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

More From Dale's Voe

A few more photos from work, working nights in summer has some compensations - cracking sunrises and sunset when the weather behaves.

Otters

Red-throated Diver

Sunrise on the 8th

Sunset on the 8th

Some Stuff...

....from last week ('cause I couldn't be arsed to update at the time).

Eider.

Linnet - duly year-ticked at the old pile of rocks

Mute Swans - a flock of 8 were present for one day.

Reed Bunting - 3 males have been around the patch

Red-throated Diver - several in West Voe

Whimbrel.

Willow Warbler in the garden.

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.

Searching.

Being pushed for time, only had a short while on the patch, so spent most of it searching for yesterday's Black Redstart - no sign ! A quick look in West Voe and the King Eider was still there along with a Common Scoter, plus 8 Red-throated Divers and 2 Great Northerns. 2 Robins were in the garden.

Robin.

Common Scoter and Long-tailed Ducks.

Great Northern Diver.

Greylag Geese.

Red-throated Diver.

'Now where's that Black Redstart got to ?'.

Gimme Shelter.

West Voe seemed to be 'the' place today, with a good few sea ducks that presumably took shelter there after yesterday's storm. Among the Eiders and Long-tailed ducks were, 1 Velvet Scoter, 1 Common Scoter, a Slav Grebe, several Red-throated Divers and a couple of Great Northern Divers, as well as 2 Otters and a pod of Harbour Porpoise. Around the rest of the patch - 2 Waxwing and a Siskin in the garden, 13 Whooper Swans, 4 Scaup and 3 Tufted Ducks on the Loch and 2 Snow Buntings on Sanblister Beach.

Whooper Swans.

Snow Buntings.

Common Scoter.

Eiders ?

Red-throated Diver.

Slavonian Grebe.

Velvet Scoter.

There hasn't been one for a while, so here goes -

2G,2B - Too Good - Proof of the lack of common sense in today's 'yoof' world - ouch, how did that happen ? Er...

Too Bad - Shetland in the 'top 10 places to visit in the world' - one place above the Great Barrier Reef ! - Oh No, not more tourists ! It could be good for the local economy I suppose, now if only there was a wildlife tour company up here, that could charge them the earth for a week's worth of bollocks ......hmmm, if only !