Three Days....

As wader passage should be starting anytime now, did the patch three days in a row, checking all the beaches and pools (whats left of them), and the passage has indeed started just very slowly - a few Whimbrel and a Sanderling ! A female Crossbill in the garden on Saturday and a few Swifts and Swallows over the house on a few occasions are the only other thing of note. Still, apart from a screaming north-westerly on Sunday night, it's been pretty sunny and pleasant.


Arctic Tern.

Fulmars.

Great Black-backed Gull.

Trapped in the Night.

Out with the old, in with the new - the 'skinner' trap that has served me well for the last 4 years was looking a bit worse for wear, with the plywood now so warped that the perspex slides didn't fit anymore, so with the aid of a large bucket, some nuts and bolts, a piece of clear perspex and the 'Blue Peter book of moth traps', I've managed to cobble together a 'robinson' trap. Instant success - the new trap seems to be holding catches a lot better, and has produce a few Shetland goodies during the last couple of nights - a couple of Magpies and a Flame Shoulder, the Flame Shoulder being the 8th record for Shetland away from Foula (where resident) in the last 10 years (the 7th record was also in my garden last August).


The new trap.

Magpies.

Flame Shoulder.

Scoparia Ambigualis

Connected

Having lost broadband for a few days (and told by the bt helpline that it was a fault with my computer and not bt, even though everyone else in south mainland also had no broadband !). Now connected again (obviously), time for a bit of an update - still sod all about ! other than the odd Swift over the house and a fly-over Crossbill on the 30/6. Still pretty quiet on the Moth front too, though Lobesia littoralis was a garden tick.


Dusky Brocade.

Eana Osseana

Lobesia Littoralis

And just for the sake of it, this is Indian Moon Moth (missing its 'tails'), I rescued this Moth from being eaten alive by Mango Ants in Goa 2007.

Indian Moon Moth (Actias Selene)

Broadband is restored to South Mainland by a crack team of bt engineers !

Summertime Rolls

As the summer rolls on, walks around the patch are more from habit rather than expectation, Swift added to the year-list today and the only noteworthy thing from yesterday was 2 first summer 'portlandica' type Arctic Terns on the rocks near Ness of Burgi.

Black Guillemot.

Wheatear.

2 'portlandica' type Arctic Terns.

Happy House.

Another futile walk around the patch, on the strength of a Red-backed Shrike at Virkie and a Marsh Warbler on Whalsay, there was maybe a chance of getting something half decent - no way Pedro - 2 House Martins and 5 Sanderling was about it ! Seems that Wrens are having a good year, with at least 3 broods now wandering around Scatness (though numbers may decline rapidly if they discover my moth trap !)

House Martins.

Redshank.

Wren.

Velvet.

Having got adequate views of the Velvet Scoter in West Voe yesterday (but in Gary's side of the bay, not the Scatness side), another attempt to get it on the patch year-list was in order. Arriving at West Voe car park, the bird was in the same place as yesterday, just off Jarlsof and so nowhere near being on the Scatness side. As the bird was fairly close inshore, I decided to walk around and try to get some 'smudges', however by the time I'd walked to the south side of the bay, the bird took flight and landed in the patch just off Scatness - good for the year-list but crap for photos - another mad dash around to Scatness and the bird had swam back to where it was originally !

Velvet Scoter.

Ringed Plover.

Skylark.

2G, 2B.

Too Good - The commentators on the BBC's coverage of England v Slovenia, having a bit of a jibe at John Terry - "Terry knows how to concentrate on the job in hand" and "Terry standing firm, a trait that he's become known for" ! And then Mark Lawrenson's off the cuff comment "for the fans, watching England play is a good cure for constipation !"

Too Bad - Someone finds a Bridled Tern in Northumberland and the gets page after page of shit thrown at them on Nerdforum for not putting news out instantly and not knowing who to tell about it ! see here

Something Good

After checking every pool, beach and all the wettish bits at Scatness, searching for yesterday's White-rumped Sandpiper, came up with a just few Dunlin and some Sanderling, and amazingly, some migrants - a Swallow over Moast Beach and a Willow Warbler in the garden - although not much, it is an improvement on the past few days.
Then the 'something good' happened - a Paddyfield Warbler at Grutness, the bird showed reasonably well (far too many leaves on the trees at this time of year !) on and off in the Grutness garden, spending much of its time in the small patch of willows.

Paddyfield Warbler.

Dunlin.

Sanderling.

Day Tripper

Out on all day trip on a chartered ferry around Yell and Fetlar, starting at Toft, then heading north-west to the Ramna Stacks, the back down the west side of Yell, through Yell Sound and out around Fetlar and the east side of Yell, before finally returning to Toft some eight hours later.
A pretty good day all in all, with views of places that you can't normally see (especially west Yell) and some damned fine views of Minke Whale.


Ramna Stacks.

Guillemot.

Black Guillemot.

Minke Whale.

Returning to Toft.

Early Winter.

Winter seemed to return today with 40mph northerly winds, bringing the temperature down (inc windchill) to just 4 degrees ! The only bird of note seen all day was a Barnacle Goose in front of the house - again, continuing the wintry theme.


Barnacle Goose.
Too Good, Too Bad.
Just Too Bad - England 0 - Algeria 0 ! Does a team that plays that bad deserve any support ?!!


The England line-up.

Little fluffy clouds.

No surprise that there's sod all about, though a full summer Black-throated Diver was in front of the house at tea time. The bird was just off shore, about 30 yards out, so with this in mind went down to the beach with the camera - good plan - apart from the arsehole dog walker, who decided to throw rocks into the sea for his dog to chase, not surprisingly the Diver bogged off out to sea and landed somewhere near Lady's Holm. A nice display of clouds/sunset etc at about 11pm (hippy shite).

Too Good, Too Bad

Too Good One - Le Justice - France 0 - Mexico 2 - a bit of justice for the ' cheese eating surrender monkeys' after the dodgy way they qualified ! Maybe Ireland should be twinned with Mexico now !

A Mexico fan celebrates in Dublin.

Too Good Two - Message on Birdguides today - 14:22 - 17/06/10
'Further to the earlier report of Great White Egret in Suffolk, birders should note that the large egret viewable on a small pool from the Needham Market-Stowmarket train is in fact plastic.'
Since when has a bird being 'plastic' stopped anyone !?

Too Bad One - South Korea 1 - Argentina 4, although it's a relief that a team is actually playing football now, instead of a 90 minute kickabout and a draw, we could do without the Argies hitting any kind of form.

'Manager' Maradona celebrates his teams 4-1 win as only he can !

Too Bad Two - Dog walkers - sod off from Scatness ! Go somewhere else, like Grutness Beach or the Pool of Virkie !