Fair Isle Farewell

A very tame Lapland Bunting spent a good few days around the plantation area, joined by Meadow Pipits and Skylarks after I put some grain down. . . . .these are a few of the shots I took before we departed back to the mainland for a couple of days in our house, followed by Glasgow and then back to Suffolk . . . . .;-(

LESSER SCAUP

A First for Fair Isle!

07/10/11

High Flyers . . . .

Strong winds and rain have made birding and photography somewhat difficult on Fair Isle for the last couple of days. However Wednesday saw the Hawfinch still at The Haa, a smart Yellow Wagtail with Turnstones on fields adjacent to South Harbour and several flocks of Whooper Swans battling the elements over the Island, along with Greylags, Pink-feet and Barnacle Geese. A highlight was watching a Short-eared Owl in Da Water which flew over the sea before landing to roost in long grasses below the school. Other birds included a Yellow-browed Warbler, Whinchat, Northern Wheatear, Dunlin and 4 Red-breasted Mergansers. The Island is generally very quiet for migrants! We need a change in wind and birding fortune this week! However it's great just being here with friends, enjoying crofting life at Burkle with fresh eggs daily, homemade soups and baking, pig slaughtering and butchery, getting cuddles from George the cat (who hates going outside luckily!), lots of tea drinking and the odd Tennants!

Autumn Platinum . . . .

The weather continued to be uncharacteristically 'summery' on Shetland & we spent many hours eagerly notching up more and more garden ticks in our new Lerwick garden! The list now stands at a modest 54. . . . . 1st October started incredibly well with not 1 but 3 Hawfinch appearing in the Hawthorn tree before breakfast followed by a Yellow-browed Warbler and then a Barred Warbler - not a bad start and above our Autumn hopes of what the garden might produce! However the best was yet to come on the 2nd with a very brief appearance of an Olive-backed Pipit on the freshly mowed lawn thanks to Chas & Alan who saw it drop in from the living room window! Chas later had an OBP at Helendale & Phil & I had a smart Citrine Wagtail overhead during a walk about or new 'Lerwick circuit'. Later that evening we also had presumably the same bird over the garden . . .taking our garden list to dizzy rarity heights we had not anticipated. It just makes us think . . . what else is to come!!? and if we are getting these birds in one Lerwick garden, what's dropping in or passing through so many others . . .

A trip to Bressay on Sunday morning produced 8 Yellow-browed Warblers. We dipped the Alpine Swift on several occasions but caught up with the Isabelline Shrike at Levenwick with 2 Yellow-browed Warblers nearby. We are now on Fair Isle staying with Hollie & Deryk at Burkle along with Micky Maher - it's great to be back!. The flight in was touch and go with increasing winds and driving rain but somehow we did make it in, even though it was the rockiest Fair Isle descent to the airstrip we've ever experienced. I photographed a very approachable Hawfinch at The Haa in the later afternoon gales but birding is pretty difficult as it standing up right now in those winds . . . .

Below are a few images from our Autumn adventures so far . . . .

Below: RIP: Siberian Blue Robin (from Foula) Hawfinch, View from North Shetland, Pallid Harrier, Rough Fair Isle sea, Grey Seal, Black-headed Bunting.