SHETLAND TRIP – DAY 8: King Eider, Rosefinch, Bluethroat & More!

 

BLUETHROAT

In the same hedge as the Rustic Bunting at Kergord, Shetland

Rubbish picture – high ISO, taken in poor light and fog!

 🎉 "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" TO JACQUIE BRIDGES! 🎉

 

I set my alarm very early and didn't hear a thing! This is one of the disadvantages of being here by yourself, there is no one to kick you into action! Cross with myself, I got out of the door as fast as I could, looking dishevelled, but who cares! Well, to be honest I couldn't move very fast, as although I'm sleeping brilliantly here, the mattress is too soft for me and this can be the only reason why today I could hardly walk upright, my lower back was so painful. This pain started a few days again and has got steadily worse. I will have to relocate to the sofa bed (which seems much firmer) in the living room this evening and hopefully I will return to 'normal'!

View from my cottage at Levenwick this morning

 

There are so many Norfolk birders here! Bumped into Neil B. in Levenwick this morning, on my way down to the beach. 8 gorgeous Ringed Plovers on the shoreline, along with 3 Turnstones. Starlings and House Sparrows sitting around in the sycamores in gardens, but no migrants seen. I decided to tick some birds off the list and headed to Wester Quarff to see the King Eider. Initially I drove along the higher road and realised my mistake when I reached a dead end! I've done this before I seem to remember! Took the lower road and parked up at the end of the voe. Even with my scope the flock of Eiders were distant, but thanks to much more eagle eyed birders than me at that distance, I was able to see the King Eider! Couldn't phone scope it as the kit has been playing me up and I have not got the patience for it any more! So just enjoyed the birds here. To be honest the striking two Long-tailed Ducks at a much closer distance, were just as good if not better to watch! Also saw my first Otter of the trip, frollicking behind the two LTD's! Also a Red-throated Diver and a Black Guillemot were seen. A good start to the day!

Sheep at Wester Quarff

 

Redwings and Blackbirds at Wester Quarff

 

A Norfolk birder (Dave, I think) had found a Common Rosefinch on the road, which then flew into the crop, just west of the lower/higher road junction. I returned to this area and spent a while looking for the Rosefinch. I found a huge 50+ flock of Redwings, along with some Blackbirds feeding in a field to the side of the higher road – I tried very hard to turn one of them into an Eyebrowed Thrush! A male Blackcap flicked out of some scrub and there were lots of House Sparrows, a few Chaffinches and a Wren. I walked down to the lower road to search for the Rosefinch, but no luck. As I returned to the original spot where the Rosefinch had been found, I bumped into another birder who kindly said 'this looks good for a Rosefinch' – it was indeed! Perched up on a tree lining the house and garden close to the junction at 1.40pm, then flew to a telegraph wire briefly and then to the crop fairly close to us, but it moved around like lightening and I didn't get a single smudgy picture even, but very glad I saw it, thanks to the birder who refound it.

House Sparrow at Wester Quarff

 

News came on the WhatsApp group of a Bluethroat only a few miles away! Off I went to Hillside, Gulberwick to see the Bluethroat. The finders were still there and said it had been perched on the fence and was last seen going into the willows of someone's garden. I searched everywhere in the surrounding area and found some fabulous birdy looking gardens, but no sign of the Bluethroat. More birders turned up and nobody could find it. I encountered a flock of geese at one property who were unhappy with my prescence, so I retreated calmly and quickly – geese can be just as scary as a guard dog! After Jacquie Bridges phoned me to say the Bluethroat at Kergord was still showing, I decided to head north!

BLUETHROAT

Kergord, Shetland

 

The one negative thing about Shetland is the lack of trees and hedges for us ladies to spend a penny, I was desperate, beyond desperate, so on reaching Kergord, I had to drive way past it to find somewhere to go! I was up in Upper Kergord area – I was shocked and excited to see a Red Grouse fly over the road and into the heather!!! Wow! Returned to Kergord, parked the car and walked down the very muddy wet field to the hedge where the Rustic Bunting had been. The Bluethroat was not on view initially and it probably didn't help that some birders were standing literally next to the fence of the hedge, but eventually it did show in the bottom of the ditch at the very end of the hedge – a cracking bird, you can never tire of seeing a Bluethroat! Photography was rubbish though, as the light was now very poor and fog loomed in! I got lucky a bit later, when it landed on a favoured post (from what Jacquie told me earlier), but the light was atrocious! Walking back up the field I saw flight views with others, of the Red-breasted Flycatcher that someone had found earlier today!

Returned to Levenwick in serious fog, with all fog lights on. It was a relief to get back! Relocated my sleeping quarters to the living room and made tea. Tomorrow looks like another day of serious rain, maybe they have got the weather forecast wrong? Maybe? Maybe not!