Shetland 2021: Day 6. ORCA!!!

 Wednesday 13/10

Spot the Orca. This is the only shot taken at the time (Sharon Jack). I

With poor weather well and truly taking hold, we made a late start. I caught up on a work call whilst Andy cooked breakfast (decent but not up to his soup standards)..

By mid-morning we were musing options, and were considering heading to Unst to look for Arctic Redpolls. As we talked through options news came through on Whatsapp that there were Orca - Killer Whales to most people - cruising the bays on the north east side of Unst. Whilst it seemed highly unlikely that they would remain in the area, it was always a possibility. And there was nothing else to do given the weather and lack of migrants. So we were off. It's a long way up to Unst from Lerwick. The first leg is a 45-minute drive up to Toft, then 30 minutes on the ferry to Yell followed by a 17 mile drive north across the island to Gutcher before a final 15 minute ferry crossing on to Unst. 

As we had a few minutes before the second ferry we called-in at Sand Water where a male Ring-necked Duck did it's very best to look unimpressive, sharing the loch with a few Whooper Swans, Eurasian Wigeon and Tufted Ducks.

Ring-necked Duck

There had been a couple more recent reports of Orca, but the news wasn't too promising as they'd headed north out of Nor Wick bay and so along the largely inaccessible northern coast of the island. We debated tactics. There is only one accessible bay in the north of Unst - Bura Firth - but that is very narrow and surely no self-respecting Orca would head in there. I thought the sensible option was to head west and hope the animals continued to track the coastline. However the west coast is even less accessible than the north, with around 15km of sheer cliffs and no roads before the topography becomes sufficiently gentle to enable a road and a smattering of houses at Westing, which is where we encamped. It could be a long wait. We sat in the car and scanned the distant sea from a vantage point, not at all optimistic. Half an hour passed and we were already bored. Then the Shetland Facebook Orca Sightings group was updated. They had entered Bura Firth and were showing right now. Shit. We should have gone there. Never listen to me! Why did they listen to me? It's a large bay and maybe they'd linger. A high speed U turn preceded hitting the warp-speed button that Skoda's are so famous for. Eleven minutes drive said Google. Well Google has it's opinion, but we had a different one. Eight minutes later we skidded to a halt overlooking the Orca-less Bura Firth. Apparently they had departed around 10 minutes before our arrival; had we gone there from the ferry we'd have enjoyed breathtaking views. Arse.

We could have gone birding at that stage, but Jono and I were very much focused on one thing. We would head back to Westing and wait. There was no hurry given the miles of coast that the Orca would need to travel, and of course they could turn out to sea at any moment. It felt like a long shot, but it was closer than either of us had ever been to connecting with the infamous Shetland 'sea pandas'. We stopped to collect food at the 'Final Checkout', Britain's most northerly store, then headed back to Westing Bay where was parked by the beach alongside a couple of other hopefuls including Steve Hart and veteran Shetland Orca watcher Sharon Jack. It was just after 2pm when we settled-in.

Bird interest was limited, at least until a Little Egret appeared in front of us. I dismissed it far too easily without appreciating how rare a bird that is on Shetland (second record of the year we later found out). Thankfully Andy looked and discounted the possibility of an American Snowy Egret. 

Jono and I were focussed on scanning the sea. Again and again and again. The bay was sheltered, but beyond that the sea was rough and it would be easy to miss them. Sharon was encouraging and remained optimistic, and also provided some pretty fascinating background information on the local Orcas. Today's pod was the most regular group of Shetland animals, known as 'the 27s' - a photograph taken in Bura Firth earlier had confirmed that (as each animal has distinguishing marks).

Time passed. Hope seemed to be fading. Spirits slipped. A few people drifted away. We resolved to stay until it was dark, there was still time surely? How long does it take an Orca to swim 15km? Who knows.

