SHETLAND BIRD NEWS & MORE!

No bird news today, but yesterday there were four Waxwings in Lerwick, one in Sandwick and a Little Auk in Scalloway Harbour.

When I first moved here, I decided to link to the "Nature In Shetland" website, where the bird sightings were posted daily in great detail and with the addition of cetacean and insect sightings too. For some reason unknown to me, this stopped on 12th October. I continued to link to their website, thinking they had just got behind and would update it at some point, but this has not happened and here we are, nearly two months later with no further updates. So there is really no point in continuing to link to their website.

Therefore, I will post the daily bird news myself, but it will be a brief summary in one paragraph, as I don't want to return to the comprehensively written posts I did for the Norfolk bird news.

It has been extremely icy here all week and I have not dared to move my car at all. There have been a number of accidents throughout Shetland in these treacherous conditions. I have never been so relieved to wake up to gale force winds and rain on Thursday morning! I could see my car again and there was no ice.

Today was a very busy day – at 7.15am in total darkness and pouring rain, I emptied my car completely, put down all the back seats and covered them in old blankets and then drove to Jim's Tyre Garage in Lerwick. I left my car there all day to get the tracking done and swop my 'Summer' tyres for four new "Michelin Alpin 6" Winter tyres. My old tyres still have a lot of tread left and these were put in the back of my car to swop over next Spring.

Walked for half an hour into town, had a hairdressing appointment at 9.30am and then searched the shops for Christmas presents for Vivien, Ray and Lucy. I then had a rare treat out of lunch by myself at No.88 Kitchen and Bar and had a lovely Asian Salad with Quinoa & Roasted Halloumi, followed by a Mince Pie & Ice-cream and a Hot Chocolate. Continued searching shops for presents and then walked all the way back to Jim's Garage to lighten my bank account! The new tyres cost a bomb, but you get what you pay for at the end of the day – one of the safest tyres, if not the safest I can possibly have over the next few months.

When I returned home, there were no parking spaces near my house and I didn't fancy rolling tyres down the street and then down 10 steep steps in the dark and rain, so have left them in the car until tomorrow. Had a lazy evening. More rain tomorrow, slightly dryer on Sunday!