Birding "Sooth" – A Glorious Spring Day!

Saturday 30th March

Rob and Jill very kindly said they would take me out birding today, which I was very excited about since I still don't have a car. I got up to look out of my stable door at the front of the house to see what birds were by the feeders and I was so excited to see three new birds for my garden list! A stonking male Brambling was feeding on the ground along with the House Sparrows and Starlings and then 2 male Siskins flew in to feed from the hanging bird table! A female Chaffinch was feeding almost camouflaged, under a shrub in the corner and the Great Spotted Woodpecker flew in to feed on the peanuts! Also Robins x 2, Collared Doves and 2 Blackbirds. Best selection of birds in my garden so far!

Rob and Jill arrived around 9am and from my driveway we watched 2 Goldfinches, 4 Siskins and Chaffinches along with Starlings and House Sparrows in Jimmy's garden next door.

We then drove to the harbours at Lerwick look for gulls, but nothing of particular note seen. Went to Helendale where we saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Sparrowhawk appeared above some trees and was then mobbed by a Hooded Crow. Also saw two Goldcrest. Jill could hear a Blue Tit, but we couldn't see it.

We headed south to Grutness and saw a Pied Wagtail, Ringed Plover and some Mallards. Headed up to Sumburgh Head, which was jam-packed with cars and people as the Lighthouse had an Open Day event going on. Jill and I walked down to the 'Roses' and saw around 6+ Robins and 1 female Blackbird flew out. The weather was glorious today with wall to wall sunshine and virtually no wind at all. A message of 'Wheatear' here came up on the WhatsApp group, but we didn't see this. Lots of Guillemots on the sea, Fulmars cruising round and the entire scene looked amazing and felt good to be back at this iconic spot. We then stopped off at West Voe beach briefly, where the light was particularly stunning with cloud formations and blue skies.

Went to The Loch of Hillwell where we had the most distant views of the Bittern that Hugh Harrop had found I've ever seen, but at least we saw it! Also saw a Heron here. We had second better views through Hugh's scope from a higher up area of the road, which was far better, thanks Hugh! Also, Hugh very kindly showed us around his garden, which has matured considerably since I last saw it and very kindly gave us some cuttings of "New Zealand Holly" and a cutting of "Icelandic Willow" for me – so excited about these (planted later at home).

Had a look at Setters Marsh near Spiggie Loch to look for Pintail x 2 seen earlier, no Pintail on show, but  Moorhen, Curlews and several Golden Eye seen. On Spiggie Loch we watched 2 Shelduck and some Golden Eye, but mostly was devoid of birds, which was unexpected.

We then headed to Maywick Beach. Jill and I walked down to the beach – very disappointedly there were several piles of dog crap along the very short path,  it was far worse than my last visit here that had one pile – as Jill said, going by the size..... it was a large dog, not a Chihuahua! The same large dog as my last encounter maybe?! The beach as always here was stunning and nobody else here. 2 Pied Wagtails on the beach.

On route, Rob counted 48 seals below the cliff on Rerwick Beach. We returned to Lerwick to look for gulls and eventually had fabulous views of the Little Gull along with lots of Herring Gulls and Black-headed Gulls, but no sign of the Glaucous or Iceland Gull seen here today by others. A raft of Eider were seen, backed by the first and very large cruise ship of the season called "Ambition". Lovely views of 2 Long-tailed Ducks fairly close in too.

We then went to Veensgarth to look for a Long-eared Owl that was seen earlier on, but after much searching in the exact area it had been seen, we gave up. Headed back to Scalloway via Tingwall Loch where we saw a couple of Golden Eye. Jill and Rob dropped me at home at around 6pm. Still light and a beautiful evening with a night sky full of stars later on. A magical and brilliant day all round and huge thanks to Jill and Rob for taking me out.

Clocks go forward one hour tonight – lighter evenings after work!