{"id":10741,"date":"2015-03-19T20:59:08","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T20:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/?p=10741"},"modified":"2024-08-07T16:31:58","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T16:31:58","slug":"shetland-an-otter-safari-6th-14th-march-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/shetland-an-otter-safari-6th-14th-march-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Shetland – An Otter Safari – 6th – 14th March 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

This BLOG will be in two parts – The bird photographs first.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ever since I first visited Shetland, some 5 or 6 years ago now, I have always had a desire to get up close and personal with Otters. So when I met Brydon Thomason during my first visit and discovered his Shetland Nature<\/strong><\/a> Photographic Holidays, I had at last found my solution and the answer to my encounters with the Otter. So it was that my wife and I set-off for\u00a0Shetland from March 6th – 14th this year, staying in the Shetland Nature<\/strong> Lodge at Burrafirth on Unst. I spent 4 days with Brydon and the\u00a0Otters and what an experience it turned out to be.<\/p>\n

The weather was incredible and the wind relentless. Fortunately what rain we had was mainly at night. Some very sunny weather on several days, but the wind, often blowing at 50-60 mile per hour, made it the most physically challenging photography sessions I have ever done. We had Otter encounters every day, several families, including one female with three cubs. I can only describe the encounters at breathtaking and Brydon really does know his stuff. His expertise, patience and guidance was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed my time and his company.<\/p>\n

The birds were pretty good too, considering the time of year. A White-billed Diver<\/span><\/strong> in the Blue Mull Sound, between Unst and Fetlar was probably the best bird. But I did enjoy finding several Iceland Gull<\/span> and the sight of 300 or more Long-tailed Ducks was pretty spectacular. We found a Bean Goose<\/strong><\/span> on Yell and there were still 6 European White-fronted Geese at Baltasound on Unst. Along with Purple Sandpiper, Tystie (Black Guillemot), Merlin, Hooded Crow and Twite, my year list moved to 148.<\/p>\n

The second part to this BLOG will cover the Otters<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Iceland_J4X6220\"<\/p>\n

Iceland Gull<\/strong> – This juvenile was at Westing on Unst \u00a0– Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Iceland_J4X6661\" \"Iceland_J4X6664\" \"Iceland_J4X6666\"<\/p>\n

Iceland Gull<\/strong> – Above three images – Another juvenile, this one on Yell. A fly-by whilst I was crouched amongst the rocks waiting for Otters – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Fulmar_J4X5813\" \"Fulmar_J4X5865\" \"Fulmar_J4X5871\"<\/p>\n

Fulmar<\/strong> – Above three images – Spectacular views of these birds as they were riding the wind – Burrafirth, Unst – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Gannet_J4X6699\"<\/p>\n

Gannet<\/strong> – At sea off Yell – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/p>\n

\"LTD \"LTD \"LTD<\/p>\n

Long-tailed Duck<\/strong> – Above three images – Spectacular views of drakes and ducks flighting out to sea – Unst – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Bean<\/p>\n

Bean Goose(Tundra – race rossicus<\/em>)<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0<\/em>Found amongst a small flock of Grey Lags on\u00a0<\/em>Yell – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Grey<\/p>\n

Grey Lag Goose<\/strong> – Burrafirth, Unst – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Tystie_J4X6100\" \"Tystie_J4X6103\"<\/p>\n

Tystie<\/strong> – The local Shetland name for Black Guillemot – Plenty about, this bird was in a small harbour on Yell – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Hoodie \"Hoodie_MG_0359\"<\/p>\n

Hooded Crow<\/strong> – Unst, Shetland – Tony Davison\u00a9<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This BLOG will be in two parts – The bird photographs first. Ever since I first visited Shetland, some 5 or 6 years ago now, I have always had a desire to get up close and personal with Otters. So when I met Brydon Thomason during my first visit and discovered his Shetland Nature Photographic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,606,680],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-birdsof2015","category-mammals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10741\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}