Then, shortly after 5pm, Jono whispered "I think I've just seen a fin". We scanned but nothing. Jono was convinced and jumped out of the car to tell Sharon, who had coincidentally just had a text from Shetland Orca guru Hugh Harrop saying 'any minute now' (based on his estimation of their speed).  A couple of minutes passed, but I know Jono well enough to believe him when he's seen something. Then  Sharon shouted that she had them. I scanned a little further right and just then - out of the turbulent sea - an ORCA breached clean out of the water. WOW!!! What a way to see my first one. The pod of four animals then loomed in to view, including the single spectacular bull. Over the next 15 minutes the views through bins and scope were superb. They moved slowly around a couple of islands just offshore, clearly hunting for seals. The male even 'tail-slapped' at one point, and multiple times the famous white eye patches were clear out out of the water and the pale saddles visible. It was absolutely fantastic to finally see these magnificent animals. Whilst watching I made the conscious decision to not even try and take photos and simply enjoy the moment, and I'm so glad I did. 

We were ecstatic. Birds didn't matter. In fact I'd have taken Orca over a good week of birding. Once they were satisfied that there was nothing for them on the islets, they suddenly powered south - towards the Bluemull Sounds and possibly the ferry terminal. Again in to the car and another speedy drive to Belmont. Light was starting to fade, but Sharon told us there was a good chance they'd visit the salmon cage just offshore. We waited, but there was no sign so we boarded the next ferry. Despite it being almost pitch black, Jono and I stood on deck and scanned a little and - incredibly - Jono picked them up across the sound by another salmon cage. If only we'd headed to that one first, but still, we were very happy indeed. 

Superb as it was to finally see Orca, they left me wanting more and I very much hope to have that opportunity.

A few shots of the 27's below, all borrowed from the Shetland Orca Facebook group, but capturing the kind of encounter we enjoyed.

For me this was already the highlight of the trip, and a highlight of the year. We made the long journey back to Lerwick in buoyant mood. Chippy. Bed. 

Shetland 2021: Day 5

Tuesday 12/10. Making the Most of It

Finally, the Shetland part of this Shetland trip was to begin in earnest. After weeks of migrant-sapping westerlies there was little to be gained from searching for non-existent migrants. The lack of migrants was palpable; no ticking robins or clucking blackbirds. No bramblings or goldcrests. Nada. Combining this lack of inspiration with the forecasted strong north-westerlies and rain for the coming days it seemed to make sense for us to notch up a few of the scarcities that have been lingering for weeks. Always good to get some points on the board to lift the spirits.

We started back at Clift Sound, this time viewing from Wester Quarff in better light, although it was bitterly cold. The Common Eider flock was close inshore and the birds ‘cooing’’ calls echoed round the voe. Yet the king was absent, in fact there were noticeably fewer elders than yesterday evening. Ah well, we have all week and the Long-tailed Ducks were nice to see, along with a couple of Red-throated Divers. Jono picked up a 1st winter Glaucous Gull flying through.

Next stop was Aith, where we failed to locate the long staying Woodchat. Keep going.

Then on to South Nesting Bay where we also failed to find the near resident White-billed Diver. A few Great-northern Divers and Common Porpoise were scant reward.

On of those days..

Ok, just to get something in the bank we headed a little further north to Orbister where the 1st w Bluethroat showed well at a recycling centre. Hurrah, a scarcity in the bag and, as always, a lovely little bird. 

Bluethroat

Our fortunes had surely changed, so we returned to Aith and again failed with the Woodchat. So much for mopping-up but still enjoyed being out in the drama of Shetland.

Dougie Preston joined us that evening for a curry and a few beers, stopping overnight on the sofa. It was good to see Dougie again, but I think I was asleep in the sofa by ten! Rock'n'roll baby.

Shetland 2021: Day 4

Monday 11/10: Shetland, via Strathbeg

Time to finally head north, which coincidentally meant I could travel with Jono. Collecting my old pal at 05:45 felt like a return to the good-old-days of regular avian-focussed adventures. The airport experience was it's usual joyous self but there was time for a cooked breakfast before flying more or less on time at 08.30, arriving in Aberdeen by 09.30. That left us with a massive five hours to kill before the onward flight. We mused whether it was possible to get to Andy's patch of Strathbeg RSPB (an hour north) and back in the time we had, but it was clearly a ridiculous idea given we had no transport. Pretty much at that moment Dan Pointon texted; he happened to be headed that way and happened to be driving through Aberdeen. In fact he was five minutes away from the airport. Blimey, lady luck was shining brightly. I'm pretty sure we weren't supposed to leave the airport with our bags already checked through to Sumburgh, but as we had boarding cards what could go wrong?? We headed up the road and jumped in with Dan, who took us north for some filthy twitching.

