Shetland Misfit: swallow

Showing posts with label swallow. Show all posts

Friday, 12 May 2017

Still coming in

Still more migrants coming in to the patch - 10 Swallow, 1 House Martin, 8 Chiffchaffs, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Whimbrel, 1 Brent Goose, 1 Whitethroat and a Reed Bunting. A Buff-tailed Bumblebee was a first for the patch.

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Swallow and House Martin

Whitethroat

Thursday, 11 May 2017

More Migrants

Quite a few more migrants on the patch today, though there was no sign of yesterday's Subalp. Totals for the day - 7 Whimbrel, 16 Knot, 5 Sanderling, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Brent Goose, 2 Gadwall, 1 Grey Heron, 19 Arctic Tern, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Whinchat, 1 Robin and 1 Reed Bunting.

Bar-tailed Godwit (with Oycs)

Brent Goose

Knot

Whinchat

Swallow

Saturday, 1 October 2016

Promising

Promising signs of movement on the patch - 2 Garden Warblers, 6 Swallow, 2 Wheatear, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Jack Snipe and the first 'Siberian' Chiffchaff of the autumn.

Jack Snipe

Lesser Whitethroat

Swallows

Monday, 9 May 2016

Easterlies

A few days of easterlies promised so much but delivered very little to the patch, maximums for 7th-9th - 25 Common Tern, 2 Arctic Tern, 5 Whimbrel, 1 Arctic Skua, 2 Garganey, 2 Pintail, 2 Gadwall, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Chiffchaff, 4 Siskin, 1 Sand Martin, 9 Swallows, 4 Willow Warblers, female Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Carrion Crows.

Garganey

Common Tern

Gadwall

Siskin

Swallow

Whimbrel

Willow Warbler

A couple of shots of Fitful Head

Saturday, 17 May 2014

Birding at Last !

Apart from an all to brief visit to Fair Isle, that's a month of 12 hour nights over with ! Now off work for a week just as the wind is set to go south-east again. Out on the patch today and migrants were a bit thin on the ground, with just 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap and a Song Thrush, bucking the trend though were 24 Swallows and 2 House Martin. A bit better showing with the waders - 61 Sandering, 34 Purple Sandpipers, 9 Dunlin, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Knot and 39 Turnstone.

Knot

Sanderlings

Turnstone

Swallow

Monday, 1 August 2011

Last Week

A few days about the patch last week, and it looks like Autumn is just around the corner, with a few Sanderlings, Dunlin and Turnstones moving through.

Sanderling

Turnstone and Dunlin

Shelduck

Swallows - attempted to breed this year, but failed

Tuesday, 26 April 2011

Sandwich

Another day on the patch with a fine year-tick of Sandwich Tern on the Loch, arsing about with the Common Gulls and Kittwakes. Elsewhere just 8 Swallows, a Sand Martin, a Willow Warbler and a Chiffchaff.

Wheatear.

Swallow.

Sandwich Tern.

Bonxie.

This balloon was floating about on the beach in front of the house, the nearest SCS to Scatness is in Dundee - 269 miles away - drift migration in action !

Sunday, 30 May 2010

Something for the weekend.

At last, Scatness has actually produced something over the weekend, with an Osprey drifting south this morning (cheers for the phone call Rob), other than that it was just the usual fare, with a few Swallows, a House Martin, a couple of fly-over Red-throated Divers (on Saturday) and 37 Sanderlings. 2 Golden Plover on the headland were unexpected and the pair of Shelducks now have 8 ducklings (a.k.a. - Bonxie snacks).
Angle Shades trapped on Saturday night.

Eider.

Swallows.

Shelduck.

Golden Plovers.

Red-throated Divers.

Angle Shades.

Saturday, 26 September 2009

The Long Walk.

In light of the Yanks that seem to be turning up elsewhere (Orkney in particular), did my now annual 'big walk' - from Fleck, through Quendale Dunes, up the Eel Burn, around Quendale Mill, up Quendale Burn, the lower slopes of Fitful Head and out to Garth's Ness - and for what...? 10 Swallows, 370 Pink-footed Geese and a Merlin !! To be fair I wasn't expecting to see much, but with all these westerlies I was hoping for better than that. If the autumn continues like this on Shetland there may well be a pair of Leicas and a camera going on ebay !!!

Pink-footed Geese.

Swallow.

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

Garganey.

The wind continues to come from the east, but bringing very few migrants - I suspect that will remain the case until we get some rain with it, tho' shouldn't really complain about all this sunshine !! A drake Garganey on the small pool at Grutness was a fine sight, it's not often that you can get such close views of these smart little Ducks, 17 Sanderling and 11 Swallows at Scatness were the only other birds of note. The Arctic Skuas at Scatness continue to harass everything in sight (including me !).

Drake Garganey.

Arctic Skua.

Swallows.

Lapwing.

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 !!!!