SHETLAND – DAY SIX!

 

RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL

Sound, Lerwick

This morning I was incredibly lazy! I didn't set the alarm and got up late – its very difficult to get out of this luxurious bed with electric blanket (with three different settings), very difficult indeed. Niki (who owns the apartment along with her husband Pete) came up to see if I was ok, which was very kind of her and we ended up chatting for ages about all manner of things. She really is a lovely person, extremely interesting and very funny – I could have carried on chatting all day with her!

I cooked brunch – fried eggs, toast and butter, baked beans, vege sausages and tomatoes – lovely! I was three quarters way through this when the WhatsApp rare birds for Shetland bleeped up with Red-flanked Bluetail at the Sound of Burn, south of Lerwick! Niki's husband Pete very kindly brought me up some home grown potatoes from a friend of his, how lovely was that! Hurriedly got myself into the car and I was off! I really do need to buy myself one of those magnetic holders to put the phone onto in the car, as the google maps on my iphone was far more accurate in finding Quoys Road, than my sat nav was! I still had to phone Jacquie and Dave for the final directions though – even the phone took me up a different road. The disadvantages to being a visiting birder and not knowing where the h*ll you are going can be very frustrating!

Anyway, after parking the car up along the road by the bridge, it was only a short walk to a little oasis in the midst of a residential area. It was a huge surprise to see this cracking little spot! A little waterfall started at the top and cascaded down over big boulders, all the way to the bottom. There were willows and other trees in here, lots of grasses, irises and other plants and alongside this was a fence next to someone's wild garden, which was basically long grasses and willows – it was this garden where the RFB spent most of its time. Whoever found the Red-flanked Bluetail made my day completely – this was a cracking bird and very very striking indeed, with a vivid blue tail. It very rarely kept still though and was constantly on the move and happily feeding. There seemed to be a branch or twig in the way, whenever I attempted to photograph it. It was also extremely cold and my camera started to play up, just when it landed on the most photographic branch with perfect light etc, the camera simply and unusually wouldn't focus. I spent far too long here and got frozen, I had stupidly left my Rab jacket in the car, so only had the Paramo coat on. There was also at least 20+ Redpolls here too and they were wonderful to watch feeding at really close range and a Chiffchaff was also seen.

Feeding well!

RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL

Sound, Lerwick

It was so relaxing to watch this magical little bird with so few people, a few locals and a few visiting birders. Met Steve Arlow here, who had just come off Fair Isle early because of the imminent bad weather.  There was also a man here who was Norfolk's 'Richard The Hat's' double!!! The last people to turn up were two couples I had met the other day at the Red-backed Shrike site at Hoswick – they told me the RBS never turned up whilst they were there, which was a shame. The RFB had disappeared when they turned up, so I walked down to the furthest willow to try and locate it for them and found it in there and beckoned them to come over. We saw it dive into the base of a tree (very close to us) in long grass and waited for it to come out.... and waited and waited. We couldn't believe that it had sneaked out, but it had! We found it again in the garden on the other side of the fence – I'm glad they got to see it before the light went completely. I think it was around 5pm when we all left.

Where the Red-flanked Bluetail was today – an oasis in the middle of a residential area – what an amazing little place to have on your doorstep!

Common Redpoll

Sound, Lerwick

I had no intentions of topping up food supplies until tomorrow, but being as I was in Lerwick, I decided to get it done now. Either Monday evening is the main night locals go shopping or they were topping up their supplies before the supermarket empties with what could be lack of supplies over the next few days of poor weather, as there were loads of people shopping in Tescos! Headed back to Levenwick in semi-darkness and strong blustery winds, which meant I had to drive much slower than I normally do!

Cooked my home grown potatoes and had them with a microwave vege lasagne – fell asleep! Tomorrow and Wednesday look atrocious with heavy rain and winds all day long, so I will be editing photos, as have lots to add to the blog, including beach/scenery pictures, Western Subalpine Warbler, Red-flanked Bluetail and Redpolls. It is lashing down with rain here right now with strong winds.