I'd never been to Strathbeg RSPB until a few weeks ago when I visited Andy at his new country estate, but an hour after descending the plane steps I was back for the second time watching the GREATER YELLOWLEGS found by Andy himself. Whilst I've seen hundreds of these abroad, it was my first in the UK since Minsmere in 1985, which was my first ever long-distance twitch. There's something about these birds that I find really charming and I enjoyed watching it cavort and prance on the pools in front of the visitor centre. Well done Laird Carroll!

We then walked over to another hide (I've forgotten the name) to view the superb wetlands maintained by RSPB. Birds were everywhere, in particular Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Geese, but with plenty of and other wildfowl and waders. There were a few Ruff and, after a while, the LESSER YELLOWLEGS showed, albeit distantly. Both species of American yellowlegs have never been recorded at the same site at the same time in the UK before, so it's a remarkable double. Even better, though, was the sheer abundance of birds. Superb stuff.

Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs at Strathbeg RSPB (Tim Jones). the birds weren't together on our visit but still great to see both on the same reserve.

Shortly after Andy kindly collected us at the reserve centre (Dan went off to search for a Red-crested Pochard) and we headed back to Aberdeen airport. Jono and I were straight through security and there was even time for a couple of pints before boarding. Shetland-bound. Finally.

The flight was uneventful and in an hour we approached a relatively sunny Shetland, with views of Foula impressive on the descent. Bags were collected and the car picked-up quickly, our steed for the week was a spacious Skoda Superb. 

We had a couple of hour's light so headed to Gulberwick to see a putative Eastern Yellow Wagtail. The bird showed well, but despite the bold head pattern and grey-toned upperparts was distinctly yellow on the vent. It was no surprise that by that evening the ID was confirmed by sonogram as a Yellow Wagtail.

Non Eastern Yellow Wagtail

Next stop was on to Clift Sound where the King Eider largely eluded us (I did see it briefly) in the distant tightly-packed Common Eider flock. The first Black Guillemots, Long-tailed Ducks and a Slavonian Grebe helped ease the pain.

Next stop, Tesco's food (booze) shope then Lerwick Harbour chippy and on to the digs at the Decca. A few gentle beers and an uneventful Arora closed the day.

Shetland 2021: Day 3

Sunday 10th October 2021

Spent the day not on Shetland, but pleasantly at home.

Part of the day was spent on the phone to Loganair rearranging flights back north. I phoned expecting a phenomenal cost, so was more than a little surprised when they told me I had been given a full refund for the abortive journey as I never reached the final destination. How's that for service - thank-you Loganair!

No birds seen!

Shetland 2021: Day 2

Back Before Arriving, 9/10/2021

The short version is that a helpful lady at Aberdeen airport managed to book me on a flight back to Manchester at 10.30 am. Job done and I headed back to the hotel for a full breakfast (a heavy coffee day was clearly coming). But then came negative news on the stint. Bloody hell. I didn’t have the luxury of waiting on news, so had to take the punt on it being relocated or change back again to the Shetland flight. Stick or twist! As it got to the final moments of decision time I opted for Manchester - there were few birds on Shetland and there were plenty of places for a stint to hide at St Aiden’s. And an extra night at home might just come in handy if weather conditions on Shetland changed later in the week. Despite my apprehension I checked-in and headed through security. My bags were in the scanner and I was just being searched (as usual) when I heard my phone - still inside the security scanner - going ballistic. Either the stint was back, or something else had happened (please not on Shetland). Thankfully it was the former, I had made the right choice. Not only that, for reasons unknown I'd been sent to the VIP lounge so I waited a couple of hours in comfort and stashing pastries. 

