I still didn't feel myself this morning and took a while to get going. Had brunch and then headed to Hillwell to try and find a Rustic Bunting and Little Bunting, that someone had found this morning. On route I stopped at the main store and garage for the south, where I filled up with petrol and no queue! I excitedly walked into the shop to buy one of their fabulous macaroni cheese home-made pies, which I last purchased two years ago – my heart sank when I looked in the hot oven to find only sausage rolls! I asked at the till and they said the owner hadn't made them for a while and would mention it to him – the young man I spoke to seemed intrigued that I had remembered that the owner had made them and that he was also vegetarian! Maybe, if I'm very lucky, they may appear again before I return south! I purchased instead, a ginger cake and a bread knife (the one in the cottage is not sharp enough).
I failed miserably to find any buntings at Hillwell, but had a lovely wonder along the roads and found three Wheatears around the farm buildings and two donkeys! I wasn't here for very long, when a message came up on the WhatsApp group that a Monarch Butterfly had been found and was in the Sunken Garden at the Sumburgh House Hotel!!! I couldn't believe what I was reading! Luckily I wasn't far away, so nipped along the road south and parked in the hotel car park to find several people peering over a stone walled garden. I could not believe what I was seeing – a massive and glorious Monarch Butterfly resting on a stone! A first for me! Its incredible to think that this butterfly (in almost perfect condition) had made it to Shetland! Apparently it is only the fourth record, the third being yesterday, after a lady saying she had one in her garden yesterday. This created a big twitch! I just love Shetland! What a cracking first few days to my trip and as another birder said, with Red-eyed Vireos and a Monarch Butterfly, what else was out there undiscovered?! After taking pictures with several lenses, I then decided to do a video with the iPad, which was unsuccessful as I didn't dare get too close, but got a nice short wide angle video of everyone watching it. It was also nice to bump into Drew L. Jake G. and Simon, who had also found the buntings at Hillwell this morning I found out!
This gave me such a boost, that I decided to head north to Kergord for the afternoon, in hope of seeing my first Rustic Bunting. Its a long drive, but the scenery is spectacular. On arrival at Kergord, I was unsure of the exact location for the Rustic Bunting, so stopped a birder I could see, who had just gone into the wood behind the wall – this birder told me he had been the person to get stuck in the storm drain before me yesterday! He kindly told me that I was only 50 yards away from where I needed to be.
Kergord, Shetland
Walked downhill over a grassy field, alongside a dyke and a mature hedge and trees that ran the entire length of the field. I could see birders in the distance. I and others had to wait a long time for this elusive bird to appear, but eventually I saw my first ever Rustic Bunting! What a cracking little bird! My first view was in flight only and then saw it again perched on a tree, then briefly in a fir tree. Also saw a Goldcrest here, a Chaffinch and 2 Ravens. Someone had found a Greenish Warbler at Boddham, sadly I wasn't going to get there in time before dark, hopefully it will stay until until the morning.
Made the silly decision to head to Aith to see the Woodchat Shrike, instead of returning home to Levenwick – I couldn't find the bird and didn't even know if I was in the right spot. Whilst setting up the sat nav to go home, I could hear a buzzing noise and to my delight I found the RBA pager which I had left on silent mode!!! It was on the floor behind my driver's seat, which I had already searched, but obviously not well enough! My sat nav took me over a very narrow and precarious road, which was not a road to be on in the dark and it was almost dark, so I drove extremely carefully, as didn't want to be towed out again! Found myself in Voe and continued home south, arriving back at 7.45pm. Tried to light the fire again and failed! Another spectacular day on Shetland!
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