notbirding: Unst 2017: Days 12-14

Monday, 9 October 2017

Unst 2017: Days 12-14

We tried something a but different on the 5th, spending some time seawatching off Lamba Ness. Other than loads of Fulmars (no Blues) and plenty of Gannets, we saw 3 Guillemots and a couple of Auk sp... and that was about it. There was also a Peregrine knocking plus a Bar-wit in with a few Golden Plover - we checked several groups of the latter during the day, but failed to find anything exciting amongst them.

On the way back to Norwick a look at Troll Bridge produced one Reed Warbler and one Reed Bunting. It was then on to Valyie where there was the usual range of migrants in small numbers, plus some intriguing Redpolls; two fairly obvious Lessers, and a 'Mealy', which had some fawn colouring on the face, and seemingly a big white rump and white tramlines. It did have reasonably strong flank streaking, and 1-2 dark lines on the undertail coverts...

'Mealy' Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll (surely?)

There were only a few birds at Skaw, with 1 Blackcap, 1 Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Chiffs, with the RT Pipit still present. We then went to twitch a female Ring-necked Duck at Easter Loch in Uyeasound which had been found lurking amongst the Tufties.

We tried to do Valyie first thing on the 6th, but had been beaten there by Ken Shaw's team, so we went to Burrafirth instead, where there was a Reed Warbler, a Redwing and a Mealy Redpoll. The female Parrot Crossbill was still at SHE, along with 2 Chaffinches and a YBW (now very thin on the ground).

There wasn't much to get excited about at Clingera, but we then heard of a Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll at Skaw, which was showing nicely inside the croft compound - a lovely white individual, with minimal flank streaking. We'd been expecting one of these to turn up given the north-westerly winds we'd been having...

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll

The twitch

Continuing on, we checked Houlland, where the Gropper was still along the edge of the Loch of Cliff along with a Reed Warbler, and where we had a female Parrot Crossbill fly in from the east and then north up the Loch - although it took a moment for the penny to drop when we first heard the call!

Parrot Crossbill

Baltasound was next on the itinerary. We'd not been there long, checking the garden behind the post office, when a small group of Redpolls flew in - and one of them was big, long, and white. The group had flown towards Springpark Road, and we soon found the Redpoll party in a tree in one of the front gardens. And there was the big white one - not quite as smart as the Skaw bird, with heavier flank streaking but a nice fawn face and a big white rump - it was surely another Hornemann's!

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll

The group then flew up towards Haligarth, so we headed in that direction. As we arrived, I saw something white flick across in the long grass just inside the wall - no doubt about it, a Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll. We enjoyed watching it next to a markedly smaller Mealy Redpoll, when it was joined by a second Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, also with flank streaking, so neither was the Skaw bird. Result! They then flew back towards Baltasound, as part of a group of around 15 Redpoll, where we failed to find them, although Ken Shaw's team did, with John Nadin getting some great video footage.

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll with a Mealy

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll - 2nd bird

Buoyed up by our success, we checked the Norwick area, locating one of the Little Buntings, and yesterday's interesting 'Mealy' Redpoll again. We had better views of this, noting dark speckling on the rump, presumably ruling out Coues's Arctic Redpoll?

'Mealy' Redpoll

And so the 7th dawned, our last day on Shetland. We had a final spin around our favourite sites, not really seeing very much at Valyie/Norwick or Skaw, but having at least one of the Hornemann's Arctic Redpolls land briefly with a few other Redpolls in the sycamores at Halligarth, along with 6 Brambling, a Siskin, a Spotted Fly and what was probably/ hopefully a Sedge Warbler briefly, and a Reed Warbler in the crop by the post office.

It was then time to leave Unst. Within minutes of arriving on Yell, news arrived of an OBP in Uyeasound - a shame, as they're cracking birds and a species we'd been hoping to find all fortnight. But it could've been worse. We then concluded our trip with something of an anticlimax, bypassing Sandgarth (where an RBF was found later, and a Thrush Nightingale the following day) and heading to first Voe, and then Kergord, where we saw very little. We then twitched, and dipped, both the Rustic Bunting at Cunningsburgh and the Dusky Warbler at Gulberwick (although we only gave the latter about 15 minutes).

And that was that. Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip, despite the week of westerlies. Certainly, from a bird finding perspective, we can't complain about a Red-throated Pipit, 2 Hornemann's Arctic Redpolls and Unst's first Parrot Crossbills (and Shetland's first for 23 years), plus a couple of Little Buntings. It was a shame we didn't know about the Upland Sand in time, and that I was too relaxed about the PG Tips - if we'd added those it really would have been a very successful two weeks. Now we just have to hope that something absolutely monster doesn't turn up on Unst this week - than goodness the Siberian Blue Robin was on North Ron!