January
Winter in Shetland can be
pretty bleak. There’s not usually much to see, particularly as it doesn’t get
light between November and February (OK, that’s a slight exaggeration, but a
prolonged period of over-exuberance and over-sleeping can mean days, if not
weeks, can pass by without seeing daylight). January 2013 brought 48 species,
including a flock of four White-fronted Geese around Toab, not an annual
visitor to the patch. Highlight, though, was the continuing presence of a
wintering Blue Tit on my nuts – a proper rare bird in these parts, and still
the only one I’ve seen in the patch. Should be worth much more than one measly
point in my opinion.
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| Blue Tit |
February
What can be said about
February? Not a lot. Five species added, including Common Scoter and the first
Skylark of the year.
March
For much of the country, mid
to late March spells the beginning of spring, with pretty things like Sand
Martins, Wheatears and Little Ringed Plovers brightening the days up. Not here
though. Just seven species added, although that did include major bonuses in
the form of a Mistle Thrush in Toab and a Goldfinch in my garden, neither of
which are annual. As it happened, Goldfinch proved to be ‘common’ in the patch
this spring, with another eight or so by the end of May.
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| Goldfinch |
April
The list shot up from 60 to 88
during April, as spring finally lumbered into view. Most of the species added
were to be expected, although Sandwich Tern, Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull and
Rook (!) were notable. The big bird of the month (and possibly the year),
however, was a Coal Tit at Hestingott – only the sixth record (seventh
individual) for mainland Shetland, although sadly not a patch tick as one of
the last records before the Hestingott bird was one I found in Toab a few years
ago.
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| Coal Tit - Courtesy of Jim Nicolson |
May
I always look forward to May.
May can be brilliant in Shetland. But May can also be terribly frustrating if
the weather isn’t favourable. May 2013, fortunately, was a stormer, with
several periods of ‘good’ weather. The first three weeks brought a nice
selection of commoner migrants, including Short-eared Owl, Black Redstart,
Stonechat, Grasshopper Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Wood Sandpiper and, best of
all, a Grey-headed Wagtail at Exnaboe (my first ‘six-pointer of the year). A
pair of Shoveler on May 22nd (only my second ever patch record) heralded the
beginning of a slightly crazy week. A Buff-breasted Sandpiper along the coastal
path near Exnaboe on the 24th was both a patch tick and a self-found tick, with
a Common Rosefinch four days later, also at Exnaboe, bagging me another six
points. The month ended with a flourish on the 30th, with a bonkers hour or so
in my garden: whilst running around trying to relocate a male Red-backed Shrike
which literally fell out of the sky in front of my eyes, I flushed a Thrush
Nightingale, which remained faithful to the garden for the rest of the day.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned shrike reappeared and started singing! A fabulous
end to a great month had seen the list shoot up to 115 and my points total go
through the roof to 177.
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| Common Rosefinch |
June
Just the one addition this
month, a singing Marsh Warbler in a neighbour’s garden. A singing Common
Rosefinch took up temporary residence in the Virkie Willows on the 8th, whilst
intriguingly a female Red-backed Shrike found the same willows to its liking
for four days late in the month.
July
Usually a quiet month, July
2013 proved to be anything but. Common Crossbill, Swift and Ruff are three
species I tend to add in July, but a group of four Red-necked Phalaropes on the
Pool of Virkie for a few minutes on the 16th was highly unexpected. I was
working on Unst at the end of the month, which coincided with the worst dip of
the year – a Roseate Tern outside my house for one evening. However, I did
catch up with a wandering Gull-billed Tern at Virkie that had originally been
found at Scatness, along with a bonus drake Scaup.
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| Red-necked Phalaropes - Courtesy of Roger Riddington |
August
A slow start, but an excellent
finish, added nine new species. Along with many other patches on the east
coast, late August brought a decent fall, with useful additions including
Icterine Warbler, Barred Warbler and Wood Warbler (all on the 25th), Marsh Harrier
on the 28th, and a self-found Citrine Wagtail that spent the best part of a
week around the Virkie Willows from the 29th. Another couple of rosefinches
appeared during this period too.
