My Wild Life : Tom Hines

This was a much-wanted bird for me. An adult Ross's Gull was first found passing Co Durham on the 8th January, and was then found on the mouth of the Tyne at South Shields on 9th, but I couldn't make it up the A1 until 10th.

A very earlier start on a cold icy day meant I was there at dawn. Stepping out of the car, it was freezing cold with the wind coming in straight off the North Sea. I made my way to the harbour wall where the bird had previously been visiting with Black-headed Gulls.

It couldn't have been a worse location, with the freezing wind cutting through my several layers of clothes, and the occasional rain shower which didn't help. After two hours, and no sign of the Ross's Gull, I couldn't take any more and had to go to the nearest cafe to get a warm drink. After slightly thawing out I reluctantly made my way back to the harbour wall. It wasn't looking very promising until suddenly news came that the bird had been located a mile up the Tyne at the Customs House.

A quick run back to the car and 5 minutes later I was in the right location but the bird had just flown back down river. Two minutes later though, it was back, and was soon showing well for five minutes on the calm river not too far out.

Ross's Gull at the Customs House in South Shields

Soon the gull had flown further up river towards Jarrow but was found again at a location accessible through a gap in a fence. It gave great views for a couple of hours, although more distant, where it flew up and down river.

Glaucous and Med gulls were also present at this site, along with Long-tailed Duck.

Ross's Gull in flight at Jarrow Slake

The day had turned around completely, the sun was shining and we were sheltered from the freezing wind.

Thanks for looking.

The long journey to Shetland started as usual with the drive to Aberdeen. I'd planned a slight diversion for the Ayrshire Ross's Goose. Arriving around 9am at Fail Loch, South-west of Glasgow, I was informed it had just flown off, but after a bit of a goose chase around the local area I found it back at the location it had earlier departed from with Canada Geese.

Ross's Goose

Despite its dubious origins, it was a great start, and I set off again - onwards to Aberdeen for the overnight Ferry!

Day 1 - After a relatively smooth overnight crossing, the first stop was to look for Corncrake at Tingwall. Originally two birds had been present earlier in the week, with one unfortunately killed by a car. There had been no reports for a couple of days. I thought it was worth a try but there was no sign of the remaining bird during a quick search of the area.

Next stop was to Bixter where a Golden Oriole had just been reported. After a lengthy wait it was finally located but proved elusive and very mobile with only a brief views obtained.

Day 2 - What was presumably the same Golden Oriole was found again nearby at Aith, and showed really well for a couple of hours in sycamore trees around the garden of a detached house.

Golden Oriole

A lovely adult Rose-coloured Starling was only a few hundred yards away and with a bit of patience showed really well, coming to feed on roadside berries.

Rose-coloured Starling

Day 3 started with a drive over to the Clickimin Loch where a Barred Warbler had been reported for some time. I soon located it and managed to get a few shots of it as it moved through the loch-side bushes.

Barred Warbler

Next stop was nearby to the Burn of Sound, to look for the long staying Little Bunting, but on arrival news of the first mega bird of the trip emerged as an Eastern Crowned Warbler had been found across at Sandness, a good hours drive away. I was keen to see this bird as I had somehow missed the few occurrences over the past decade, despite a couple being relatively close on the Yorkshire coast.

Just about every birder in Shetland was quickly on site, and after a short wait the bird was relocated. It was incredibly elusive in the lines of willow trees, but occasionally gave good views. These images were taken when it stopped moving and started preening for a minute or so.

The Eastern Crowned Warbler - the first occurrence for Shetland and Scotland.

The next morning we decided to head north to Unst. A Lanceolated Warbler and Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler had been reported at Valyie in the far north of the island, although there did seem to be confusion about whether these were actually the same bird. I was desperate to see the PG Tips, a bird that I'd somehow managed to miss despite my many visits to Shetland.

Unfortunately there was no sign of any birds early morning, and as one of the party was leaving on the afternoon ferry we couldn't hang around. A stop at Wadbister on the way back to Lerwick produced a Red-throated Diver, and a Velvet Scoter, which was, a few days later, re-identified as a White-winged Scoter.

The Little Bunting was still at Burn of Sound so we managed to have a quick look at that later in the day,

Little Bunting

Whilst in a cafe in Lerwick, there were puzzling reports of the Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler back up in Unst. After a lot of deliberating I decided to head back up there early the next day, which proved to be a good decision.

Arriving very early on site again, there were only a handful of birders present. We walked up the small road that leads to Valyie, with a small plantation on the right. The Lanceolated / PG Tips mystery bird had been seen in the ditches before the plantation so we slowly walked through the long ditch by the road trying to locate it. Soon a small locustella warbler hopped up and into the field just above, but straight into the relatively long grass. Unlike the previous morning, at least something was present! However, this bird suddenly took a back seat as news pinged in of a Paddyfield Warbler at Valyie, just round the corner and up the hill! Problem was, there was no-one else around, so the report was a mystery. Soon, three local birders appeared from the bushes further up the burn, and they were confident the warbler they'd seen was a Paddyfield. This would be a new bird for me so I was keen to relocate it. The small group of around ten birders carefully worked the burn from both sides, but getting to the top there was nothing of note, so we turned around and traced our steps back down the steep hill. Suddenly a bird flew out and down to the foot of the hill opposite the crop field - we had somehow missed it on the way up. Despite only a brief glimpse, we were confident this was it so raced downhill and found it in the sycamores where it briefly showed well. The Paddyfield Warbler again made it's way uphill, then back down before flying across the path into the crop field where it remained for the rest of that day and the following day.

