I moved to Shetland three years ago today on 2nd May 2023! Can't quite believe its been that long, I've spent a lot of that time doing DIY. I've seen some fantastic birds since I've been here and feel very lucky, but there have been several I have missed because of being at work – not much I can do about that. It seems that most of the birders here have retired or in a role where they can just go birding any time!
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I was up late last night to sort some things out. My Apple Mac has suddenly become insanely slow and this was because the hard drive was almost full, so had to move a ton of photos off onto external hard drives. Got up this morning, washed hair and made diet food for the day. Then sat leisurely eating my porridge with pear and cinnamon whilst watching 3 Goldfinches and 3 Siskins on the feeders.
Made my way to Kergord to see the Common Crane that arrived yesterday. I made the fatal mistake of not getting there soon enough. I presumed (one should never presume!) that it would stay happily feeding in its favoured field for a good few hours, if not all day at the very least. I was under 5 minutes away when someone put a message out that it had flown! I found out later that it was disturbed because of loud and raised voices at the roadside. Field craft is something that several birder/photographers need to brush up on, not just here – everywhere! Keeping voices very low if you have to talk, but silent is preferable. Not slamming car doors, turn phones on silent, be considerate of others birders around you, do not walk in front of someone and be considerate for others who have not arrived on site yet. Few tips from the RSPB here:
https://group.rspb.org.uk/newcastle/news-blogs/blog/field-craft-look-listen-and-learn/
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I decided to head extreme north to areas I have not been to yet. It was a very chilly day, but beautiful light. I found some incredibly stunning beaches and scenery. Shetland is vast and so much bigger than you think. I headed to Isbister which is the furthest point north of North Roe and the start of the walk to Fethaland, which is a walk I would love to do but you need all day and very good weather I feel. Just south west of here is Sandvoe which has a stunning beach by a cemetery with a handful of crofts – not a soul on the beach, just me, perfect! Few Oystercatchers on the beach and one Ringed Plover. A very sweet black lamb wanted a fuss and kept running along the fence line for me to stroke it, made my day!
Stopped off and spent ages trying to find the Ring-necked Duck on Loch of Housetter amongst the Tufted Ducks – found it eventually! Very, very cold here, but probably because I was standing still for so long. A marine specialist lady stopped to ask what I was watching. Had a coffee and continued to explore this fascinating part of Shetland.
Decided to divert off a road to "Heylor" and discovered The Blade beach alongside Ronas Voe. Wow! What insane scenery! From https://www.northmavine.com/things-to-do/ "Ronas Voe is seven miles long, and dominated by Ronas
Hill, named for its redness. Ronas Voe is often likened to a Norwegian
fjord with its steep sides and is very picturesque. Arctic terns nest on
the Blade, the beach at Heylor, in the summer and care should be taken
not to disturb them when they are nesting. Between 1903 and 1920 there
were two Norwegian whaling stations at the head of the voe."
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/maps/map35sh.shtml
Stopped off at Loch of Haggrister and had a walk around the loch, but only found a few Greylag Geese and one Redshank. Had a quick walk from the roadside to view Mavis Grind. Headed home via Kergord, just in case the Crane had decided to return (although unlikely), no sign but had 4 Woodpigeons amongst the Rooks in the field south of the farm.
More tomorrow and pictures.
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