Sunrise at South Voxter
A Blyth’s Reed Warbler had
been reported in a garden of a large house in the Sandwick area. We eventually found the site but it was
almost impossible to see into the garden and there were no further reports of
the warbler. We did see our third Great
Spotted Woodpecker of the trip, which are a scarce and irregular migrant on
Shetland. A Sparrowhawk was also another
and unexpected sighting, although c.200 Golden Plover and a four Twite were
perhaps not unusual but still nice to see.
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Twite
With no joy with the warbler
we moved off south in the hope that the Lesser Yellowlegs might appear on the
Pool of Verkie again. Initially we went
to the quarry on Sumburgh where the Redstart and a Wheatear were still present
and performed well and a Great Skua was observed towards the hotel. At Grutness we had a Red-breasted Merganser,
fifteen Sanderling, a Black Guillemot and a Rock Pipit. There was also a continuous stream of Gannets
and Fulmar off shore moving south into the freshening south east wind.
Fulmar in one of the Sumburgh quarries
Redstart
Redstart
Redstart
Redstart
Redstart
Wheatear
Wheatear
Wheatear
Wheatear
Great Black-backed Gull at Grutness
Adult Shag at Grutness
With tide falling we felt it
was a good time to go to the Pool of Verkie where we found a Pied Flycatcher in
the willows. We had not been scanning
the pool too long when a local birder informed us that they had seen the Lesser
Yellowlegs on some pools at Exnaboe. He
provided some directions and we drove the short distance north before walking
about a mile with some other birders to the site. When we arrived we had some great news the
Lesser Yellowlegs, a Pectoral Sandpiper and a Wood Sandpiper had been flushed
several minutes earlier and had not been seen since. After an anxious wait the Lesser Yellowlegs
and the Wood Sandpiper returned and although rather distant were both seen
well. There was a flock of c.200 Golden
Plover over a distant hill and a Merlin and Great Skua flew over. We had seen four Twite as we had walked down
to the site but on the return walk we had a party of Linnets and a couple of
Wheatears.
A revisit to the Arctic
Warbler site near Bigton produced just a single Yellow-browed Warbler and a
Redwing.
We drove onto Maywick where we
saw a Great Skua and six Black Guillemot
in the beautiful bay.
Maywick
We decided to go back to
Levenwick but this time went straight to the beach to overlook the bay. There were at least sixteen Black Guillemots
and two Guillemots and we also found a single Slavonian Grebe in the bay. Three Barnacle Geese headed south overhead
and a Merlin and Great Skua were also observed.
Another excellent day in
decidedly better conditions today.
Barnacle Geese
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