Owl's part 2

The 'Shetland Catch' could only produce 10 Iceland Gulls this morning, with no hint of a Kumlien's never mind a Thayer's!!!, but the 2 Long-eared Owls once again made up for it by posing well!  A Merlin flying low over my garden was a welcome sight on my return home too!

Dam it's cold... Part 3

OK... OK... I know the title lacks imagination, but it's still bloody cold here!

As far as birding is concerned, this cold snap has had it's good side though, as species that are normally very hard to see, are a bit more obvious as they have fewer places to hide! This helped me get a 'patch' record of 4 Jack Snipe today, along with copious amounts of Common Snipe and Blackbirds. Not sure if these are just local harsh weather movements, or refugees fresh in from Scandinavia? Also seen today; a hunting Merlin and the usual Otter. Not a bad day concidering I never even made it out of Burravoe!

I've had better Jack Snipe photos, but this was all I could manage today;

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.

The weekend starts here...

Another day... another falcon! (and at about the same ridiculous time in the morning too!)

This time it was a female Merlin at about 0600 hrs. The sun hadn't even risen fully yet, and so the slow shutter speed was far from ideal, especially as it was a hand held shot! Not a bad start to a weekends birding... Also more Polecats and Hedgehogs were seen this morning as well! lets just hope it doesn't all end here!

and a Kittiwake at the ferry terminal too...

Eyjafjallajokull ???

After having to settle for a 'record' shot of the Collared Dove a few days ago, I didn't reckon on having to settle for another so quickly!, but this shot of a female Merlin was all I could muster, after a passing car decided to frighten it away before I could get a decent shot... There is a local 'tradition' on Yell of blasting car horns at each other, when passing friends and neighbours. Now this might be a friendly thing to do most of the time, but when trying to observe and photograph nervous birds it's not great when passing cars start blasting their horns!

With no migrants at all this morning (NE winds), looks like I'll have to go further afield to see some decent birds.... That's If this "Eyjafjallajokull" volcano will allow? (they have got to be taking the piss with a name like that! I doubt even the Icelanders can pronounce that one!)

On the plus side; it can't be long before we see these wee fellas around here again,With their weird calls;

Purple Patch!

Bitterly cold today in the straight Northerly wind, and with the still clear sky and lots of sunshine it meant another great day to be out birding. The only birds of note today on my local patch, were the two Purple Sandpipers. They were chasing each other around the rocks and calling a lot, but not in an aggressive way, so could they be gearing up for the breeding season already?





It was while watching the antics of these two, that all chaos started going on all around on the water front. It was then that I found the culprit... A Merlin had flown in and was watching the small birds feeding on the beach! All the birds were aware of this predator apart from the Purple Sandpipers who were still too busy with each other! Unfortunately the Merlin quickly spotted me and was off as fast as it had arrived, but not before I managed a quick pic!