Shetland ..... 5th to 12th October 2019 Part 1

                                                      Shetland : Part One  


                                                              5th October

                                                             

Western Bonelli's Warbler (?)

So a week on Shetland in October with RR & PG started of very well with distant views of the Semipalmated Sandpiper on the Loch of Virkie and a bit later in the morning our first Yellow browed Warbler was seen near the water mill at Quendale.

We had lunch and spent quite a bit of time in the afternoon trudging through varies habitat to try and find something ourselves, then news broke of a Bonelli's Warbler species at Papil West Burra.

We headed straight there as this would be a lifer for both RR & PG which ever race it was  , and if it was an Eastern it would be new for me to !!!

Western Bonelli's Warbler (?)

We had really great views of this delightful warbler but sadly never heard it call (which would clinch id), however it seems others heard it when it was first found and it sounded Western to them plus it also responded to Western Bonelli's  call.

Western Bonelli's Warbler (?)

 6th October

Today we headed to Ollaberry in the hope of seeing the European Bee-eater , with bad weather forecast on the 7th we thought this might be our only  chance to see it (which proved to be right), before we headed to Ollaberry we checked out our local area to near where we were staying and found a single Yellow Browed Warbler which showed well. plus Redwing, 2 Blackcap & a single Chiffchaff all seen near Vidlin Cemetary.

European Bee-eater.

The European Bee-eater gave us abit of a run around at first but great views were obtained eventually.

European Bee-eater.

From here we headed to Kergold and saw a distant Great Grey Shrike which at one point caught a small ish bird and took it back to it's larder for consummation.

Distant Great grey Shrike.

Then a drive over to Califf for a Red backed Shrike was well worth the trip as this 1st winter bird showed very well indeed.

Red Backed Shrike 1st winter

7th October

The weather forecast for today was strong gale force winds and heavy rain by the afternoon, we did our usual local area search not really turning up much other then a noticeable increase in both Redwings & Blackbirds.

We decided to head south and to try our luck with checking the Quendale area and also hopefully connect with the Short toed Lark.

Well other then more Thrushes and Goldcrest we didn't add anything at Quendale near the mill, so we carried onto the area the Short toed Lark had been seen, it didn't take long before it flew into view !!!

Short toed Lark.

Other birds seen here were : Skylark, Meadow & Rock Pipit.

We headed from here to Grutness to have lunch in the car as the wind was really blowing and the rain was beginning to become heavy.

Whilst having lunch we were treated to some great views of an Otter which had just caught a crab.

Otter with a large Crab.

8th October

We checked Vidlin Cemetery  this morning on our way out and there were now 2 Yellow Browed Warblers plus Blackcap, Chiffchaff & several Redwing , also 2 Twite flew overhead.

Another Yellow Browed Warbler & 5+ Goldcrest were seen at Sweening and 5+ Red breasted Mergansers were seen on the nearby Loch.

A trip to Loch of Spiggie produced good numbers of Whooper Swan.

Whooper Swan.

News of an OBP at Sandwick got our hopes up only by the time we got there it had done a bunk , i did have a wander and had great views of Wheatear & Twite.

Twite.

We cut our loses and headed to the Burn of Valayre and we had great views of a Red breasted Flycatcher and a very bright Yellow browed Warbler.

Red Breasted Flycatcher

We watched the Flycatcher feeding along the fence line for quite sometime and the Yellow browed Warbler was often seen nearby.

A walk through the Brae community gardens produced a brief view of the Wood Warbler but little else.

The final destination today was Michael's Wood at Aith, we saw a superb Waxwing here plus 15+ Brambling, i also heard a Yellow browed Warbler.

Waxwing.

Well that's the end of part one , thanks for sticking with it , in part two i see my only Lifer of the trip plus a couple of bonus birds on the last day. 

Grey Phalarope puts on a Show at Grenham Bay

1st winter Grey Phalarope.

On Tuesday 24th September news of a Grey Phalarope in Grenham Bay filtered through the birds news services , i couldn't get there until the afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see the Grey Phalarope close in the pools near the promenade.

Here are a selection of photos :

Grey Phalarope

The local Black headed Gulls were not to keen on the Grey Phalarope and mobbed it a couple of times which flush it at one point and the Grey Phalarope flew out to sea.

Eventually after approx 10 minutes it flew back into the pool and continued to show well to the small gathering of birders present.

Flying back in.

Coming into land.

Grey Phalarope.

