My diary from Shetland and Fair Isle - September 2015

I was intending to update my blog on a daily basis whilst up on Shetland and Fair Isle, but a combination of slow internet access and evening socialising meant it just did not happen. Instead, below is a summary of my trip, with some of my better images, and some record shots. 

My trip involved four nights of Shetland, one before and three after visiting Fair Isle and six nights on Fair Isle. The group included mainly a team from the BTO, Andy Clements, Paul Stancliffe, Nick Moran, John Marchant and Stephen McAvoy with Miranda Gomperts, Andy Mason, Rick Goater and me. For me, it was only my second visit to Shetland and Fair Isle and that was many years ago, so I had been eagerly anticipating the trip for a while.

17th September - Shetland
I flew into Sumburgh around mid afternoon and immediately headed up to the lighthouse where I met up with Hugh Harrop and Junt Hunt, both of who I knew from previous trips guiding across the Bay of Biscay for Company of Whales. The target bird here was Western Bonelli's Warbler, which was difficult to say the least, but ultimately gave some reasonable views. Other species included Common Swift (3), Spotted Flycatcher, Lesser Whitethroat, Goldcrest, Willow Warbler and Robin. At Sumburgh Quarry there was little of note, with Blackcap and Wheatear the only birds.

I spent a productive couple of hours are Grutness, where I picked up a Pied Flycatcher, another Willow Warbler and my first Yellow-Browed Warbler of the trip in the gardens.  

Pied Flycatcher - Sumburgh, Shetland

On the freshwater pools by the Quay two very confiding Little Stints were present, one of which was much darker than the other. This bird had me thinking for a while, but despite being darker, all the features pointed to Little Stint.

Little Stint - Grutness, Shetland

Little Stint - Grutness, Shetland

Little Stints - Grutness, Shetland

18th September - Fair Isle
I met the rest of the team in Lerwick Harbour, as they had got the overnight boat from Aberdeen, then Paul and I headed to Tingwall for our flight. Given the size of our group we could not all get on at once and so the remainder of the team were planning to get the afternoon flight.

On arriving we walked to the Bird Observatory, birding on the way. After a quick cup or tea and welcome we set off again. The species of note included Hen Harrier, Reed Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Barred Warbler, Chiffchaff, Wigeon, Snow Bunting, Ruff, Wheatear, Whinchat and Red-breasted Merganser. A lingering juvenile Pallid Harrier was obviously one of our target birds, and despite other birders saying how easy it was to see, we did not connect with it until about 4pm, so after six hours birding.

Pallid Harrier (Juvenile) - Fair Isle

Pallid Harrier (Juvenile) - Fair Isle

Species such as Rock Dove, Black Guillemot, Hooded Crow, Twite and Bonxie were clearly good birds for someone based on the south coast of England, but since they are common up here I have not mentioned them. After dinner we headed down to the Havens, just by the Obs as one of the wardens had found a Red-breasted Flycatcher their. Initially it was a bit flighty but eventually settled down to give some good views.

Red-brested Flycatcher - Fair Isle

19th September - Fair Isle
Today was mainly about cetaceans, with a pod of Orcas found by Nick before breakfast and then Risso's Dolphins and Harbour Porpoises recorded throughout the day in good numbers. Bird wise the notable species were Yellow-browed Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Ruff, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Common Rosefinch, Whinchat, Robin, Sparrowhawk, Snow Bunting and Purple Sandpiper.

Spotted Flycatcher - Fair Isle

Common Rosefinch - Fair Isle

Snow Bunting - Fair Isle

20th September - Fair Isle
I did the pre-breakfast trap round in the morning and was rewarded with a Pied Flycatcher, Blackcap, Song Thrush and a couple of Goldcrests. As we had birded the south of the Island for the last few days we decided to head north today, but were soon heading back south when news of a Blyth's Reed Warbler broke. This was a new species for me and one I have often imagined catching at Titchfield Haven so it was really good to catch up with one and also get to see it close up in the hand.

Blyth's Reed Warbler - Fair Isle

Blyth's Reed Warbler - Fair Isle

Blyth's Reed Warbler - Fair Isle

Other highlights included Merlin, Common Rosefinch, Pallid and Hen Harrier, Barred Warbler, Willow Warbler, Golden Plover, and Whinchat.

21st September - Fair Isle
Today was the day of our bird race. We split into three teams, Andy C, Rick and Miranda; Nick, John and Stephen and Paul, Andy M and me. It was just a bit of fun really, but we were all desperate to win, and at times it was like watching a scene from Dad's Army as Nick blew his whistle to get his team back into line. In the end Andy C's team won with 61 species, my team came second with 61 also, but one of ours was a fly over Redpoll, which didn't count as we couldn't ID it to species (we weren't bitter at all) and Nick's team got 60 species. 

