Sunday 24 February 2019

Mainland Shetland

After recharging overnight in a nice Air B&B we started at Bixter again; unsurprisingly we couldn't locate the owl but six Red Grouse put on a good show, with two males relentlessly pursuing one poor female. 16 Fulmars occupied the face of a nearby quarry and Golden Plovers were heard singing. A Fieldfare, a Skylark and a Collared Dove were around the plantation but that was all. On the drive out through Whiteness we paused to enjoy a roadside flock of 11 Twite.

A stop in Lerwick produced three juvenile Iceland Gulls, one of which we identified as the bird we were watching yesterday due to staining around the neck. A Redwing and a Grey Heron were trip ticks.

After perhaps an hour's wait at Cunningsburgh, the 2CY Common Rosefinch showed well in its favourite garden. With little time now available to catch our flight, we had to make the two Tundra Bean Geese at Sandwick a mere pit stop and even more criminal was our flying visit to Loch of Spiggie, where the Pied-billed Grebe was still at the south end.

2CY Common Rosefinch at Cunningsburgh

Tundra Bean Geese at Sandwick

Pied-billed Grebe at Loch of Spiggie