Thursday, 28 October 2010
Garden 'tick'...
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Waxwings.... At last!
'The Boys are back in town'
It seemed like this was the only place in Britain not to be graced by these wee beauties. The weather is complete crap just now, and the birds very flighty in the strong winds, so no great closeup pics, but I'm just glad I got something (even if it was pretty much a compact camera I used!)
Monday, 25 October 2010
Not Waxwings...
A confiding pale 'Mealy';
Sunday, 24 October 2010
It's was fun while it lasted!
There has been a few goodies found, and many more twitched by myself, and I've listed the better ones below.... Whether or not all these Northerly winds will bring some Arctic wanderers our way soon, we'll just have to see!

Thursday, 21 October 2010
Listen to 'mummy'...
Well my mummy always told me "if I played with it too much, I'd break it", and it looks like she was right. This Autumn has been so exiting so far, that I'd been playing with it on a daily basis, and now it's broken! I'm in the process of trying to get it fixed, which might be a bit painful in more ways than one, but with luck I'll be able to abuse it for many years to come...... I'm talking about my camera lens... What were you thinking!
Mind you, I was also told I'd go blind too...... Oh bugger, I do only have one eye! Maybe I should have listened?Of the recent sightings in Yell; Otters, Knot, Merlin (stunning hunting action!) and a flyover Lap/Snow bunting has been about it in these strong snowy Northerly winds.
Monday, 18 October 2010
One for the anoraks!
Siberian Chiffchaff ('tristis')
The reason for the 'head scratching' was the variety of calls this bird was giving. The typical 'tristis' call is described in 'Collins' as a "piping, straight (or negligibly downslurred) 'hii(e)p'... ". This call was given by this bird, but it also varied the call with some deviations, including a slight upward inflection in the middle of some calls! And quite a few calls with the downslurred ending mentioned in the 'Collins' guide. I know these birds are still a bit of a 'work in progress', and I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on any new info. As I believe the 'tristis' bird to be a first winter bird, I've included the calls of a young 'collybita' bird raised in Shetland this year as a comparison. As you can hear they do sound very different, with the local bird, the calls all have a smooth upward inflection as expected...
Common Chiffchaff ('collybita')
Friday, 15 October 2010
Redpoll overdose!
Good birds today included; 1 Arctic Redpoll, many (60+) Lapland Buntings, 2+ Sibe Chiffchaff, 10 Snow Buntings, 1 Lesser Redpoll (a good bird up here!), many Mealy Repolls and a few NW Redpolls too. It seemed like everywhere I went I could hear flyover Lap Bunts and Redpolls, and god alone knows how many of each were on Unst today!
Thursday, 14 October 2010
'Tristis'
After the soaking I received, my enthusiasm was a wee bit dampend, but I still decided to try working a few areas before heading home. Best I managed was Arctic Redpoll (BT's bird in Baltasound), 3 Sibe Chiffchaffs, 4 Lapland Buntings, 1 Merlin, lots of Mealy Redpolls and a couple of North-western Redpolls and strangest of all.... A Dunnock on Hermaness NR!

Tuesday, 12 October 2010
Izzy 'in da bag'...
Monday, 11 October 2010
Incoming!
Today was spent in South Yell. Still loads of common migrants around including hundreds of Redwing, many Goldcrests and Blackcaps etc, and a rather nice juv Peregrine which perched on an over head wire... My third in three days!
Goldcrest... Great wee birds, but just too active for photography!
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Dirty little 'Twitcher'...
As my wife didn't seem too pissed off at this outing. Next up was the Dusky Warbler at Quendale. This bird was a total pain in the arse as it only showed on the deck for a few seconds, but it did call, and it did fly a lot.... a hell of a lot! No pics of the Dusky, as it just wouldn't cooperate, but the Red-breasted Fly at the rifle range did pose...
RB Fly;
Goldcrest looking cute!
Dunlin with a very long bill;
Two Peregrine were also good to see today. One carrying prey at Sumburgh Airport, and the other at Dales Voe being mobbed by the local 'Hoodies'
Friday, 8 October 2010
Look into my eyes...
The Jack Snipe can be very confiding, but it can take quite a lot to find him in this large area!
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Lancy...
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
'corax' karaoke?
Apart from vocal corvids. Today had me checking various areas, and produced; 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 18 Barnacle Geese, 1 Pied Flycatcher and lots of Siskin, Brambling, Chaffinch, Blackcaps etc... Not too bad, but there must be a good 'Yank' out there somewhere!
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Birds on film...
Monday, 4 October 2010
It's all gone a bit 'Brown'
The plan was for a birding raid on the mainland with Jase, to catch up with the reported 'PG Tips' at Levenwick, then perhaps mop up the other good birds that had been hanging around...
As we all know, plans never go to plan. So after a few hours of chasing the bird equivalent of a 'feathered' missile around a patch of Irises. The reported 'PG Tips' turned into a 'Gropper'. (it was a hard call though, and full marks to the lads for even finding it in the first place)
We decided the long staying Buff-bellied Pipit at Eshaness had to be showing better than these. So we took the long drive North, where after a few false starts with flighty pipits in horrendous light conditions, we finally locked onto the right bird. This bird was a total gem, and showed very well as we watched it from the car!