As we were working our way around the island it became apparent that we were experiencing a massive fall of Yellow-browed Warbler's; they were just everywhere. The official total was 53 which was a Fair Isle record in one day, but we all felt it could have been many more than that. Subsequently that total has been surpassed with a day total of over 70 birds.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Fair Isle

Yellow-browed Warbler - Fair Isle

Species highlights included Common Rosefinch, Fieldfare, Greenshank, Pallid and Hen Harrier, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Jack Snipe, Merlin, Kittiwake, Goldcrest and Whinchat.

22nd September - Fair Isle
The pre-breakfast trap round produced Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed and Robin with others caught throughout the day. Yellow-broweds were still abundant today, and the most notable species. Others included Jack Snipe, Ruff, Hen Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Willow Warbler and Blackcap.

(Fair Isle) Wren Troglodytes troglodytes fridariensis - Fair Isle

23rd September - Fair Isle
A pre-breakfast wander produced Ringed Plover, Dunlin, House Martin and a Collared Dove. After breakfast we headed south again; Yellow-broweds were still everywhere but there was a bit more variety and the notable species included Jack Snipe, Redwing, Goldcrest, Grey Wagtail, Slavonian Grebe, Grey Plover, Redshank, Purple Sandpiper, Knot, Merlin, Hen Harrier and a very obliging Lesser Whitethroat.

Lesser Whitethroat - Fair Isle

Merlin - Fair Isle

The most notable thing about today was the discovery of a long dead bird in the Gilly Burn. It was a small passerine that was very decomposed but had orangey underwing coverts which lead us to believe it was a Redstart. Closer inspection revealed that the bird was wearing a ring which turned out to be Dutch (Arhiem NL, Holland - V626386). We left all the details, and the ring with the Obs and hope to receive the details at some point in the future.

24th September - Fair Isle and Shetland
It was departure day for us today, and once again we had to split up as we could not all get off on the same plane, Stephen chose the Good Shepherd as his preferred means of transport. Paul, Andy, John and I had the afternoon flight and spent our remaining tome in the south. We didn't add any new bird species but did pick up a Painted Lady butterfly, our first of the trip. Yellow-broweds were still the most numerous migrant. Other notable species included Common Rosefinch, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Collared Dove, Redwing, Robin and Lesser Whitethroat. 

Common Rosefinch - Fair Isle

Great Skuas (Bonxie) - Fair isle

After spending the rest of the day birding mainland Shetland we all met up in Lerwick and ordered some food. We had a bit of a tight schedule as Andy C and Nick had to give a talk at the Shetland Bird Club and needed to be there for 7pm, it was now 5:35pm. My phone rang just as we sat down to eat: it was Hugh Harrop telling me to get to Quendale Mill now at a Thick-billed Warbler had just been found. We could have been there in half an hour, but that would have not given enough time get back to Lerwick for the talk, so we chose to stick together and hope it it was still there in the morning.....alas it was not.

25th September - Shetland
We spent much of the morning at Quendale, working the area where the Thick-billed had been and with nothing to show for our efforts than more Yellow-browed's, a Merlin, a Reed Warbler and a couple of Blackcaps, we eventually headed off. We stopped at a few other places afterwards, but by mid afternoon we had to head back to the port at Lerwick so the team could catch the overnight boat to Aberdeen.

Greenland Wheatear 

I was staying on Shetland until Sunday and so spent the remaining hours of daylight birding Ness of Sound, and the area near to my B&B.

26th September - Shetland
It was a dreary start today but I decided to head to the northern part of mainland Shetland as I had not done this area yet. Yellow-browed's were present in virtually every bit of cover I stopped at, but otherwise there was little of note. I headed to the village of Melby but recorded little of note. Species included Blackbird, Whooper Swan, Greylag Goose, Ringed Plover, Common Gull and Raven.

Whooper Swan - Shetland

Whooper Swans - Shetland

I stopped briefly at Weisdale Voe and picked up an adult Little Gull in the gull flock and then got a text from Hugh, Lanceolated Warbler at Dale of Walls. I had just come past there and knew exactly where it was. As it turned out, the whole experience was grim, with this poor bird being flushed from pillar to post, and not being given a chance to settle. I did eventually get some ok views, but most of the time it was flight views as it flitted from one bit of cover to the next. My final stop of the day was The Wart, Sandwick to see an American Golden Plover in with the European Goldies. A small flock of Pink-footed Geese heading south were the final species of the day.

27th September - Shetland
My final day started with some birding around my B&B and some still very common Yellow-broweds and then I headed back south. I called into Sandwick on the way to see the American GP in better light, then to Quendale and finished up at Grutness, and within in easy reach of my flight. Yellow-browed's were numerous throughout the rest of the day and other final day highlights included Sedge Warbler, Merlin, White Wagtail, Yellow wagtail species, Sanderling, Willow Warbler and Goldcrest.

