Monday 12 October 2015

Shetland - Day 7

After a quick check of some of the sites near the house at Baltasound, we decided to head back to Norwick to look for the pipit Martin had flushed yesterday. We'd only been on site for a few minutes when Martin found two Little Buntings feeding together near the road. They were quite tame and didn't seem to mind us being around them. There may have been up to 4 Little Buntings at Norwick. One flew across into the sheep fields whilst Martin was still watching two birds and Geoff found another in the dunes (which might have been the one that flew initially to the sheep fields). Anyway, it was really cool to see two feeding together. We couldn't find yesterday's pipit, or the OBP, but we did notice a bit of an influx of Blackcaps, Goldcrest and thrushes and Yellow-browed Warbler and 3 Long-tailed Ducks were nice to see.

2 Little Bunings, Norwick, Unst

2 Little Bunings, Norwick, Unst

Little Buning, Norwick, Unst

Long-tailed Ducks, Norwick, Unst

Long-tailed Duck, Norwick, Unst
After lunch we headed out to Burrafirth and Hermaness. A Yellow-browed Warbler and a Siskin showed nicely around the burn and a ring-tailed harrier flew over the visitors centre.
Yellow-browed Warbler, Burrafirth, Unst

Yellow-browed Warbler, Burrafirth, Unst

Siskin, Burrafirth, Unst
We finished the day off back at Baltasound. The best bird found as the light was fading, was another Olive-backed Pipit! It was quite a way from where we found the one on Saturday, so perhaps a new bird.

Tomorrow is due to be still and sunny, so we're hopeful of finding a good warbler or something that finally has a chance to feed. We'll see!

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