Another Stonechat and another Green Flash

Went around the patch again today, nothing new, just 6 Fieldfare today and Skylarks, Blackbirds and Purple Sandpipers have all increased. At the very last beach on my circuit (Sanblister) found another Stonechat late afternoon, and then waited until sunset and was rewarded with another green flash.

Stonechat

Hooded Crow

Purple Sandpipers

Shag

Signs of spring - Crocus in the garden

Tonight's sunset

And another green flash

Gulls

Back out on the patch today, and there are now 3 Common Scoters with the Velvet Scoter in West Voe, plus a fly-by Merlin there. On the Scatness peninsula there was just 6 Golden Plover and a Meadow Pipit. Moast Beach was heaving with Gulls (by Scatness standards anyway) with about 300 Gulls feeding among the waves, in which were 4 Black-headed Gulls (including a pink hued bird), a rather heavily shawled Herring Gull and a rather interesting long winged, dark Herring Gull. Both Red-throated and Great Northern Divers were in Quendale Bay.

Merlin

Pink hued Black-headed Gull

Common Scoters with Velvet Scoter

Golden Plovers

Hooded Crow (taken with trail cam)

Heavily shawled Herring Gull

Long winged, dark Herring Gull

Red-throated Diver

The coastguard on a bird scaring exercise in West Voe

Distant

Pretty much everything today involved some distance, first off was a Black-throated Diver with a couple of Great Northerns and a Red-throated off Lady's Holm - about 1km from the house. Then came the Brent Goose at Virkie, again about 1km away (although this bird is on Rob's patch, PWC rules state that I can count it as I saw it from within my patch). Elsewhere around the patch - 1w Glaucous Gull, Pochard and 3 Pintails on the Loch, 9 Rock Pipits on Moast Beach and 3 Fieldfare and a Redwing in the Spring Field.

Brent Goose

'Angelic' Glaucous Gull

Hooded Crow

Rock Pipits

PWC 2014

Day one of the 2014 Patchwork Challenge, ended up with 31 species and 41 points - not too bad for one and a half square kilometres in Shetland in mid winter.

Hooded Crow

Oystercatchers

Purple Sandpiper

Wigeon

A Few More

A few more patch year-ticks added this week - Ringed Plover, Kittiwake and Short-eared Owl, the weather has been shite with gales and rain, so I might go into hibernation until April !

Hooded Crow.

Kittiwake.

GB.

Smaller and smaller.

Pride of place goes to a Little Stint on Moast Beach briefly, before sodding off towards West Voe, other than that, the struggle continues. Other stuff at Scatness included - 47 Sanderling, 3 Swallow, a female Blackcap and a Sand Martin. Looks like 2010 is going to be remembered for the spring that never was ! At least the Moth-trap is now perking up a bit with Shears and Marbled Coronet trapped.

Sanderling.

Hooded Crow with 'industrial' nesting materail.

Shears.

Marbled Coronet (complete with image of Satan !).

Iceland Gull.

Now that everywhere seem to have thawed out, there were new year-ticks to be had on the patch - an Iceland Gull, 3 Tufted Duck and a Moorhen on the Loch, and a couple of Black-headed Gulls on the sea, taking the patch year-list to 53. Also at Scatness were - 2 Golden Plover, 9 Goldeneye, 40 Snow Buntings and 7 Wigeon.


Tufted Ducks.

Hooded Crow.

Black-headed Gull.

Iceland Gull (showing some symptoms of ' Kumlien's' Gull).

Too Good, Too Bad.

Too Good - The Rozzers using riot shields as sledges last week - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oitItuvdfyY - nice to see that public money isn't being wasted !!!!!

Too Bad - The Flybe January sale - the only sale in the world where the price actually goes up ! (normal flights from Sumburgh to Aberdeen about £50 ish - sale price £130 !!!!)