Happy 60th Birthday
Pete Snook!
The
Leucistic House Sparrow seen briefly on the feeders, along with a huge flock
of House
Sparrows, Rock Doves, Collared
Doves and Starlings again. Margaret has had the Leucistic House Sparrow in her garden, so its obviously doing the rounds. Another lovely sunny day here. So looking forward to getting out birding, but I'm going to have to wait until I have all the essentials done for the carpet and blind fittings on Thursday.
Tennessee Warbler found on Fair Isle today
by Rob Hughes and Nina O'Hanlon!!!
The Leucistic House Sparrow is still feeding here, along with a huge flock of House Sparrows, Rock Doves, Collared Doves and Starlings again. A lovely sunny day here.
The Leucistic House Sparrow is still feeding here, along with a huge flock of House Sparrows, Rock Doves, Collared Doves and Starlings again. A rainy and sunny day here. I hardly did a thing after the electrician left, as I was exhausted from having to move loads of boxes around late last night – boxes that had to moved to fit in the new radiator (where there wasn't anything before) in the dining room. It will be so good to get everything unpacked, which will happen by the end of the year.
https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2024/09/12/bid-submitted-buy-tourist-office/
A
lovely sunny but chilly day here. The Leucistic House Sparrow showed up
again, along with a huge flock of House Sparrows, Rock Doves, Collared Doves and Starlings and also had a Pied Wagtail in my driveway. I still have a lot more painting to do before Thursday, so I
think the first half of my annual leave will not include as much
birding as I had planned, but will certainly be out birding to the max on the second week.
Had another electrician round for a quote, much cheaper than
previous quotes and personally recommended for work he has done recently
and even better he's starting at 9am tomorrow (Saturday) and should
have all the work done before my carpet and blinds get fitted next
Thursday. The three storage heaters I have, will have to be turned off on
Saturday to allow them to cool down completely before removing on
Monday/Tuesday, so its going to be a very cold house until the new
radiators go in!
I collected four of my Rointe Belize Radiators from GTS today,
still waiting for two more to arrive – serious money, but apparently
much more efficient than my old type Dimplex storage heaters, so should
save me money long term and will certainly look far more pleasing to the
eye.
Jill and Rob very kindly invited me to join them on their visit to Out Skerries today – somewhere they visit fairly regularly, but this was my first trip out here. I met up with them at the Vidlin Ferry Terminal, left my car there and went in Jill and Rob's car on the ferry, which left at 10am and took just over an hour to reach Out Skerries. Very luckily for me, it was a very calm sea today, I wouldn't have been able to go if it had been rough! On route out in the fog was a huge raft of Eider, Shags and Black Guillemots on the sea. Not very nice weather though, very foggy for a good third of the day and raining on and off. Local birders Anne, Chris, Paul H. and Matt W. were also on the ferry.
I love an adventure and it was a fascinating place to visit. Although it was very sad to see a large school with playground and equipment all closed up, being as there are only two children on the Skerries now and both are home schooled I was told. Less than 40 people live here now and there are several derilict and empty houses here. There are two shops, one guest house and a small visitor centre with public toilets by Bruray Pier.
We drove to the furthest end of the island to start birding. It was exciting to be somewhere that felt so remote and unique. I loved looking at everyone's gardens – I always find it very interesting to see what people are growing. Of note there were several different types of fir trees, Rosa Rugosa, honeysuckle, lilies, Buddleia (Black Knight), Willows and irises amongst others.
Main birds seen today were a Garden Warbler on a wall, a Spotted Flycatcher and Redstart fem. sitting on the same washing line. At least 2 Whinchats sitting on dry stone walls (Jill had 4 and also a male Redstart), 2 Swallows graced us with their prescence throughout the day, Lesser Whitethroats x 2 seen in the same garden, including an idyllic scene of a very large fat red hen, a huge rabbit and a LW feeding on a lawn with a Blackbird. We saw a few Chiffchaffs, but mostly Willows Warblers. There was a Red-backed Shrike around, but we simply couldn't find it at this point. The other birders also saw a Pied Flycatcher we noted on the WhatApp group later on and also several Blackcaps, which we didn't see any of.
