Looking forward to Foula...

This time in two days I will be on a ferry somewhere between Aberdeen and Lerwick, en route to Foula, off the west coast of Shetland. And I can't wait! I've had an autumn birding trip to the northern isles once before, spending 10 days on Fair Isle in October 2005, seeing Siberian Rubythroat, Lanceolated Warbler, Olive-backed Pipit, 2 Black-throated Thrushes, Arctic Redpoll, 2 Little Buntings, Short-toed Lark, Richards Pipit, Pallas's Warbler, several Yellow-brows, Bluethroat, good numbers of Snow and Lapland Buntings, 11 Short-eared Owls (together), a big fall of thrushes, Little Auk, Grey Phalarope... This clearly set the bar pretty high! I'm not expecting Foula to be like Fair Isle (not least as there will be no nice home-cooked meals waiting for me after a hard day's birding), but I do have some hopes - certainly a few self-found ticks, maybe a British tick or two, ideally a self-found BB rarity tick... We'll see!

Black-throated Thrush on Fair Isle, October 2005

Bluethroat on Fair Isle, October 2005
 

Little Bunting on Fair Isle, October 2005

Richard's Pipit on Fair Isle, October 2005

Twitching a Lancy on Fair Isle, October 2005