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| Citrine Wagtail |
September
September in Shetland.
Anything can happen. With the influx of visiting birders, it’s all very
traumatic – will somebody roll up to the Pool of Virkie whilst I’m at work and
clap eyes on a Willet? Fortunately for me, that didn’t happen, and I was lucky
enough to find the best wader of the autumn at Virkie this year – a fine Lesser
Yellowlegs on the 16th. Other waders around at this time included Little Stint
and Curlew Sandpiper, although probably the major event of the autumn from a
local point of view was the huge avalanche of Black-tailed Godwits. My peak
count was 208 – the largest flock recorded in Shetland before this was 47!
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| Lesser Yellowlegs |
Obviously, Shetland in
September is not really about waders, it’s passerines, and the period from 21st
to 24th was especially productive. I’d had my eye on a tattie crop at Exnaboe
all autumn, but until now it had produced nothing. Then over the space of two
days, it held a Short-toed Lark, a Bluethroat and a Richard’s Pipit. Three year
ticks, 18 points, one field. Get in. Other notable migrants during the month
included a Wryneck in my garden, another six Common Rosefinches and the
inevitable deluge of Yellow-browed Warblers (conservative estimate of 19 over
the last week of September). The best passerine, however, was a Western
Bonelli’s Warbler (I can be forgiven not finding this, as it was in the BB
Editor’s garden!).
But September died a bit of a
limp death, and from 24th onwards there was not a patch year tick to be had. I
finished the month on 144 species, seven short of my record of 151 set in 2010.
A decent October should see me there or thereabouts...
October
October began as September
finished. It was hard work. There were a few Yellow-browed Warblers still
hanging on, but nothing else. Things changed on the 8th, with another Richard’s
Pipit (which kindly added itself to my house list), followed by a Turtle Dove
in Toab on the 9th. The 10th was a nasty day, with a northerly gale blowing, so
I foolishly gave myself a day off. Bad mistake. A Pechora Pipit was found 100
yards from my house! I did manage to see it the following day, as well as
relocating a White-rumped Sandpiper at Virkie that had initially been flushed
from a beach at Scatness. A nice run of new birds over the next few days
included a Great Spotted Woodpecker in Toab (a long overdue patch tick), three
Hawfinches at Exnaboe and a Lesser Redpoll, again at Toab. A Woodcock on the
21st equalled my record of 151. What would be the record-breaker (if indeed
there was to be a record-breaker)? Rather pleasingly, the magic field at
Exnaboe produced the goods on the 26th, with a patch-tick Shore Lark – a
fitting way to set a new record. A Waxwing in Toab a few days later was the
final addition to the year list.
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| Pechora Pipit - Courtesy of Roger Riddington |
November and December
The autumn finished in late
October. Nothing to report over the last two months of the year. No additions
to the list, although I did have a nice holiday in Arizona.
So, I ended the year on 153
species, and 298 points. The points per species ratio finished at 1.947. If
only I’d found that bloody Pechora Pipit, I’d have had 306 points and a nice
round 2.0 points per species.
I rather
suspect it will be challenging to beat 153 species in future, as 2013 was an
excellent year in my patch. Six ‘BB’ rarities, plus four local rarities and a
host of scarce migrants will be difficult to better, not to mention a grand
total of eight patch ticks. That said, there were at least five species seen in
my patch in 2013 that I missed (Roseate Tern, Reed Warbler, Slavonian Grebe,
Hen Harrier and Cuckoo), along with another five fairly glaring omissions that
I see most years (Long-eared Owl, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Brent Goose and
Barnacle Goose). I was lucky this year to find a lot of the good birds – this
isn’t always the case in a patch like mine, where there are several top-drawer
rarity finders living close by (including two of the most prolific rarity
finders in Britain!) and an influx of other birders during the best weeks of
the autumn. Roll on 2014...
Rob Fray
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