Other birds seen were: Blackbird, Raven, Pied Wagtail, Rock and Meadow Pipits, House Sparrows, Starlings, Turnstone, Curlew, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Black-backed Gull, Fulmar, Arctic Tern and Snipe. We also saw two very large and flamboyant Cockerels and lots of Hens! There are several sheep here and one was friendly enough to let me stroke it.
At around 4pm we went to the self service visitor centre, which is set in a small wooden building, it was extremely cosy inside with radiators, two large tables and chairs to sit at with self service hot drinks and sink to wash up etc and crafts for sale with a honesty pot. Jill and I walked to check out the gardens and The Plantation (newly planted and will look amazing in a few years time) – we bumped into Chris and Anne who told us they had just seen the Red-backed Shrike about half an hour ago by the pumping station, so we walked off down the hill in that direction. We stood and scanned the area and distantly I spotted a possible bird on a large boulder – as it turned, I realised it was the Red-backed Shrike! "Well spotted" Jill said. Lucky find at the end of the day for us! Jill walked a bit closer to get a better picture and this involved walking on dodgy and very unlevel ground when we about to catch the ferry and I was at work in the morning, so I decided to stay put and got very distant record shots only. After Jill's much closer BOC shots, I realised I should have joined her! Pleased with our last good bird of the day, we speed walked back to the pier. Other birders had started to join us on the pier ready for the ferry depature at 5.30pm.
The journey back wasn't quite as smooth, but I still survived without feeling sick, so all good. Luckily for Jill and Rob, they don't get sea sick at all. It was much colder now, so I stayed in the car for most of the journey back to Vidlin. Arrived at about 6.30pm. After a coffee in my car I drove home to Scalloway. A lovely day out with Jill and Rob, who are lovely company and always make me laugh. Made a fabulous change from decorating!
More pictures to be added.......
Gorgeous weather here over the last couple of days – 16 degrees, which is hot for Shetland! Looks like the fine weather is continuing over the weekend too.
Still decorating, which is not good on a fall of birds day, but have to get it done. Plenty of time for birding in my two weeks off in September and in October!
Beautiful weather yesterday and today. Busy decorating corridor walls and bathroom. Carpet for corridor and blinds for office studio and bathroom being fitted next Friday! South east winds from 3am and all day tomorrow and Monday!
When John F. sent me a link to the news this evening, saying that East Hills was on fire today and someone had been arrested for arson, I could hardly believe what I was reading. I can't possibly say on here what I actually want to say, otherwise my blog may be removed. What a truly wicked thing to do. I don't know the full loss of the habitat, but any loss is awful for such a unique and special place.
For anyone who doesn't know, East Hills is a belt of pine trees, sycamores, bramble, scrub surrounded by Marram grass, beach and saltmarsh just north of Wells-next-Sea in Norfok – its a little piece of paradise, a joy to visit, either by boat at high tide or walking out at low tide (potentially treacherous though as quick sand on route and you have to be super careful with the tide times). It was a particularly exciting place for birders searching for rare birds both in Spring, but even more so in the Autumn migration in September and October. There have been many, many rare birds out there.
I have walked out there several times over the years, but after a scary quick sand incident when I was walking out alone, I only took the boat out after that! It is a place of solitude, a place where you never bumped into a dog on lead or off lead and more than often, not another human being either. There is a fabulous selection of trees out here, mainly pine trees, but a good number of sycamores, which are a magnet for migrants feeding on insects amongst the sticky leaves. A truly beautiful place to be. Can't believe this happened. I would love to know why this was set on fire and for what reason, it seems very odd as it reads that it was a 60 year old man. Maybe a barbecue? If so this is breaking the law as it strictly states no fires or barbecues on notice boards, on the inland side of the marsh, before you walk out there.
Several of the local birders who walk out there regularly, some of them daily in October will be devastated to say the least. Any loss of habitat means loss of wildlife, thank goodness its late in the season and not Spring when birds would have been nesting. Even though I have left Norfolk, this is extremely shocking and sad to hear about.