The fight was delayed a good hour, in which time the stint had flown high a couple of times. The fear set-in. Meanwhile Jono was in transit from France by train, and had seemed to immediately slip back in to former paranoid twitcher mode. Once a twitcher...He wanted to see the stint too.

The flight was due in at 12.30 but Jono was at best going to be in Warrington at 3.15. The bird was flighty and Warrington is in the opposite direction. So I did what any selfish twitcher would have done and headed immediately to Yorkshire, promising Jono I’d do a double run (I’m not a complete bastard).

By 1.40 I was with the crowd watching the target bird. LONG-TOED STINT. This tiny Asian wader is a true mega. Only the fourth UK and Ireland record, of which only one in 1982 had been properly twitchable. A class-A old-skool rarity and my 560th.

My best-efforts. Great views in the scope but a bit distant for photography. The images below are shamelessly borrowed from the web. Colin Davies, Chris Batty, Lee Fuller and Tony Davidson (I think).

It was a moulting adult and so not as pristine as a youngster, but I love waders and it was still a smart little bird. The most obvious ID features were the extraordinarily long yellow legs and longer-necked appearance (at times) than any other stint, short primary projection and a hint of a split supercilium added further conformation. And those noticeably long toes help too.

After about 30 minutes it was time to head back west to keep my word and collect our French correspondent at a carefully organised rendezvous (a Burger King by the M62). Against his will Jono splashed out for a Diet Coke in thanks (although medium, not large). The miles flew by as we caught up and we were back at St Aiden’s an hour or so later. The stint was in exactly the same spot and Mr Williams finally joined the UK500 club. Congratulations Monsieur.

500 Club newbie.

A Bittern showed distantly at the reed-bed edge and another flew past at closer range before we headed back west again. Home for 8pm to slightly bemused Karen.

I’d deal with how to get back to Shetland tomorrow.

Shetland 2021: Day 1

Northward Bound (sort-of), 8th October 2021

I finished work on Tuesday and spent a couple of pleasant days at home before heading north. Flights were booked for 4pm on Friday 8th October. There was a distinct lack of migrant birds on the northern isles, but regardless I was looking forward to getting there and a break from work. With Jono and Andy scheduled to arrive on Monday evening I had a couple of days to myself and that was just fine with me.

As I began to pack in the morning Greg Baker messaged to say that he had a probable Blue-winged Teal on Neumann’s, which would be a first for the patch. With plenty of time to spare it would have been daft not to call down and join the small gathering of local birders. The bird was instantly on show, but distant, mostly asleep and obscured amongst the many Shovelers. It did wake a few times and certainly looked the part. One of the patch locals Stuart had already managed some excellent flight shots and these seem to confirm the ID as a first winter drake. Later it transpired the bill is on the large-size for Blue-winged Teal but still probably within range and the ID stands up to scrutiny - hopefully the BBRC feel the same. Great work by Greg.

1st winter drake Blue-winged Teal, Neumann's. My best effort.

Great flight shot by Stuart (@Stuart91050315) showing perfect upperwing pattern.

With time starting to become short I headed home and hastily packed before setting off the Manchester Airport. The usual airport chaos ensued, but I was soon on board the supposedly direct flight to Shetland. On boarding we were told the flight would touch down in Aberdeen, but we should remain on-board. All good until we arrived in Aberdeen, where it became apparent that we had to change planes. Again fine, except we were also told the previous flight to Shetland had just had to turn around at Sumburgh due to heavy fog. To cut a long story short, we spent a lot of time waiting at the airport and all ended up in a hotel overnight. Loganair were to foot the accommodation bill and put on an additional 7am flight to Sumburgh. Never mind I wasn’t in any particular hurry (although did miss out on a birders curry in Lerwick).

Inevitably there were other birders in the hotel and a boozy night ensued. We were having a fine time then somewhere around the fifth pint I glanced at my phone.

 

Balls. This could be very expensive for a bird that’s just an hour's drive from home. Perhaps it was my inebriated state, but unusually I didn’t stress in the slightest. More pints and a whiskey. I quietly made the decision to sort in the morning, but I clearly wasn’t getting on board that flight to Shetland.

