birds « Trevor On Tour

*Arctic Warbler – last of a handful of scarce and rare warblers during the day*

Weather over night wasn’t as bad as the forecast but still it was overcast and windy when we set off birding after breakfast. The willows in a Hoswick garden provide our first scarce warbler of the day – first picked up on call then later seen sheltering in a bush – Siberian Chiffchaff. We birded a couple of spots before our coffee stop in Lerwick. After, whilst watching the Olive-backed Pipit at Kergord Wood, a message came through of a Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler (affectionately known to birders as ‘PG tips’) near Garth cemetery. A line of expectant birders were gathered along the edge of an iris bed when we arrived and it wasn’t long before the bird was flushed, doing several circuits in front of the admiring crowd before dropping back into cover. I managed a brief view of it on the deck followed by more fly-bys before we left it in peace. An hour of ‘R&R’ back at our accommodation and then we were out again, birding our local hot-spots around the village. The Snow Bunting performed well in the car-park of the Orca Inn, occasionally flying up into the trees – I’ve never seen them do that before. Whilst enjoying these antics I noticed a bird fly into the tops of a sycamore. It turned out to be the lovely Wood Warbler. Also in the nearby bushes at least one Yellow-browed Warbler. Then our final ‘twitch’ of the day – another message announcing an Arctic Warbler in the in copse at Burn of Njugalswater. A superb end to our warbler fest day.

*Wood Warbler at Orca Inn – alas, not a bird we see in Norfolk anymore*

*Not a warbler – but it certainly behaved like one! Snow Bunting feeding in a tree*

*‘OBP’- Olive-backed Pipit in Kergord Wood – photo courtesy of Neil*

*An obliging Barred Warbler on our autumn trip to Shetland – back after a 50 year* *interval*

As an alternative to our usual autumn trip to Cornwall, looking for migrants, we’ve come to Shetland. It’s been over 50 years since I was last here, on a teenage camping holiday. The birding highlight of that trip were the Snowy Owl on Fetlar* – the last year they bred successfully I think. We drove up to Newcastle on Thursday to stay with Neil and Nicola before heading off to Aberdeen with them to catch the overnight ferry to Lerwick. Birding on the way, we’d amassed a list of 65 before nightfall – including another Eastern (Siberian) Stonechat at Amble and a heap of interesting sea duck in Gosford Bay. There was no birding from the ferry – it was dark when we set sail and still dark when we docked – so our first taste of Shetland birding was a dawn stroll along the shore of Clickimin Loch, with it’s iconic broch. One of the first birds we saw was an obliging Barred Warbler. This would have been a Kernow highlight but here they are a little more regular. Let’s hope it’s not the only highlight.

* Rob if you are reading this perhaps you could post a copy of your original pics?