Mealy Magic - & that Horny Man!
Today (24th) started very slowly as it was the day after the night before - Hollie & Deryk's leaving/retirement party which went on until the early hours. It was a very enjoyable event with a lot of Islanders joining the Obs crowd for alcohol, alcohol, alcohol, dancing & merriment, coupled with a deep underlying sadness & much musing of the many good times had over the past 10 years with H&D at the helm. AW Simon managed to dance so hard he broke his foot - so it's not looking like a great end of the season for him! However we wheeled him into the ringing room for a smart adult Waxwing after breakfast & he is getting a good dose of pampering before going off for an Xray tomorrow (poor Simon!). Waxwings were shrilling outside the Obs at first light today & Phil mananged to trap 10 of them during the morning with walk in traps & apples (it was too windy for the nets). Several Northern Bullfinch were also seen & a smart male ringed. The Black-throated Thrush was present now in the company of a Ring Ouzel (pictured). Mealy Redpolls are still in residence in the south & this afternoon I finally managed to catch up with the snowball of an Arctic Redpoll at Shirva & then the shop - at last!! - though photographing it in strengthening NW winds was not the easiest!

Shetland - October 2010
Our annual and long awaited Autumn trip to Shetland is now underway! After 3 hours sleep in a Luton airport hotel and 2 flights we were at Sumburgh breathing in the sea air and heading off to see our first rarity of the Autumn - the Syke's Warbler at Channerwick. This was a tick for me and although a very elusive individual, good views were eventually obtained. A great start! We stayed with Paul Harvey & were soon back in the Sumburgh Hotel catching up with Helen, Newton, Rob Fray & Mark Reeder.
We spent the 7th and 8th on Unst staying with Brydon, Vaila & little Casey in their new home. I really loved Unst, a place Phil used to live, and the birding was fine with good numbers of common migrants & a few rares. An unexpected encounter with a big male Otter at Haroldswick one evening was just magic! Birds of note included 2 Little Bunting, 1 Lanceolated Warbler, 1 Richard's Pipit, 1 Arctic Redpoll, 1 Pallas's Warbler & our first Yellow-browed warblers of the Autumn.
We left our Unst friends on Saturday morning to catch our Sumburgh flight to Fair Isle - where we are to be until the end of the Obs season :-) superb . . . . .

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll - Yell

Arrived at Sumburgh on Saturday afternoon for the start of our October birding trip. We were met with a strong northerly gale, driving rain and later that evening snow and blizzards in Lerwick! Visited 'Yell' on Sunday for the very smart Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll which was feeding in a field near the school at Cullivoe.