Shetland Misfit: Arctic Skua

Showing posts with label Arctic Skua. Show all posts

Thursday, 31 July 2014

Off

A week off and around the patch the good news is that there's young Arctic Terns everywhere, about time too. Also quite a few waders about as well - 120+ Sanderling, 80+ Dunlin and 11 Knot.

Arctic Skua

Arctic Terns

Dunlin

Sanderling

Sanderling and Dunlin

Painted Lady

Saturday, 29 June 2013

Bits

A few shots from on the patch today -

Arctic Skuas

Saanderling - 10 birds still present on Moast Beach

Wheatears

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Pretty quiet on the bird front, apart from a stunning Marsh Sandpiper on Pool of Virkie on the7th. Added to the patch year-list were Collared Dove, Bar-tailed Godwit and Swift.
Moth wise it was pretty spectacular (for Shetland anyway), with 2 county firsts - an Oblique Carpet on the 21st and a Clouded Brindle on the 24th. Add to this a couple of scarcities like, Bordered Sallow (second for Shetland on the 2nd) Pearly Underwing and Snout, not a bad months tally.

Arctic Skua in a storm on the 23rd

Marsh Sandpiper

Bordered Sallow

Clouded Brindle

Oblique Carpet

Pearly Underwing

Snout

Monday, 1 August 2011

Ruff.

With 'Birdguides' carrying the news of 10,000 Two-barred Crossbills passing through southern Scandinavia, and 24 hours of south-easterlies, the plan was to check all the areas of Thrift on the patch (and any other bit of veg that might be good for 2BCs). Needless to say, there weren't any, but 3 Ruff on the southernmost pool were year-ticks, so the plan wasn't altogether wasted.

Ruffs

Arctic Skua - quite a few on the patch now

Saturday, 4 June 2011

Arctic Skua

Some photos of Arctic Skua from the patch on 25/5

Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Dross.

South-easterly winds for a couple of days have produced absolutely nothing at Scatness, and the usual summer dross remains. 79 Wheatears on the 9th was a bit unusual and a couple of returning Wigeon on the 8th is noteworthy (I suppose). A Magpie in the moth trap on the 5th was my first August record.

Wheatear.

Arctic Skua.

Wigeon.

Magpie.

Twin-spotted Carpet.

Monday, 19 July 2010

Arctic Swarm

A walk around the patch this morning was most pleasant in the glorious sunshine and, although there wasn't much about in the way of return passage (45 Dunlin and a couple of Swallows), it was nice to see that the Arctic Tern colony was at least partially successful. A scan through the birds from a few hundred metres away showed at least 18 fairly well grown chicks wandering around (I'm pretty sure that a 'walk through' would reveal many more) and all the adults are now so defensive that any Gull, Skua or even Sheep gets absolutely battered if they go anywhere near them.

Arctic Terns.

Arctic Skua.

About Me

Sometimes I try to do things but it just doesn't work out the way I want it to, and I get real frustrated and then like I try hard to do it, and I like, take my time but it just doesn't work out the way I want it to. It's like, I concentrate on it real hard, but it just doesn't work out. And everything I do and everything I try, it never turns out. It's like, I need time to figure these things out, but there's always someone there going “hey Steve, you know we've been noticing you've been having a lot of problems lately, you know? You need to maybe get away. And like, maybe you should talk about it, you'll feel a lot better.” And I'm all like “oh, nah, it's ok, you know. I'll figure it out. Just leave me alone, I'll figure it out, you know? I'm just working on it by myself.” And they go “well, you know, if you wanna talk about it, I'll be here, you know? And you'll probably feel a lot better if you talk about it. So why don't you talk about it?” I go “no, I don't want to! I'm ok. I'll figure it out myself!” But they just keep bugging me, they just keep bugging me, and it builds up inside.I was in my house and I was just like staring at the walls thinking about everything, but then again I was thinking about nothing. And then my wife came in, and I didn't even know she was there. She called my name and I didn't hear her and then she started screaming “Steve, Steve !” And I go “what ? What's the matter ?” She goes “what's the matter with you?” I go “there's nothing wrong” She’s all “don't tell me that ! You're on drugs !” I go “FFS, I'm not on drugs. I'm ok, I'm just thinking, you know? Why don't you get me a Pepsi?” She goes “No! You're on drugs!” I go “I'm ok. I'm just thinking.” She goes “No! You're not thinking, you're on drugs! Normal people don't be acting that way!” I go “just get me a Pepsi ! Please, all I want is a Pepsi !” And she wouldn't give it to me! All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn't give it to me! Just a Pepsi !I'm sitting in my house, when a couple of my mates came in. they pulled up a chair and they sat down. They go “Steve, we need to talk to you.” And I go “ok, what's the matter?” They go “we've noticed that lately you've been having a lot of problems, and you've been going off on one for no reason, and we're afraid you're going to hurt somebody, and we're afraid you're going to hurt yourself. So we decided that it would be in your best interest if we put you somewhere where you could get the help that you need.” And I go “wait, what are you talking about, WE decided ? MY best interests ? How do you know what MY best interest is ? How can you say what MY best interest is ? What are you trying to say? I'm crazy ? They say they're gonna fix my brain. Alleviate my suffering and my pain. But by the time they fix my head, Mentally I'll be dead. They stuck me in an institution, said it was the only solution, to give me the needed professional help, to protect me from the enemy, myself !
Doesn't matter, I'll probably get hit by a car anyways !!!!