2nd June 2008 – Fetlar and Unst
The weather started very sunny (at 4 a.m.) but then deteriorated with a mixture of heavy rain, a thunderstorm, some weak sunshine and sea fog …. typical Shetland really!
The highlight today, and again one of the highlights of my whole trip, was the visit to the small island of Fetlar and seeing some of the rarest breeding birds in the UK, namely
Red-necked Phalarope,
Whimbrel and
Red-throated Diver 
.
I suppose reaching the northern most island of the UK was also a highlight but the island of Unst was almost entirely shrouded in sea fog whilst I was there which meant a second aborted visit to the huge seabird colony at Hermaness (in 2003 it was heavy rain that forced a cancellation of the walk over the moorland to the cliffs). However, the car park here did produce an interesting “dogfight” between an
Arctic Skua and a
Great Skua …. very noisy and very violent!
Here is a summary of my sightings:
Gutcher ferry terminal, Yell: 4 summer plumaged
Dunlin and a few
Arctic Tern.
Fetlar excluding Loch of Funzie: 8
Red-throated Diver (various locations) and 2
Whimbrel (between Tresta and Houbie) plus varying numbers of
Arctic Skua,
Great Skua,
Fulmar,
Gannet,
Guillemot,
Black Guillemot,
Common and Arctic Terns,
Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed, Herring, Common and Black-headed Gulls,
Oystercatcher,
Ringed Plover,
Golden Plover,
Turnstone,
Snipe,
Lapwing,
Swallow,
Wheatear,
Meadow Pipit,
Skylark,
Wren,
Starling and
Hooded Crow.
Loch of Funzie RSPB reserve, Fetlar: a violent thunderstorm but at least 2 and possibly 3 summer plumaged
Red-necked Phalarope, 1
Whimbrel, 2
Red-throated Diver, a pair of
Wigeon, male
Mallard, 7
Rock Dove plus a few
Lapwing,
Common and Arctic Terns,
Fulmar,
Great Skua and
Wheatear.
Red-necked Phalarope ....
Whimbrel ....
Red-throated Diver ....
One of my photos of the
Red-necked Phalarope has subsequently won the Rural Gateway competition
.
http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/fo...rst-prize.html
Gutcher ferry terminal, Yell: 2
Red-throated Diver, 4 summer plumaged
Dunlin, 2
Ringed Plover, 1
Oystercatcher, 2 summer plumaged
Turnstone and 2
Arctic Tern.
Uyeasound, Unst: a summer plumaged
Great Northern Diver emerging from the sea fog (many thanks again John for the e-mail discussion on the finer points of Great Northern and White-billed ID …. I did try and make it a White-billed Diver
).
Great Northern Diver ....
Central Unst: 2
Red-throated Diver, 1
Whimbrel, 1
Oystercatcher, 4
Turnstone, 3
Ringed Plover, 4
Dunlin, 5 male
Eider, 1
Common Seal plus a few
Fulmar,
Black Guillemot,
Gannet,
Shag and
Herring Gull.
Skaw, Unst: the location of the northernmost house in the UK with 2
Whimbrel, 1
Golden Plover and large numbers of
Great Skua over the moorland approach with a few
Oystercatcher on the beach and small numbers of
Gannet,
Fulmar,
Arctic Skua and
Arctic Tern offshore.
Nor Wick ....
Skaw ....
Great Skua ....
The day closed back on Yell with 3
Red-throated Diver on Loch of Vatser.
Richard