It doesn't happen very often, but being on site when a rarity is found is exhilarating, especially when it's a new bird. Soon groups of birders started arriving, as people drifted north on the ferries through the day.

Paddyfield Warbler

After a couple of hours I decided to leave, but to get back to the car I decided to walk through the field where the Locustella had been seen earlier that day. Amazingly the bird flew up from my feet, over the fence and into the ditch where it had previously been seen. I quickly hopped over the fence and looked along the bank to see a small bird sat in a hollow - Lanceolated Warbler! The bird soon flew along the ditch and was soon found in the plantation, where it was seen on and off all day. Both Laneolated and Paddyfield Warblers were with 100 meters of each other so most birders had a great afternoon at Valyie.

This was my fourth Lanceolated Warbler on Shetland, but Pallas's Grasshopper warbler was still a wanted bird, so in that respect I went away disappointed.

Lanceolated Warbler

Two ferries later, I was back on the mainland and decided to call into Kergord woods where an Olive-backed Pipit had been found earlier that day. It hadn't been seen for a while and there was only a couple of people on site so I called it a day and returned home, but it had been a classic day.

Day 5 was a relatively quiet day with poor weather and nothing of note seen or found.

Day 6 was quite the opposite, another classic Shetland day, where you never know what is going to happen and something spectacular does.

It was a quiet start with a visit to Tingwall loch where a Slavonian Grebe was still present. Another Olive-backed Pipit had been found not too far from Kergord so I decided to make the short drive north to have a look. This was a false alarm though, as the bird was a nice Tree Pipit.

Tree Pipit

Having had a brief view of the Tree Pipit, news came through that the Olive-backed Pipit had been relocated at Kergord, which was only about 10 minutes further west so I headed over for a second attempt, and we soon located in in the main wood close to the road.

Olive-backed Pipit

We had only been watching it a couple of minutes before news emerged that had everyone making a quick exit out of the trees - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler at Garth! Most birders present hadn't seen PG Tips before either, so there was a mini-stampede out of the Kergord woods and back to the cars. I knew Garth was roughly east, so set off without checking the map, although I seemed to be heading in the opposite direction to the others. It paid off though, as when I arrived 15 quick minutes later, I could see only the finders in the iris beds, no-one else had made it yet. Cars soon started to arrive though, and we hopped over a couple of fences to get to where the bird had last been seen.

After a brief wait, the Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler showed a few times in flight, but it was almost impossible to see on the ground, it's location only being known through the use of thermal image cameras. After about an hour it moved to an area of shorter grass by some boggy vegetation and we got spectacular views of my most wanted Shetland rarity only a short distance away!

At Last - Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler!

It had been a long day so I headed home, but news then emerged of an Arctic Warbler at the Bridge of Fitch, near Scalloway. This was only 20 minutes away so despite the light starting to fade I headed out again to find the bird showing brilliantly in a group of trees along the burn by the side of a busy road.

Arctic Warbler

It had been another brilliant day of eastern rarities, and it seemed fitting to end it with a curry with friends in Lerwick that evening.

Day 7 was a quieter affair. I spent a while at Grutness trying to photograoh Gannets diving in the bay, This was almost impossible as the camera lens was difficult to keep still due to the high winds, but sometimes it worked.

Gannets

Nearby at Pool of Virkie, and near-summer plumaged Great Northern Diver was present.

Great Northern Diver

Day 8 was almost another spectacular day. Early that morning a Pallas's Warbler was found at Swining, in north-east mainland. I'd just parked and made my way to the trees where it was located when news emerged of a Common Nighthawk flushed at Burravoe on Yell! I immediately got in the car and raced up to the ferry terminal to get over to Yell. A long queue of cars started forming but most managed to get on the next boat over, and within 20 minutes cars were arriving at the location. Unfortunately the bird had not been seen since first sighting and people were looking in all directions around the village. Suddenly, there was a rush to view the bird which had been found just over a stone wall near the school. Unfortunately cries went up of 'It's just a Nightjar' and indeed the bird sat roosting on a small piece of wood only a few feet away was only a Eurasion Nightjar.

Having said that, after the disappointment had subsided a little, these were the best views I'd ever had of Nighjar so it was worth the journey over.

The bird that night have been - Nightjar!

Back on the mainland in the afternoon, I revisited the Pallas's Warbler. It was quite elusive but occasionally emerged from the thick bushes surrounding a garden.

Pallas's Warbler

The location of the Pallas's Warbler - a typical Shetland Birding scene.

Day 8.- After packing the car and heading out for a final day before the evening ferry, I headed south to Channerwick where a Bluethroat had been found that morning. I saw it briefly but it disappeared for a long time before being found along the beach in the bay, finally showing nicely once the crowds had dispersed.

Bluethroat

I headed north to Lerwick and boarded the ferry but there was still one last moment of magic and another Shetland special to end a fantastic week - the Aurora Borealis. Despite my numerous visits, I'd never seen the northern lights in Shetland (although I have seen it from my garden in Sheffield!). As the ferry departed there were some spectacular views of the lights looking north from the back of the boat as we headed south into the North Sea, past Fair Isle and on to Aberdeen.