I had just started a ZOOM call with my sister Lucy this evening, when the WhatsApp Rare Birds in Shetland, bleeped up with Woodchat Shrike just east of Bigton! Found by Rob Fray and also very kind of him to link the exact location to save me time on route, thank you! I couldn't just cut Lucy off as we have not done a ZOOM for a while now, but I still got to see the Woodchat Shrike, along with other local birders. Excellent birders views, as in fairly distant along the fence line, feeding and looking quite relaxed. Thank you to Paul Harvey for letting me look through his scope. Such a stunning bird in the orange evening light. I could hear some of the birders saying it looked like a young male. Took tons of smudgy distant shots.
A Spotted Flycatcher and a Blackbird were perched on the same fence-line and 2 Wheatears also seen in the area. I left and went for a short walk along the Geosetter Burn, then returned to the same spot I had been watching the Woodchat Shrike a bit earlier. Jim Nicholson and another birder were parked up on the road and the Woodchat Shrike was perched on the gate post, opposite the pile of stones and rubble where Rob Fray had found it earlier – it then flew to a post dead opposite us, where I got my best pictures (although still distant) at 22.02! What an evening!
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Seems like all kinds of uncommon birds have followed you up to Shetland...you must be in 7th heaven? Lucky you...hope you see many more in the coming months.
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