Very busy day at work and then drove south to the Grutness Pool to see the Red-spotted Bluethroat which was still around – lucky me! It was a beautiful day here with full on sunshine. As I pulled up to park, Rebecca N. was here and she had been photographing it about 20 minutes ago, but it had vanished. It soon returned and we watched and photographed it at fairly close range. Then Hugh H. turned up, along with Paul H. and then Jim N. and a friend of his. I have seen several Red-spotted Bluethroats before throughout my life, but you can never tire of watching these striking and elegant birds. It was happily feeding around the pool and was at one point only a few yards away over the fence by the shore side. Chiffchaff and male Blackcap here, Shelduck, Mallard, Turnstone, Wren, Starlings, Eiders on the sea close by, Great Northern Diver, 1 Swallow. Lots of Silver-Y moths around and a few Red Admirals seen.
In the Grutness garden I found 1 Chiffchaff and a female Blackcap amongst the Starlings and one of the gorgeous ginger tabby cats was sunning itself in the warmth of the greenhouse. It seemed like the perfect evening to view my first Puffins of the Spring, so headed up to Sumburgh Lighthouse. I saw more flying around than posing by burrows, but I did get lucky with one very cute Puffin coming out of his burrow, who briefly watched his audience of five people, then duly turned, excreted two yards of Puffin poo and retreated to his burrow, much to the amusement of us all! I walked along the famous "Roses'' by the lighthouse – nothing excited errupted apart from 1 Blackbird and a Starling. Several Wheatears around on the dry stone walls. I found two more Puffins just over the wall at the far end, but my normally stealthy fieldcraft skills failed and they flew off before I was able to get any winning shots. The spectacle of Fulmars, Gannets and Guillemots flying below me was stupendous as the sun was starting to set. Back at the disabled car park, I watched two Twite on the wall.
I returned to the Grutness Pool where the Red-spotted Bluethroat was still in view at 9.15pm! A Chiffchaff was also still catching flies close by. A fabulous birding trip after work. Arrived home at 10pm. One of the dangers of living here at this time of the year, is that you can easily spiral into burning the candle at both ends with the long daylight hours available to you, but I don't have to be at work tomorrow, so no issues with that. I now have the next six days off!
PICTURES TO BE ADDED
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"PICTURES TO BE ADDED"
ReplyDeleteNah! Enjoy your break, do the painting if the weather's poor and get out when it is goo!
You are a good writer and your posts make a fine morning read even without the pictures!!
I'm sure we can all wait for the R-sB and the cheeky Puffin!