The best day by far as yet! The overnight SE wind and rain grounded a number of migrants, with pipits being the most obvious arrivals.
A fly-by Osprey during breakfast was a nice start to the day, but the best bird I had today was also one of the first ones. I headed down to the weedy fields near the Post Office and not long after I'd been there I heard a buzzy pipit-like call. I waited around for 10 minutes examining the field but then the bird flew out calling again and headed over to the walled garden on Springpark Rd. I got a really good view of it in flight and was convinced it was an Olive-backed Pipit. I headed back to the house to let Martin and Geoff know about the bird and then went to the walled garden where the bird immediately flew into a sycamore opposite and gave really good views, confirming its identification. Over the next 30 minutes the bird flew back to the weedy fields and then back to the gardens on Springpark Rd where I grabbed some photos of it. We also had a Richard's Pipit behind the store when we were trying to relocate the OBP which we got pretty good views of later. The Common Rosefinch was also around the weedy fields briefly and posed for some photos.
Pink-footed Geese were also on the move today and a fly-over flock of 36 Snow Buntings was nice.
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| Olive-backed Pipit, Baltasound, Unst |
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| Olive-backed Pipit, Baltasound, Unst |
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| Common Rosefinch, Baltasound, Unst |
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| Common Rosefinch, Baltasound, Unst |
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| Richard's Pipit, Baltasound, Unst |
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After lunch we headed around the more inland sites around Baltasound, mostly around the school and cemetery. There were some nice migrants around including Great Grey Shrike, Siberian Chiffchaff, 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler and lots of Redwing and a few Fieldfare.
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| Great Grey Shrike, Baltasound, Unst |
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| Great Grey Shrike, Baltasound, Unst |
It was then off to Haroldswick where we spent the rest of the afternoon. The best bird there was a Bluethroat feeding along the north edge of the bay, a Richard's Pipit by the farm and a Yellow-browed Warbler by the pond on the approach road. Great ending to a really nice days birding!
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| Bluethroat, Haroldswick, Unst |
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| Bluethroat, Haroldswick, Unst |
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