Wednesday 21st May
Rare Bird Alert News
Quail still at Ocraquoy.
Little Gull 1s at Loch of Tingwall.
Quail at Hoswick Burn.
Garganey drk at Loch of Clickimin, Lerwick.Red-backed Shrike male near road junction at Setter, north of Sandwick.
Woke up late today. Much chillier and the sun didn't come out until the afternoon. I won't have to advertise my table and chairs on Facebook, as Jill and Rob said they would like them – they popped over to mine this afternoon and I got the 4 chairs in my car and with a little bit of jiggling around, Jill and I just about managed to get the drop leaf table into the back of their car and we headed to Watsness. We checked out Tingwall Loch for the Little Gull seen this morning, but no luck at all. We stopped along the road near their house to try and find the American Golden Plover, no luck with that either, but 4 Golden Plover, Oystercatchers and Lapwings were seen on the hills. As we approached their house, the Isle of Foula looked magical in the stunning afternoon light. Jill and Rob have fabulous views below their house, the Loch of Watsness, the sea and the Isle of Foula.
As we unloaded the furniture from our cars, the hens and cats greeted us – a joyous and fun scene! I wanted to have hens and cats when I moved here, but there simply isn't the room to have hens in my tiny garden, but there is room for a cat one day when I get everything sorted out! Jill and Rob showed me all the latest work that has been carried out to their house – they have achieved so much since they purchased their home, the transformation is incredible. We had a lovely catch up with coffee, biscuits and cuddly cats. I left mid evening – scanned for the American Golden Plover on route, but no luck.
Jill
congratulated me on my Oriental Turtle Dove photo, which was listed in the
'Notable Images' in Birdguides Photo of the Week article and I didn't even
know until she told me. Jill had also had one of her cracking Savannah
Sparrow photos listed in the Notable Images too!
After hearing news of a drake Garganey at Clickimin Loch, I decided to head to Lerwick before heading home. I particularly love Gargarney, they are such a striking duck. Parked up by the loch at 8.40pm 'ish' and quickly realised it was a scope job. I scanned the loch several times with my scope – found Tufted Ducks, Mallards, a pair of Mute Swans, but no sign of the Garganey. Matt W. turned up and he couldn't find it either. I drove around to the opposite side of the loch and scanned again, nothing sadly. I then went to Pullar's Loch (near Tesco) to see if by any chance it had relocated there, but only a pair of Mallards seen. To be fair it was late and could have been hiding in the vegetation in the fading light, but it certainly wasn't on the loch itself. Did a small shop in Tesco and returned to Scalloway.
Back at home, which was around 10pm, I had to put all the aired washing away, get the next lot of washing off the lines and everything up to air. It was 10.30pm before I had any tea/supper! Watched 'First Dates' on Channel 4, which I always find very amusing! 😆
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