incredible seabird spectacle before making our way back across the island. On the drive back to Saxa Vord we see a smart pale morph Arctic Skua which is sat in a field near the road and on a small pool nearby find no less than three (two female and one male) Red-necked Phalaropes! The views of these tiny and rare arctic waders are just incredible, what an amazing end to the day! Day 333:3::: Today dawns cloudier and a little cooler as we head back to Halligarth this morning for another go at getting better views of yesterdays Blyth’s Reed Warbler. We soon find the warbler singing from the Rosa bushes and after a patient wait get much better views of it perched out in the open several times and still belting out its incredible song. Heading for the ferry over to the island of Fetlar, a dark morph Arctic Skua flies over the road mobbed by Lapwings and at the ferry terminal a few Razorbill are offshore as Arctic terns fly over. During the ferry crossing to Fetlar through Bluemull Sound the usual selection of Auks, Arctic Terns and Gannets etc are seen and we pass several small islands with flocks of Greylag Geese on them. Landing on Fetlar we drive across the island, seeing a few Snipe as well as a smart Golden Plover in summer plumage right next to the road, before we head up onto a higher part of the island. Up here the views are stunning out across the island and down to the Lighthouse on Out Skerries and we also get some great views of another Golden Plover, as well as a close view of a lovely pale morph Arctic Skua. A Merlin is seen briefly, flying through hunting in the distance and flushing a small flock of Dunlin and Golden Plover before we head around to the Loch of Funzie. Here overlooking the loch, we get great views of at least three Whimbrel calling and chasing any passing Great and Arctic Skuas and also get lovely views of two Red-throated Divers out on the loch, with a few Arctic Terns and Dunlin also around the edge of the loch. After lunch we take a walk down to the hide overlooking the Mires of Funzie, where we get cracking views of another two female Red-necked Phalaropes that drop in onto the water as Snipe ‘drum’ in display overhead and a small flock of Teal take flight. At Tresta beach around 50 Great Skuas are bathing on the freshwater loch behind the beach and a single dark Arctic Skua is sat on the beach, with several Black Guillemots out in the bay and a few kittiwakes flying over, before we head back to catch the ferry back to Unst. On the crossing back to Unst we see a Basking Shark just off Yell and as we drive back across Unst towards the hotel, four Whooper swans are seen on a loch by the road and we get amazing views of a dog Otter running across some fields and being mobbed by angry lapwings and Redshank, before swimming across a small loch and clambering up over a high dry stone wall! What a great end to the day! Day 4:4:4: Its cool and windy this morning as we head out, making our first stop just down the road at Haroldswick. Here we get good views of Common Seals with pups, hauled out on the rocks in the bay, as well as a female Eider with ducklings and Redshank, Curlew and Ringed Plover along the beach. After a stop to take in the fantastic recreated Viking longship and longhouse at Haroldswick and of course ‘Bobby’s bus shelter’, we head along the shore at Baltasound seeing a few pairs of Arctic Terns nesting along the beach as well as two dark Arctic Skuas that fly past and more Common Seals hauled out on the slipway. At the incredible lunar landscape of the Keen of Hamar we stop to take in some of the rare plants to be found there. A flock of 15 Golden Plover are in the fields here and after a brief search we soon find the first dainty flowers of Edmonstons Chickweed, followed by several more patches of this incredibly rare endemic plant, a plant that grows nowhere else in the world other than here on Unst! We also come across some spikes of the tiny Frog Orchid. From the Keen o Hamar we drive towards Skaw. A single female Red-necked Phalarope is on the same small pool again as yesterday and we pass several pairs of Great Skuas nesting on the moorland and a pair of close Golden Plover before we make a stop at the beach at Skaw for lunch, the most northerly beach in Britain! The sun is out and it’s sheltered from the wind here and as we take our lunch in this idyllic and beautiful spot, Arctic Terns to and fro overhead and there are many Gannets diving for fish in the bay and Great Skuas flying over and we also see four Ravens that fly over and several Twite here.
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