Shetland Trip...... 20th - 27th September

                                                         SHETLAND TRIP

                                    20th to 27th September 2025

Snow Bunting at Sumburgh Head.

20th

My annual trip to Shetland this year was a bit earlier then i would have liked but this last week in September can sometimes prove to be very good.

We started off with a seawatch from the view point at Sumburgh head, ton's of Fulmars & Gannets as you would expect plus several Black Guillemots & Shags riding the waves.

The excitement level went up a notch with a close in Manx Shearwater which was quickly followed by an adult Pomarine Skua !!

Next bird to be added to our start of the trip was a superb Sooty Shearwater giving close views once again.

The star of the morning however was at least 3 Orca's which surfaced twice approx 400 meters out.

We then headed off to Tesco's to get some supplies for the week and then called into Tingwall Loch to see the Ring necked Duck which was a bit distant for photos.

21st

Snow Bunting in flight

Our first full day on Shetland and we started off down south with another seawatch, bit quieter today , Great Skua being the highlight, there was also a very showy Snow Bunting near the car park.

Always good numbers of Hooded Crows on Shetland.

From Sumburgh we headed to Isbister to look for the Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, the news was negative when we arrived , very elusive & not been seen for an hour , we spread out checking various areas for it or anything else that might appear without success.

Back at the car deciding what to do when we noticed another birder taking photos , Yep he had the Hornemann's Redpoll in his sights !!

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll.

Delightful looking 'snowball', we watched this bird for sometime before a Rabbit flushed it out of the paddock.

On the way to Eshaness we called into the cemetery and had superb views of a Common Redstart.

Common Redstart.

22nd

Wheatear at Quendale Mill

A trip to Quendale Mill produced decent views of a Pied Flycatcher in the sycamores near the road along with Goldcrest & Willow Warbler and a very tame Wheatear nearby on a post.

A very brief flight view of the Blue-winged Teal at Hillwell Loch was good to see plus a Slavonian Grebe was also present.

On to Geosetter Burn and finally i managed a photo or 2 of the splendid Wood Warbler that had been found earlier in the day.

Wood Warbler.

A look over the rocks from Fjara Cafe near Tesco's produced 7 Purple Sandpipers.

Purple Sandpiper

23rd

The Big Day

Shetland normally has at least one day on most autumn weeks when the Mega alert goes off,  you always hope you choose the right week (unless you are able to go for the whole month). 

Well a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler had been found at Baltasound on Unst which is the most northerly island on Shetland & takes two ferries to get to.

We all had fantastic views of a PGW last year but fancied another look so off we went,.

On arrival at the PGW site news broke that an Eastern Bonelli's Warbler had been found just up the road at Houland !!!!

What to do, talk about head spinning, we decided to stake out the PGW first and it was hard going, i did see it briefly along the base of a tree in the grass, then it popped up on a low branch then disappeared into the grass again.

My friends never saw it and were quite keen to go for the EBW which would be a lifer for both of them.

Thankfully  we had great views of this superb bird.

Eastern Bonelli's Warbler.

24th

We started the day off at Wester Quarff and had some really good views of a Yellow-Browed Warbler which was very vocal at times.

Yellow-browed Warbler

News broke of a 1st winter Citrine Wagtail on the playing fields near Tesco's at Lerwick, so that was our next destination.

On arrival once again the news was negative, been no sign for over an hour, we had a decent walk around checking the bays & fields with no joy , we walked down to Fjara cafe and had another look at Purple Sandpipers, Turnstone, Knot & Ringed Plover.

Ringed Plover.

We decided to walk back the way we came checking the seaweed as we went just in case, as we reached the bay by the horse riding paddock there were 2 Wagtails on the pebbles & seaweed, the furthest one away was the Citrine Wagtail , i managed to get a couple of birders onto it as it moved along the beach, eventually it flew around calling , sadly no photo but great to see, all but briefly as it flew further away out of view.

25th

Birds were few and far between today, we checked out several areas , Siskin & Yellow-browed Warbler at Michealswood plus another Yellow-browed Warbler at Kergord was about the best of our efforts .

So we decided to twitch the Short-toed Lark on Yell.

Digi scoped Short-toed Lark

Short-toed Lark

26th

A few more birds around today, Spotted Flycatcher was good to see at Grutness & a Merlin overhead at Quendale were both new birds for the week, we also saw a single Barnacle Goose on Hillwell Loch.

Barnacle Goose 

27th

13 of the 30 Barnacle Geese

Our last day on Shetland for another year started of at Hoswick and we saw a flock of  30 Barnacle Geese flying south.

We had a walk around the Orca Inn and  added YBW & Goldcrest, a single Redpoll flew overhead followed by 5 Siskins.

We walked towards the bay and were delighted to see an Otter swimming and feeding happily along the tide line.

Otter.

We left the Otter in peace and headed of to Quendale Mill where we hoped to catch up with the recently found Red-Breasted Flycatcher.

As luck would have it we pretty much saw it straight away on arrival !!

Red breasted Flycatcher

We had a walk around the iris beds but other then a Willow Warbler we didn't add much else.

Willow Warbler

 Our final stop off was back at Fjara Cafe where one again had superb views of Gannet & Purple Sandpipers.

Gannet

Purple Sandpiper

Well done if you managed to read all this long blog post, hope you enjoyed it !!!