{"id":1260,"date":"2012-09-29T21:08:54","date_gmt":"2012-09-29T21:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/?p=1260"},"modified":"2012-11-13T17:20:01","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T17:20:01","slug":"birding-shetland-september-22nd-29th-2012-unst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/birding-shetland-september-22nd-29th-2012-unst\/","title":{"rendered":"Birding Shetland – September 22nd – 29th, 2012 – Unst"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWe arrived at Blackdog, Aberdeen at around 2pm on Friday 21st September 2012.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tA vast flock of Scoter and Eider duck were on the sea and after some careful searching, I eventually located the eclipse drake Surf Scoter<\/span> amongst Common & Velvet Scoter<\/span>. There were also numerous Red-throated Diver, 2 Arctic Skua, 7 Whooper Swan at sea, several skeins of Pink-footed Geese flying south and a fly-by Turtle Dove<\/span> of all things. The trip had got off to a great start.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tWe were ready for another week, birding on the island of Unst, Shetland. The island of Unst is locally named as     <\/span>“The Island Above All Others”<\/strong>, a very apt name for this remote and stunningly beautiful place. <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tHighlights of 22nd September 2012<\/span>. We arrived off the Aberdeen – Lerwick Ferry at 7.30pm, having seen, at extremely close quarters, a Storm Petrel <\/span>roosting on the ferry during the crossing.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tUyeasound, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tThe weather predictions for the week ahead appeared to be good for drift migration and we were keen to get to our Croft at Northdale. As there was very little in the way of rare birds on Shetland Mainland to wet our appetite, we decided to stock up on provisions at the local Tesco in Lerwick and then head North. We eventually arrived at Northdale around mid morning. As soon as we arrived I noticed a Pied Flycatcher in the garden, a migrant, wonder what else is around. The car was quickly unloaded and the next three birds that I found were Yellow-browed Warbler<\/span>, Common Rosefinch<\/span> and a Barred Warbler<\/span>, one after the other, WOW – what is going on here….<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tCommon Rosefinch – Northdale, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tWithin the next hour, we walked straight on to a Great Reed Warbler<\/span> at Valyie, also here 10 Common Redpolls, 3 Lesser Whitethroat. During the rest of the day we had a Common Whitethroat and 2 Common Redpolls at Skaw, a Wood Warbler <\/span>at Haroldswick and another Pied Flycatcher here. Not a bad first day.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tGreat Reed Warbler – Valyie, Unst (Record Shot)<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tCommon Redpoll – Valyie, Unst<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tCommon Redpoll – Valyie, Unst<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tCommon Redpoll – Skaw, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tHighlights of the 23rd September<\/span> included – Peregrine, <\/span>Barred Warbler<\/span> & 5 Common Redpolls at Skaw; a <\/span>Greenish Warbler<\/span> and 2 <\/span>Barred Warbler<\/span> at Valyie; 4 <\/span>Yellow-browed Warbler<\/span>, 2 <\/span>Common Rosefinch<\/span>; 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Common Redpoll at Baltasound.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tYellow-browed Warbler – Valyie, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tYellow-browed Warbler – Valyie, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tGreenish Warbler – Valyie, Unst<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tGreenish Warbler – Valyie, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tHighlights of the 24th September included<\/span> – 1 Yellow-browed Warbler<\/span> (new bird) & Greenish Warbler<\/span>, 2 Barred Warble<\/span>r<\/span> at Valyie. 2 Whooper Swan and 1 Barred Warbler<\/span> at Uyeasound. A Snow Bunting at Haroldswick. 2 Wood Warbler, a Brambling & a Snow Bunting at Northdale.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tWood Warbler – Northdale, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tHighlights of the 25th September included <\/span>– Still 1 Wood Warbler and Brambling at Northdale; 5 Common Redpoll Skaw, plus a Purple Sandpiper & Knot on the beach here. At Norwick a Swallow, 3 Barred Warbler <\/span>and a Garden Warbler, also 1 Otter<\/span> at sea. Baltersound 1 Barred Warbler<\/span> and a Redstart and 8 Lapland Bunting<\/span> at Hermaness.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tLapland Bunting – Hermaness, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tHighlights of the 26th September included<\/span> – 1 Lapland Bunting<\/span>, 1 Tree Pipit, 3 Swallow, 3 Redwing, 2 Reed Bunting at Norwick. Haligarth, 1 Blyth’s Reed Warbler<\/span>, 1 Garden Warbler. Northdale a new Yellow-browed Warbler<\/span>. 1 Lapland Bunting at Norwick.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tBlyth's Reed Warbler – Halligarth, Unst<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tLapland Bunting – Norwick, Unst. (Note the Long Spur on the hind claw)<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tHighlights of our final day 27th September included<\/span> – Haligarth, good views of <\/span>Blyth’s Reed Warbler<\/span>, <\/span>Rough-legged Buzzard<\/span>. Baltersound, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 <\/span>Otter<\/span>. Saxa Voord 6 Common Redpoll. Cliberswick – <\/span>Booted Warbler<\/span>, re-located the <\/span>Little Bunting<\/span> and <\/span>Yellow-browed Warbler<\/span> and 56 fly-over<\/span> Snow Bunting<\/span>. <\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\tOur final species count for the week 89 species –<\/span> My year list moves on to 234.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
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\n\tRough-legged Buzzard – Halligarth, Unst – (record shot) <\/strong>This bird had an unusually marked underwing, showing dark underwing coverts and no obvious isolated carpel patch.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tBooted Warbler – Clibberswick, Unst<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tBooted Warbler – Clibberswick, Unst.<\/strong>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tGoldcrest – Uyeasound, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tGoldcrest – Uyeasound, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tGoldcrest – Uyeasound, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t \n<\/div>\n
\n\tShetland Starling (zetlandica<\/em>) – Northdale, Unst<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tShetland Starling – (zetlandica) – Skaw, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tBlackcap, male – Valyie, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tHooded Crow – Valyie, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tRinged Plover, juvenile – Uyeasound, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tCommon Seal – Uyeasound, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\"\"<\/a>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\tHaroldswick, Unst.<\/strong><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We arrived at Blackdog, Aberdeen at around 2pm on Friday 21st September 2012. A vast flock of Scoter and Eider duck were on the sea and after some careful searching, I eventually located the eclipse drake Surf Scoter amongst Common & Velvet Scoter. There were also numerous Red-throated Diver, 2 Arctic Skua, 7 Whooper Swan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[19,18,262,172],"tags":[450,451,456,457,453,454,22,448,449,458,452,455],"class_list":["post-1260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-19","category-birds","category-birdsof2012","category-year","tag-booted-warbler","tag-common-redpoll","tag-common-rosefinch","tag-goldcrest","tag-lerwick","tag-otter","tag-rough-legged-buzzard","tag-shetland-2","tag-unst","tag-uyeasound","tag-wood-warbler-2","tag-yellow-browed-warbler-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260","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=1260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplybirdsandmoths.co.uk\/sbam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}