Nearly over

Today it really felt like the autumn was coming to an end, the winds have swung round to the south west and bird numbers had plummeted - 1 Woodcock, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Pink-footed Goose, 1 Barnacle Goose, 2 Robin, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Fieldfare, 30 Redwing and 3 Red-breasted Merganser. It looks like the Pied Wheatear has finally moved on.

Red-breasted Mergansers

The neep field where the Hawfinch was on Sunday

A day of sunshine and showers

Divers Galore

With the sea flat calm today, I checked out all the bays, coming up with a total of 38 Great Northern Divers and a Black-throated Diver (Quendale Bay), curiously I didn't see a single Red-throated and had on 2 Red-breasted Mergansers.5 Common Scoters are back in West Voe with the Velvet (there has been only 4 Common Scoters for the last few days). Did a bit of a sea watch from the headland where a total of 87 Guillemots in the hour I was there. And to end with there are now 6 Twite coming to the feeders in the garden.

Twite

Great Northern Diver

Red-breasted Mergansers

Scord Beack

Small Change

A little bit of change on the patch, namely Oystercatchers are now up to 40+ and Skylarks are now in double figures, still only 2-3 Meadow Pipits though. On the Loch today there was a 1w Glaucous Gull and a Whooper Swan which was joined by a second bird later in the day. In West Voe the Scoter flock is still there, Long-tailed Ducks have increased to around 250, also in the Voe were 36 Goldeneye, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers and 6 Great Northern Divers.

Glaucous Gull

Great Northern Diver

Red-breasted Merganser

 

Whooper Swan

Another bit of a show of the Aurora

A summery looking West Voe

And a moody looking Fitful - hard to believe that both pictures were taken just a few hours apart

Noticed this Points per Bird table on BirdGuides - not bad for a tiny patch in winter.

Also on BirdGuides was this epic error -

Ducks and Stuff

Shockingly the wind speed was only 3mph on Shetland today! Even though this made for easy birding, I still couldn't find a year tick on the patch. Apart from 23 Great Northern Divers, a Skylark and a Merlin, the patch seemed to be full of Ducks - 150 Long-tailed Duck, 5 Common Scoter, 1 Velvet Scoter, 10 Red-breasted Merganser and 29 Goldeneye were in West Voe, and 2 Shelduck, 2 Red-breasted Merganser, 45 Teal, 7 Tufted Ducks and 4 Goldeneye were on Loch of Gards.

Velvet Scoter

Goldeneye

Long-tailed Duck

Red-breasted Mergansers

Shelduck

Loch of Gards and Fitful Head

Sumburgh Head from Scatness

Last Post

The last post of 2013 - Red-breasted Mergansers off Moast Beach.

More Sun

Out on the patch today - 4 Red-breasted Mergansers, 26 Great Northern Divers, 5 Common Scoters, a Snow Bunting, a Dunnock and the first Ringed Plovers of the year.

Dunnock

Red-breasted Mergansers

Ringed Plover

In the moth trap - 2 Brindled Ochre and 18 Hebrew Characters.

Brindled Ochre

Hebrew Character

A few bits of miscellaneous debris...

Fair Isle from Scatness

Clouds over Lerwick last week

Some Stuff from Friday

Redshank in the low evening sun. Red-breasted Megansers (and local pub) Purple Sandpiper - still over 100 on the patch.

Grelag Geese - 10 or so present all winter, now 30+ on the patch.

Dunnock - a most welcome year-tick, it's not foggy by the way, my kitchen window was covered in sea salt !

Half Ton.

Finally managed to get out and walk along the road to the loch (though progress was slower than an American learning international geography !) and added a few more year-ticks, namely, Whooper Swan, Moorhen, Wren and Red-breasted Merganser. A Grey Plover in front of the house was also a year-tick. Over the last few days there have been 2 Merlins in front of the house on most days, 2 Snow Buntings on Sanblister Beach and a Common Scoter off Scord on the 7th taking the patch year-list up to 50.


Moorhen.

Red-breasted Merganser.

Whooper Swans.

Merlin.

Dark Days.

Now into the dark days of winter, with little or no enthusiasm for thrashing the patch, the few times that I have been out since the weekend it's just been the usual winter fare, and looks like staying that way until at least March !


Snipe.

Goldeneye.

Greylag Geese.

Merlin.

Red-breasted Mergansers.

Red-throated Diver.

Twite.