American Golden Plover (left) with European Golden Plover - Shetland

All in all a cracking trip, some great birds, great company and superb whiskey. The trip was only slightly soured by the actions of some at the Lancy.

Another Eastern Surprise.....well not really!

With the weather forecast for the weekend looking wet and windy I decided to ring at the Haven this morning (17th October). Unfortunately being a weekday there was no one else free, although Barry did suggest that he might pop by at some stage. With the numbers of birds per session dropping right down now, and the overnight weather conditions not particularly good for a fall, I decided to open all the nets. The first round was as predicted and produced a measly four birds, but as I was approaching the ringing station I heard the distinctive call of a Yellow-browed Warbler. I quickly processed the birds I had and headed out for another round. This time it was slightly better numbers wise, with 13 birds made up of Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Robins, Goldcrests and, yep you've guessed it a Yellow-browed Warbler. I have been watching the bird news over the last couple of weeks and there have been good numbers around the country, so it was not a major surprise to catch one, but they have been proving more that a bit elusive in Hampshire. I think Barry must have a sixth sense as just as I got the bird out of the bag to ring it he appeared around the corner.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Titchfield Haven - October 2014

The bird was in excellent condition, the plumage was immaculate and it was carrying a lot of fat (ESF score of 4). This is only the fourth Yellow-browed the be ringed at the Haven, the first was in 1978, but the last three have been in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Titchfield Haven - October 2014

The tail feathers on this bird were pointed indicating that it was probably a juvenile.

Yellow-browed Warbler tail - October 2014

The session continued with nothing else notable to report and only 37 birds ringed of which five were retraps. The total included 13 Chiffchaffs, five Blackcaps and five Goldcrests, two Robins and single Song Thrush, Blackbird and a lingering Reed Warbler.

A sad looking Goldcrest

After ringing I wandered along the boardwalk looking, and listening for the yellow-browed but there was no sign which was a shame as it would have been nice to see it in the field. 

A quick scan over the beach was also worth while as a mixed flock of gulls were roosting there. The flock included seven Common Gulls, 14 Herring Gulls, 96 Black-headed Gulls and 1 each of Lesser Black-backed and Mediterranean Gull. The Med was sporting a red colour on its left tarsus with the inscription PPP9. A quick look at the colour ringing website here suggests that this bird was ringed in Poland, I will let you know the details when I find out.

Adult Mediterranean Gull with its red colour and the alpha-numeric code PPP9 (honest)

Titchfield Haven Bird Ringing Update - 21st October 2012

This weekends ringing had a very, late autumn, end of season feel about it, with the numbers of birds and diversity of species, much lower than they have been during August and September. The acro's have now gone, we did not catch a single reed or sedge warbler, and the same with groppers. Our gropper total ended on 360 birds, the third most numerous species ringed, with sedge warbler (635) and blackcap (368 so far), the two most numerous species. The gropper total is the fourth highest ever for the site, with the previous highest being the three preceding years, 950 (2011), 569 (2009) and 463 (2010). In the last 14 seasons we have ringed a total of 4019 groppers, which is an astonishing total seeing as in the previous 25 years only 18 birds were ringed.

Yellow-browed Warbler (B. S. Duffin)

As I mentioned in my last post, Friday began with a bit of excitement as a yellow-browed warbler was one of the first birds extracted. A cracking juvenile bird, in very fresh plumage and only the third to be ringed at the Haven. Saturday also began with a bit of excitement, although not the same rarity value as yellow-browed, but another firecrest. This is our fifth firecrest of the year, and our best year ever for this species, the grand total for the site is 15. This latest bird was a juvenile female.

Juvenile female Firecrest

The most numerous species of the last two days was chiffchaff, with 25 ringed Friday and 26 ringed Saturday, only eight blackcaps, six goldcrests and three wrens. Cetti's warblers have been a bit elusive in recent weeks, since they will have been undergoing their post breeding or post juvenile moults, but two new birds were ringed this weekend, and also two new robins.

Cetti's Warbler

Another surprise was a juvenile common redstart, which was the fifth bird ringed this year. This is the highest total for this species, four being the previous highest total in 2001 and 2004; a total of 33 have now been ringed at the Haven. Single song thrush and blackbird, and a retrap Eurasian treecreeper made up the totals; 37 new birds Friday and 42 Saturday.

Eurasian Treecreeper

Two the the Havens volunteers, Andy and Eddie, have recently put in a lot of time renovating the Heligoland trap at the Haven. Now finished it is being baited with the hope of attracting reed buntings for some winter ringing. A quick visit to see if any birds were there resulted in a single jay on 14/10/2012. This bird turned out to be a retrap that was first ringed on 16/08/1997, some 15 years 1 month and 28 days earlier. The longevity record for jay currently belongs to a North Yorkshire bird that was retrapped 16 years 9 months and 19 days after its original capture, although not the record this is a pretty good innings for our bird.

