Shetland - Week 2

This week has been desperately quiet on the birding front, bar one quite remarkable day! Struggling up north, this week did produce a flurry of Redwings, Blackbirds and Bramblings, but again common migrants have been hard to come by, even with the arrival of our hoped for south-easterly winds, which delivered big time!

Friday 1st October will be one of those legendary days talked about for years to come, but unfortunately only for the lucky few that were their to witness the presence of a true Siberian enigma, a Siberian Blue Robin!

At about 11.20, Hugh Harrop posted a message to say the Sibe Blue was in his garden. Absolute delirium followed, and by some form of absolute luck, Steve and I were at Hoswick, usually a 15 minute drive to Hillwell, but today, a mere eight minutes!! Having been up north almost solidly since we arrived, to be south of Lerwick on this day proved to be crucial, as all of those much north of here were pushing their luck, unknowingly to them, in seeing this species. 

We arrived and joined the mass of birders in the garden (madness really considering how close we were to the site) and over the course of 90-minutes we obtained some tickable, but underwhelming views. I as always decided to steer clear of the throng and instead hid myself at the side of the garden looking into a darkened corner, something that I know this species prefers having seen them multiple times in the gloomy SE Asian rainforests. This paid dividends three fold as it zipped past me, back again, then remarkably landing in the open on a branch, allowing not only five seconds of a binocular view, but just enough time to snap off a few pics. Surprisingly, not long after this, the robin must have departed the garden and was not to be seen again! Quite frankly, it was gutting to realise that lots dipped this bird... maybe if it wasn't ushered around the garden by its finder to please those already on site, it may have hung around, who knows!

Soon after, we retraced our steps back to Spiggie where a Lapland Bunting flew over, only for the second mega message to come through, and just down the road from the robin... a Two-barred Warbler at Quendale! Not quite as dramatic as the robin, but a UK tick and a superb bird that showed nicely.

The day was then rounded off with a Siberian Stonechat, Little Bunting, four Barred Warblers and possibly some other bits that got forgotten, for what was a mental day in British birding!

first-winter male Siberian Blue Robin at Hillwell

Two-barred Warbler at Quendale