Good to catch up with Steve A,  Chris G (who did well picking out a distant Arctic Tern) & Nigal J.

American Golden Plover ....At Oare Marshes plus trip to Dungeness

7th September :  Dungeness Rspb & Arc

On Saturday the 7th September i had spent a very pleasant morning at Dungeness Rspb & Arc pits seeing 2 Black Terns, 2 Great white Egrets & a close Cattle Egret from the Hanson hide on the Arc pit.

Cattle Egret

On Burrowes Pit on the Rspb reserve there were several hundred Sand Martins plus lesser numbers of both House Martin & Swallow.

There was also a very quick fly through of 60+ Knot.

60+ Knot.

OARE MARSHES

American Golden Plover.

On the way back we called into Oare Marshes and had a walk around the East flood and were checking out 11 juv Curlew Sandpipers (including flag ringed individual) in Faversham creek when i received phone call from MW asking if i know anything about a American Golden Plover being on the East flood, from where i was standing i could see David Campbell by the road and i told MW and we both agreed if DC had seen it then it's a great shout.

Dark head with broad white supercillium

We all made our way around to where DC was and sure enough he had found an adult American Golden Plover in with the Eurasian Golden Plover flock, well done DC on a really great find (Good to see you again to) !!!

Here are a selection of photos i took :

Grey underwing

American Golden Plover.

This is only the 2nd record of American Golden Plover at Oare Marshes although it could possibly be the returning bird from 2018 ?!

Brown Booby in Cornwall

                                           3rd September :    Cornwall
                                        
                                                      Kynance Cove

                                                               

1st summer Brown Booby

On Tuesday the 3rd September i travelled down to Kynance Cove in Cornwall with RR & SC in the hope of seeing the 1st summer Brown Booby.

We arrived on site approx 6.15am and made our way down the side of the cove joining the already assembled birders all in a hushed state of anxiety !!!!

After several scans of the cove & sea which resulted in 100's of Manx Shearwaters & Gannets plus good numbers of Fulmar helped quell the anxious wait (just a little bit).

Then the shout went up , ' There it is', you could hear the collective sigh of relief of approx 200 birders as we all enjoyed a close fly by followed by more close fly by's until the  Brown Booby eventually settled down on it's favoured Pyramid shaped rock.

Here are a selection of photos i took of the Brown Booby.

Brown Booby.

Whilst watching the Brown Booby 7 Chough flew over my head , wow , plus there were several Raven's seen.

2 of the 7 Chough

Davidstow Airfield

Buff-Breasted Sandpiper

After spending several hours watching and enjoying the Brown Booby we decided to head to Davidstow airfield and hopefully see the Buff-Breasted Sandpiper and after a short search we were soon enjoying some great views of this superb wader.

Buff Breasted Sandpiper.

Using the car as a hide gave us the opportunity to see the Buff Breasted Sandpiper up close , we also saw a superb White Wagtail.

White Wagtail.

A really great days birding and very lucky to see the Brown Booby on our first and only attempt.

Rspb Frampton Marsh

                                       24th August :  Rspb Frampton Marshes


                                                                   

Buff-Breasted Sandpiper

I paid my first visit to Rspb Frampton Marshes on the 24th August and had a wonderful day , we started off looking for the Buff breasted Sandpiper which was on view from the sea wall.

Although it was still quite distant it was showing out in the open and good scope views were obtained.

Digi scoped Buff Breasted Sandpiper

We enjoyed watching this bird for sometime then we headed off to look for the Long Billed Dowitcher , this took abit more finding as it had walked out of view by the time we arrived.

However after a short while the Long billed Dowitcher did the decent thing and showed itself to it's admiring fans.

Long Billed Dowitcher

LBD having a swim.

Once again we spent alot of time enjoying this bird before heading off and exploring the rest of this superb reserve , adding plenty of wader's to our day bird list plus no less than 15 Spoonbills which was a great sight to see.

Spoonbill's in flight

Spoonbill overhead.

We had some really close views of Black tailed Godwit, Knot & Ruff.

Close view of a Ruff.

We also saw nesting Swallows and 3 migrating Whinchats on our walk around the reserve with the constant back drop of  Yellow Wagtails calling & flying overhead.

Nesting Swallows

1 of 3 Whinchat.

A really enjoyable day at Frampton marshes, great to meet Toby.C. who has boundless enthusiasm and knowledge for Frampton marshes & nature in general.