A Yellow-browed Warbler and loads of Sleepy Dormice

Today I had a busy day planned doing some more hazel dormouse training for the rangers at Titchfield Haven. I had considered doing some ringing prior to the training, but instead opted for an extra hours slept....what a mistake! As I was just rounding the double bend at the back of the haven I received the image below from Ed Bennett, one of the rangers I would be training. Given the number of yellow-browed warblers in the country at the moment the biggest surprise was that none had been caught, well not any more, I will be down there ringing tomorrow so maybe there will be another, or even something better!

Yellow-browed Warbler, Titchfiled Haven (Ed Bennett)

Since we were at the haven we started our dormouse survey by checking there first. There are a mixture of tubes and boxes around the ringing area, with a few bird nest boxes thrown in for good measure. The dormice aren't really choosy about which box they use, as they have been previously recorded in all of them, not this time though, a few old nests was all that was on offer. The ringing area has been saturated this year so it not surprising we recorded none here, its probably just too wet.

Hazel Dormouse

Our next site was to the west of Titchfield Haven, a site where we recorded five animals last year, and one earlier this year. This year we got off to a great start with three individuals, one adult female and two juveniles, in the first box. These were a feisty bunch with one of the juveniles appearing not to have read the dormouse handbook, and duly gave Nick a nip on the finger. The third box was similar to the first, with three individuals in it, this time it appeared that there was an adult male and female, and one juvenile. Two more active dormice in another box, before we came across the two below.

Two Torpid Dormice

The Hazel Dormouse is a lazy species spending around six months of the year in hibernation, in a woven nest at ground level. But even in the summer months they will enter torpor, particularly when its raining or their food supply is short. When torpid they can be readily handled without waking, and can even be heard to snore!

Torpid Dormouse

The Hazel Dormouse is strictly nocturnal and predominantly arboreal, and during the summer is active from dusk until around 3 - 4 am. During September and October, when it is fattening up for hibernation they will be active all night.

Torpid Dormouse

Prior to hibernation adults can weigh between 25 - 35 grams, with the heaviest recorded in the wild weighing 43 grams, juveniles weighing less than 12 grams will be unlikely to survive the winter. Today we recorded weights of between 16 - 27 grams, so all of them appear to be in good health, and will hopefully be well placed to survive the winter.

Torpid Dormouse

By the end of the session we had recorded 11 dormice in five nests...our highest total ever, and found inactive nests in other parts of the site where we had previously recorded none. This is excellent news all round, since it would seem to suggest that the species is doing well despite the very changeable weather we have had this year. It also shows that the management of this particular woodland by the Rangers at Titchfield Haven is also benefiting the species, long may it continue. The plan is to register this site on the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme so that the population can be studied and its long term survival can be maintained at this site.

A Yellow-browed at The Haven!!!

After the highs of yesterday, light south-easterlies and loads of eastern migrants arriving in the country, we opened our nets with dreams of having our share. The omens seemed good because as I left my house a black cat ran across the road in front of me!!!, which apparently brings good luck. And so it was to be as we didn't have long to wait for our dreams to be fulfilled. Just as I was getting to the end of the first net round, there in the net were 2 chiffchaffs and a single Yellow-browed warbler!!

Yellow-browed Warbler, Titchfield Haven - 15th October 2011

This cracking little bird, is the sixth to be seen at The Haven but only the second to be trapped and ringed there. I have only handled one before, and so quickly searched out my trusty Svensson guide in order to attempt to age it.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Titchfield Haven - 15th October 2011

Interestingly, according to Svensson adult birds undergo a summer complete moult, whereas juveniles undergo a summer partial, nonetheless there are no plumage differences recorded for ageing birds in the autumn.

Wing of Yellow-browed Warbler

The primaries were extremely fresh and tipped white, and were emarginated on the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th, but the tail feathers were pointed and slightly abraded. Abrasion on the tail feathers is indicative of a juvenile bird in many species, and it is my suspicion that this was the case with this bird...

Tail of Yellow-browed Warbler

......but in the absence of any other published literature on ageing the species we opted to leave the bird unaged but took loads of photos for future reference.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Titchfield Haven 15th October 2011

After release the bird was seen on a couple of occasions feeding in the sun drenched willows before disappearing. We continued with our session with nothing much else to report other than a few Goldcrests, the usual Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps and a handful of Robins. And then just as we had closed all the nets our attention was drawn to a pipit flying over uttering  loud, high pitched call. Having only recently seen the species we immediately identified the bird as a Red-throated Pipit, unfortunatley it continued in a westerly direction and we were unable to relocate it.