Shetland 26 September to 2 October 2014

Train to Aberdeen and then 14 hour boat to Shetland via Kirkwall. Did the same 2 years ago but this time invested £18 in a sleeping pod. Definitely not worth the expense because it's little better than a fancy reclining chair.

Arrived at Lerwick at 7:30 on the Friday, picked up my Kia Picanto hire car and headed for Unst. After my experience of 2 years ago I figured that Unst being only 12 miles long was manageable and I could limit the time spent in the car & that I would only leave if something really good turned up on Shetland mainland. Having seen the forecast for south westerlies I thought that was a pretty safe bet but that's not in reality how it panned out.

Weather over the 6 days was really good. If I'd got that in May I'd have been happy. Mostly dry, relatively warm but of course windy, indeed first afternoon at Baltasound it was hard to stand up at times.

Shetland this Autumn has had another purple patch and if I wanted to be picky perhaps the week before or the week after was probably better and the number of species greater. Nonetheless a cast including the following is not to be sniffed at:

1. White's Thrush
2. Eastern Subalpine Warbler
3. Swainson's Thrush
4. Temminck's Stint
5. Barred Warbler
6. Yellow Browed Warbler
7. Common Rosefinch
8. Wryneck
9. Marsh Warbler

Bonxie - Norwick

Common Rosefinch - Northdale

Marsh Warbler - Lund (Only my 2nd ever)

Sanderling - Norwick

Swainson's Thrush - Norwick (my 1st Scottish record)

White's Thrush - South Mainland (worth leaving Unst for - a lifer)

Wrynck - Norwick

By Thursday evening it was time to go home again. A 12 hour boat trip on a rough sea in a boat full of beer swilling Total gas workers....... you can imagine ! Plane next year methinks.

Marsh Harrier

Started off at Tyninghame and failed to see much other than maybe 5 or 6 Greenshanks.

Kilspindie in early afternoon was better with 1 Curlew Sand, 2 Greenshank, 1 Black Tailed Godwit and 5 Little Egret. This female Marsh Harrier flew west at 2:45:

Marsh Harrier

Ruff Weekend

Taken from the wooden bridge at Aberlady:

Ruff

In total there were 5 Ruff present.

Earlier off Longniddry I had 2 Red Necked Grebes and an Arctic Skua chasing Terns. Aberlady also produced Greenshank, Black Tailed Godwit & Sanderling. There was a small raft of Common Scoter off Gullane Point.

At Baron's Haugh on the Saturday there were at least 7 Ruff, 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Black Tailed Godwit & Snipe.

Black Tailed Godwit

Seawatch

Troon harbour headland on Saturday morning 9:30 to 11:30. Hundreds going on a thousand Manx going past some quite close in. All of a sudden at 11:30 nothing............. everything stopped, never experienced such an abrupt halt before. Went home.

Croatia

Super holiday to Croatia staying in the 5 star Croatia Hotel in Cavtat. A big step up in quality for us but after last year fiasco in Crete we were never going budget again. As I suspected, the range of bird species was limited, indeed I hardly used the binoculars at all. Highlights were frequent Alpine Swift over the hotel, Sardinian Warbler showing well from the hotel balcony, Yellow Legged Gull and a calling Scops Owl outside the hotel on the last evening. Spent a lot of time with the camera:

Cavtat

Cavtat

Cavtat

Cavtat

Cavtat

Dubrovnick Old Town

Dubrovnick Old Town from the City Walls

Dubrovnick Old Town from the City Walls

Dubrovnick Old Town from the City Walls

Dubrovnick

Lokrum Island

Lokrum Island

Dubrovnick from Lokrum Island

Lokrum Island

Lokrum Island

Lokrum Island

In a Mood

Croatian Sunset

Islay & Jura

Continuing the island theme of recent summers we spent 4 enjoyable days based on Islay. The weather was for the most part absolutely brilliant which really makes a place like this.

The boat journey out on the Saturday was largely uneventful with only a single Manx Shearwater of note. We were based just outside Port Ellen at Carraig Fhada.

Carraig Fhada

Next morning at 6am I was up at the Mull of Oa. Although sea level was clear up on 'the Oa' low cloud prevailed and viewing was not ideal.

The American Monument through the gloom

Nonetheless Twite & Rock Dove were notable.

Most of the rest of the day was spent over on the West Coast at Kilmaholm & Saligo Bay and at Loch Gruinart.

Saligo Bay

Choughs were had at Kilmaholm and Hen Harrier at Gruinart.

Next day was again glorious and we took the opportunity of going over to Jura. Golden Eagle was seen well and the scenery was glorious.

View from Craighouse

The Paps of Jura

Overall Islay has terrific wildlife diversity. Small birds positively abound, particularly Meadow Pipits & Linnets. Another highlight was seeing Otter daily from around the B&B. July is probably not the best time but even so there was still much to see.

Swallow in flight

Willow Warbler  - has been really scarce this year.

Spotted Sandpiper

Caught up with the summer plumage Spotted Sandpiper at Barons Haugh at 6pm today. It was on the Clyde behind the Centenary hide. I had it entirely to my self, indeed in the time I was at the Haugh (c 1 hour) I did not meet a single person. Also had a good view of a Kingfisher and 3 Common Sands.