I crashed in to bed around midnight and set an alarm for 5am. No time to waste.

Unusual Double - Wilson's Phalarope and Squacco Heron, 21st September 2021

Sometimes you just need an excuse to get away from the desk. It was glorious outside, at least it looked to be from the office, and definitely not a day to be stuck in. 

Thankfully an excellent local bird provided the excuse. WILSON'S PHALAROPE's are American waders that turn up most years in the UK, albeit they seem scarcer these days. They're also really lovely birds and hard to resist  (as are all 3 types of phalarope). I've seen several in the UK, but none for a long time and probably not since the early 90s. So when one was found at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB reserve mid-morning I was easily tempted and left the office around 2pm.

On arrival I headed to the Bunker Hide where the bird was on show immediately, albeit at about 200m range and slightly in to the sun. Still, the views were good enough. It fed along an island edge, weaving between Black-tailed Godwits and various eclipse-plumaged wildfowl.

I'd forgotten how charismatic these birds are, with completely different feeding action to the other phalaropes. They feed more like typical waders and so mostly remain on the shoreline, stretching with an odd clock-work like slow motion movement to grab food. Ace.

Given I was here, it seemed sensible to wander round to the opposite side of the reserve to the old Inner Marsh Farm scrape. I'll admit to mainly being interested in seeing a possible Category D tick, but there was a good selection of birds there. I settled in at the shiny new Border Hide, thankfully with only a couple of other people in there. 

Whilst scanning the birds, I picked-up the phalarope as it dropped in to a ditch behind the scrape and swan round for a few minutes before flying again, eventually dropping on to one of the closest islands. Excellent! 

Bottom two by Mike Barth

Paul Coombes’ photo

Also on show here were a fine selection of waders, including around 20 Ruff, 3 Golden Plover and the usual godwits, Lapwings and Snipe.

Of more listing relevance was the single Ruddy Shelduck. Records of this SE European and North African species have historically always been labelled as escapees, but there is now pretty clear evidence that many UK records originate from a thriving feral population in the Low Countries. Every summer there are more birds seen in the UK, including multiple small flocks, The timing of our records fits neatly with peak moult gatherings in Holland too, so the link is obvious. The BOU are apparently reviewing the status in the UK, but an upgrade to Category C5 on the UK list is presumably imminent (C5 is defined by the BOU as "Vagrant naturalized species – species from established naturalized populations abroad, e.g. possibly some Ruddy Shelducks Tadorna ferruginea occurring in Britain. There are currently no species in category C5"). A listing upgrade seems inevitable. Of course I've seen Ruddy Shelducks before, but the only ones that I feel had any credentials were part of a large influx way back in 1993. Nice to see another, although the credentials of any individual birds are always unknown and the accompanying Greylag Geese and 7 Egyptian Geese (the largest number I've seen in Cheshire) didn't help with the wild-vibe. But that's wildfowl for you.

2 Cattle Egrets followed a tractor in the adjacent field, and a couple of Little Egrets fished in front of the hide. A cracking couple of hours.

Given my luck appeared to be in, I thought I'd chance it further and head 45 minutes down the road in to Gronant in Flintshire, where a SQUACCO HERON has been present for the last ten days or so, albeit elusively. I parked at the St. Marys Touring Park caravan site it was clear that this would not be an easy bird to see if it was not on the adjacent fishing pit ('Little Pool Wood). There were numerous densely vegetated ditches which are impossible to view, and then the other pond at 'Big Pool Wood' around 400m to the north across fields. There was no-one else there so I set-off to search. No sign on the fishing pit, so I walked the ditches along field boundaries and up to Big Pool Wood. Nothing. I did another circuit of the ditches and the fishing pit, nope. I was about to give up but decided to jump a gate and walk a different ditch. 50m in to the field the ditch opened up to a cattle drinking area which I thought looked perfect, and at that moment it flushed up and headed back towards the fishing pit showing it's gleaming white wings. I quickly found it back on the pit and enjoyed excellent views as it hunted in the evening sunshine. Another species I've not seen n the UK since the 90s. Splendid.